First, I would like to say that I always (alright, generally) have more respect for any company willing to address questions and issues in a public forum. To that manner, thank you to the two gentlemen from EI for participating and taking a few lumps. To that effect, no matter what my personal view of this product is, I hope that EI will continue to show respect to the integrators (and some impersonators) on this and other forums by continuing to participate.

With all of that said, I find it amusing that the questions posed by QQQ and others have generally went unanswered. Misdirection and generalities do not qualify as answers. While it may look to the layman that Steve's offer to bring people out to the company for a personalized demo of the products specific to the questions and scenarios posed, that is nothing more than a sales tactic to shift questions and concerns to a controlled environment. The reason this thread has had the reactions that it has is due to the fact that salesmen are trying to sell salesmen. QQQ's question about software was addressed with the comment " a regional salesman can get you software". While that is fine and dandy, that is still a way to control the sales environment, and not a way to address technical questions posed by people who would like informed answers, and not a salesmans answer.

Gentlemen, might I suggest that if you are truely interested in courting the custom integrator, then maybe when questions are posed by REAL custom integrators, that you might answer them without the standard sales jargon. Start at the begining with QQQ, answer directly and publicly without having to talk to a regional sales puke in person.

Gee Moe,

And I was going to let them off easy :-). When he said "contact your regional sales manager" he pretty much answered my question in more ways than one ;-).

I would like to mention to me fellow CI's here that if you want to see some interesting stuff, take a look at Dean's software. You can download it from his site [and you don't need to call his regional sales manager :-)]. Trust me, you will be impressed at what he is accomplishing. It may or may not fit your needs, but it's the real McCoy. www.charmedquark.com

Dean also has a large set of video tutorials as well as written tutorials right on his website that should make the rest if the industry ashamed, including AMX and Crestron. They literally take you step by step through setting things up.

Make sure to watch the video for installation if you decide to evaluate as he does not yet have an automatic installer (shame shame Dean). And don't forget the default user name is Admin, because if you are like me during setup you will keep clicking the "next" button very quickly and miss the verbage where you are informed of that.

I've always thought that Dean never really gets the respect that he deserves. He constantly contributes without ever spamming, or really even hyping his own product.

Plus, I get the impression that he'd not under the gun to move 100,000 units to the box movers next quarter.

Guys,

Quite late just got in from a long day in miami, a few quickies. Yes we have lots a jobs including mdu high rises that are spec'd lifeware standard and mainly due to the integrator or developer chosing our product over competitors. I would't say unproven, uproven to you, but not the guys who have chosen it over amx/crestron. Most of these guys like you have taken long and grueling approaches to evaluating our product and setting a system up and living with it is common. I just had dinner tonight with a guy who literally said quote "i threw my crestron panel in the trash" We have a very unique product, it is a paradigm shift away from the way you do business today, not a product swap, but an entire business model evolution. Frankly hardware is already becoming commodity. I am seeing shrinking margins and pricing pressure nationwide on everything but distributed audio and lighting control. I think that is do to the planning and high labor component. In regards to the spec that is proposed, the answer is yes we can complete a solution that gives the experience needed and i firmly beleive it would new a happier customer. The answer is no for reason of gui and use case that we have actually limited our product intentionally because folks like the guy i had dinner with said it ruins our industry. I am quite confident that our companys success in 2006 will be noticed by every one of you in your market by the end of 2007. I don't like all the unproductive "sales tactics" and market ploy, jibberish that continues to plague this thread. We are simple hardworking people that are very dedicated to help CI and the industry evolve the way we have case studied and seen other industries involved. If you don't want to learn more about us with an open mind, then we will live with that. We have our current training schedule booked out through mid year and we have dealers excited about our product and willing to take our hand and walk together. I agree that building and industrial automation as well as production engineering for alot of things that we actually sell in the CE market are built by machinery that is very precision and reliable all on microsoft. Not to mention all the money transactions. At the point you really want to learn and spend productive time understanding how we see the evolution and you want to meet hundreds of dealers who are already being successful with this model. Come to a trade show, call one or our Regional Sales Managers, or call me and we will take dedicated time to address each question and concern that you have and then you can make an educated decision on whether you want to join our program. Unfortunately my schedule of 70 hours a week, and the barrage of angles on a thread like this make it nearly impossible to keep up. Keep in mind I am one guy and there is at least 12 with varying aspects and needs. I want the opportunity to earn each and every one of your business. And I am happy to make sure we take advantage of the opportunity if so granted. I will keep watching this, i am very interested in your feedback, but i think the feedback would be more productive if we could sit down with a system and we could show you what we do and how. Professionally yours Steve

QQQ certainly doesn't need any validation from me, however I will second at least this one example.

The "gate" senario is the perfect example why any system that uses the term "automation" must have 2-way communication. As an end user, if I spent the money on a HA system but still had to climb out of bed to confirm the gate actually did close every night.....? What the hell is the point?

Personally, I would, and I think any that had this type of security aspect to their HA system would want the real world feedback that the gate had reached its closed position and the alarm was ready to be set, (if not already done so).

You may be able to argue with "ignorance is bliss" approach concerning volume/lighting feedback, but when it comes to peace of mind of the consumer and family. You'd better be able to put up, or differentiate your self from those who can. Not claim to be in the same league.

I agree, Lifeware is capable of 2-way, so its just up to them writing the drivers. I want to here from some guys that have running systems and what gear they are using. Is anyone using the Lifeware with the Nevo SL? Does the GUI show up on the the screen?

You know, Steve, you've earned that. Both yourself and Joshod have done a remarkable job of keeping your cool through this, and other, threads. I admire that. Patience and level head are not part of my make up. I'm an Italian hothead. So what I am saying is, you rock! Trust me when I tell you that I am aware of the fact that I am the "wierdo" Christian on this site and playing Devil's advocate at the same time. What can I say, I am also the guy who loves to wear a suit with my tattooed neck and hands. Freaks folks out.

Anyways, your perseverance is admirable.

I myself am somewhat familiar with MCE and must admit that I love the GUI that you'll have available with Vista. It looks great. Yes, there is the issue of customization. No, not every client needs it. My business is proof of it as the bulk of my HA is built upon an HAI backend and Convergent Living front end (and that with the "standard" GUI). I don't think that there is any question that EI will continue to sell systems. I just don't know how it's going to benefit my business as there is virtually nothing that you can do that my vendors can't do and for considerably less $.

I wish you guys the best just based on your, and certainly not your distributors, patient, if vague, attempts to educate.

Steve@EI, is there any company coming with a complete wireless Lighting and Climate suite that would complement Lifeware?

Ok gentlemen...You have spoken and EI has listened. I can provide a fast-track, for any of the interested dealers on this forum, to getting an evaluation version of Lifeware. Again, there is no charge for this, there is no 'dog/pony show' to sit through, and no sales contracts to deal with. This is just a straight-forward attempt to put the product in front of you, so that you can see what Lifeware is all about. Hopefully, as well, it will help to answer some of the questions you guys have and kill this feeling of vagueness you are experiencing.

So...for any dealers who wish to take me up on this, send me an email at [email protected] with 'Remote Central' in the subject line, and I will personally expedite the process of getting the demo to you.

joshod, does the Nevo SL run your client software?

We used the Nevo at one of our larger demo homes in the past, but found it to be somewhat querky. The remote itself does not have the backbone necessary to run the Lifeware software, so it could not function as a client like say, the Samsung Q1, but you can use it to control your system through the media center.

We are working with them, they are actually running microsoft, i think we will see some neat things in the near future.

I can not release the names of the vendors, but we have a few partners that are some of the largest in the space, (you are already using their products), and they will be native wsd, so plug and play and full two way with a network connection. Definetley before cedia, maybe april/may. Exciting Stuff.

You can release the names if you really try. Sound them out like in pre school.

Thanks for the info.

Wow .. took me a few hours to read all these post here. I read this forum when i can, but decided to sign up when i saw this thread.

We are a lifeware dealer in Orlando, FL and working with them over the past year has been great, and Steve has been an great help to us. I will admit a year ago it was very hard for us to get lifeware some traction with builders who have been our target audience. But since IBs 2006 and now IBS 2007, builders are seeing the value of offering this to their clients and we feel this will bring HA mainstream in Central Florida. One of the main reasons for this is a couple major production home builders want this now in their model homes, taking advantage of their new builder program. Also a nationwide modular home company is seriously considering this technology for their homes. Since EI has dealers acress the US we feel this is a good fit.

We also were the Citrix Reseller who got EI insterested in GoToAssist product from Citrix. This remote support solution is huge as it allows highy secure but easy access to a client's system regardless of firewall and OS settings (the client has to agree to allow the connection) . So we have full confidence that EI can support any national builder, CI, and end user.

We hope to have a 2 demos up and running in Orlando by March 15th this year. The first is a demo home in Winter Springs and the second will be a kiosk in and office setting by the Mall of Millenia. If anyone is in the central florida area, please let me know if you want a demo too.

I know there are many choices for HA control and their will always be a place for Crestron/AMX/Ect systems in addition to lifeware. But we prefer to lead in with lifeware because of its open architecture, easy of use for all members of the family, the stablility and reliability of the system, support for a lot of different platforms and the relative low cost of the system. (We see one 50" plasma can be more expensive than the actual lifeware software cost).

Kind Regards,
Paul