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At CES 2019, ADT pivots further towards smart home security solutions

Clayton Moore
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ADT started as a telegraph-based alert system in 1874 and the security company has always endeavored to be at the cutting edge of protection services. It makes sense that the security firm would take advantage of the very latest technology available.

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Now it looks like the company is making a more advanced move starting with an announcement during CES 2019 that ADT has completely redesigned its popular home security system to pivot further towards smart home technology, including new integrations with digital assistants, yet another video doorbell (video doorbell-palooza!), a mobile safety app, and new interactive crime maps. The company has been experimenting with smart home tech since it first released the ADT Pulse in 2010 but this year’s changes mark a pronounced and widespread adoption of smart home concepts and technology.

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The big announcement is the reveal of the ADT Command Panel & Control Platform (ADT Command for short), a dynamic and innovative wireless panel with numerous smart home capabilities. It’s controlled by the ADT Control app, enabling customers to protect and automate their homes from anywhere.

“As home automation continues to evolve and become more accessible, we know our growing community of 3 million smart home customers want and expect a security solution that is fully integrated with the latest technology innovations,” said Don Young, ADT Chief Information Officer & Executive Vice President of Field Operations in a release. “With ADT Command & Control, consumers get best-in-class monitoring service from the largest security network, combined with the most cutting-edge technology. The Control platform supports over 250 devices, ranging from carbon monoxide detectors to smart light bulbs, providing custom-fit solutions that provide customers with real protection.”

Read: ADT wants its home security customers to use its new platform to control their smart home devices. This move has been telegraphed for quite a while, starting with ADT’s new partnerships with a lot of technology companies and smart device manufacturers, including Ring and Nest. Let’s take a closer look.

First, the main attraction here is a 7-inch wireless touchscreen command panel that can be connected to most of your smart stuff, like thermostats, lights and doors. It sounds like it’s pretty customizable, with the ability to create dynamic scenes and rules so users can use voice commands to run several routines at once. It will also automatically snap a photo when the system is disarmed using its built-in camera.

Naturally, customers want their security systems up and running all the time, so the command panel has a battery backup as well as dual path broadband and LTE cellular communications, all under the umbrella of two-way encryption to reduce the possibility of hacking. It stands to reason that the system would offer voice control, and ADT has developed integrations with Amazon Alexa and Google Voice Assistant to enable voice commands, dynamic scenes, and other actions.

The ADT Go app is another big rollout. Created in partnership with communication tool Life360, the app will be available in the Apple and Android stores to offer benefits like family check-in, crash detection and response, and SOS emergency response from one of ADT’s 4,000 monitoring professionals. The app also uses geofencing technology  — that’s using GPS or RFID technology to create a virtual geographic boundary that enables software to trigger a response when a smartphone or other mobile device enters or leaves a particular area — to enable actions like turning the lights on when you get home.

The final pieces of ADT’s new redesign are the ADT Video Doorbell, a weatherproof, high-definition doorbell that offers the usual bells and whistles these devices offer, but no concrete details yet, and a new Interactive Crime Map, which provides crime statistics the could be beneficial to future homebuyers or vacationers looking for a safe place to stay when visiting a new city.

If you’re in Las Vegas this week and want to check out ADT’s new security offerings, they’ll be at Veronese 2504 at the Sands Expo Convention Center.

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Clayton Moore
Clayton Moore
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Clayton Moore’s interest in technology is deeply rooted in the work of writers like Warren Ellis, Cory Doctorow and Neal…
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