ELAN Announces Home Automation Strategy First VIA!â Product Debuts At CEDIA 99
ELAN Home Systems announces a series of home automation products that expand the company's offerings significantly beyond its audio/video/communications systems. The new strategy will position ELAN as a leading manufacturer of room-to-room control interfaces for other household subsystems such as lighting, climate and security, to include personal computing and internet access. Bob Farinelli, ELANís President says, ""This new initiative is aimed at making it easier for homeowners to control the growing collection of electronic systems in the home."" He adds, ""Our new VIA! touchpanel provides one interface for controlling a large number of subsystems without being difficult, clumsy or unsightly . . . it makes different systems look like one"". ELAN does not plan to abandon its strong position within the specialty A/V industry. The companyís HD Series product, an industry leader in the multi-zone/multi-source category, has offered automation capabilities through its sensed inputs, relay outputs and macro processing capabilities for the last three years. The new VIA! touchscreen will take these capabilities even further. Farinelli says ELAN will also be working with numerous manufacturers to establish the VIA! offering as a seamless solution for HA professionals. The VIA!ô, is a flush-mount, 6.4"" full color touchscreen activated LCD. The new panel provides a user-friendly graphical interface to control a wide array of electronic equipment including tuners, CD players, digital music, DVD, satellite receivers, VCRs, video cameras, lighting, and personal computers. VIA! graphics can be customized for different sources and for the individual characteristics and preferences of its users. The VIA! allows for large buttons and fewer ""pages"" since more display space is available. The high-resolution, high-contrast display allows quality viewing of any NTSC full motion video signal, making it possible to view TV programs, movies, surveillance camera scenes and even PC applications. Each VIA! Panel is capable of learning any IR code set. This design feature capability is an ELAN benchmark developed for its widely popular Z and HD Series products - highly-reliable IR control technology. The VIA! panel is also preprogrammed to control the ELAN HD or Z*630 zone controllers. At CEDIA Expo '99, the VIA! touchpanel will be shown controlling an ELAN Z*System with access to an ELAN door camera, DVD video, LUTRONÆ lighting and music selections from an EscientÆ CD Management product (TuneBase 100). A VIA! Home Controller Component is also in development and will allow multiple subsystems with different interfaces (such as RS232, RS485 as well as more proprietary interfaces for select manufacturers) to be controlled. The company also plans to ship VIA! Tools, a graphical design programming toolkit, (including graphics, touch, infrared selections) which will allow authorized dealers a fast and reliable method for setting up a new userís home. Paul Starkey, Executive Vice President of ELAN, says, ""VIA! breaks new ground for room to room control interfaces. It is visually appealing, extremely intuitive, easy to program and more affordable than anything available on the market."" ELAN plans to suggest a $1,499 retail price on the VIA! Panel. This is less than half the price of other full color touchscreen's. He adds, ""We expect more than one VIA! Panel with each home and in many cases every room will get a VIA! . . . the idea is to give the homeowner the most useful control ever"". The company has not released an expected delivery date at this time but will begin taking orders for VIA! panels at the first of the year. For more information, contact Michael Murray or Shelley White at 606 269 7760x110.