Cable and internet giant continues to grow its smart home business
Comcast said it has partnered with Philips Hue to enable its customers to control their home lighting through Comcast’s Xfinity Home mobile app. The app can also automate lighting to coordinate with a home security system or to turn on and off at different times of day.
Xfinity Home is Comcast’s home security business, which the cable company launched in 2013. Last year, In Comcast completed its acquisition of iControl Networks, a software company that enables service providers and home security companies to offer connected home solutions to households. iControl’s solutions include remote control and management for home security systems, energy management systems, and home health and elder monitoring solutions. iControl also has a community for application and device makers to partner on a common platform.
Comcast Wi-Fi access points are in millions of homes nationwide, giving the company a natural “hub” for its smart home solutions. Since launching Xfinity Home, Comcast has partnered with a number of providers of different smart home solutions, including Lutron, August, Chamberlain, Nest and Sengled.
Separately, Comcast has started signing up customers for its Xfinity Mobile network, which operates using Verizon’s wireless spectrum in combination with Comcast’s nationwide network of Wi-Fi hotspots. The company will offer unlimited mobile data for $45 per line to customers who sign up by July. Comcast is not the first cable operator to launch a wireless service — Cablevision created a similar Wi-Fi-backed offer in the northeastern United States, but it did not succeed.
