Say the words “smart-home product” and Charles Dix may give you a weary, exasperated look.
You can’t blame him. The lighting segment manager for Werner Electric Supply of Cottage Grove, Minn. has evaluated dozens of smart-home devices in recent months. The idea of adding yet another smart home product to the company’s residential construction inventory leaves him … well, a bit underwhelmed.
“Everybody claims their products are very intelligent, very advanced,” explains the veteran building-supply expert. “Very few back that claim with performance. Very few people really understand what smart technology is all about.”
Shock and Delight
Imagine his shock and delight when a smart home device caught his eye at LIGHTFAIR International earlier this year. “I was truly overwhelmed and impressed,” he admits.
The source of his awe: a light. Not just any light, but a light fixture with artificial intelligence that communicates, plays music, and controls other smart devices throughout the home. “Other smart home products are part of a natural, predictable progression. This one brings everything together in a very simple system. The Jetsons and the future have finally arrived,” he quips.
Nothing like It
Welcome to Juno AI, manufactured by Acuity Brands, a leading provider of lighting and building management solutions. Juno AI leapfrogs the natural order of IoT (Internet of Things) devices with a brilliant, why-didn’t-someone-think-of-this-before mashup:
- Advanced 6-inch LED downlight
- Premium JBL speaker
- Amazon Alexa voice service that can control more than 200 other smart devices
The easy five-minute installation transforms the ceiling of the kitchen, family room, dining room, any room – inside or outside – with smart technology simplicity and functionality. No clutter. No wiring. No pucks. No central hub or control panel. No callbacks. “This is a mature, high-evolved solution,” Dix says.
Positive Buzz
Ed Brown, vice president of construction/purchasing for Avid Ratings Cup Award-winning Arthur Rutenberg Homes, agrees. “Juno AI is simplistic in design and convenient. It brings together a lot of the high tech features our customers want in something that already exists – the lights,” he says.
Home builders looking to wow buyers will be hard-pressed to come up with a more imaginative way to transform any room of the house. Home buyer buzz is already building thanks to TechCrunch, The Verge, Android Police, and GadgetFlow.
Simple First
In a marketplace crowded with the over-hyped, over-engineered technology that often fails to catch on with the public, home builders may appreciate the emphasis on simplicity. For example, to shut off the light and Alexa you can always turn off the light switch (or from anywhere with the Juno AI app).
As for Dix, he’s seen the future. “This isn’t just a lighting system. This is a mesh network that connects everything in the house, quickly and easily. Whatever you can possibly think of, you’ll be able to connect,” he predicts.
