Comcast, Alarm.com acquire and split up IoT firm Icontrol
Comcast and security company Alarm.com are buying and splitting up Icontrol, an Internet of Things company based in Austin, Texas.
The main business Comcast is acquiring is Icontrol's Converge software platform, which currently powers the Xfinity Home touch-screen panel and back-end servers.
Converge lets Comcast communicate with and manage security sensors that are part of Xfinity Home and also supports home-automation devices like cameras and thermostats. Comcast has invested around $100 million in Icontrol to date.
Meanwhile, Alarm.com is scooping up Icontrol's Connect and Piper business units. Connect is an interactive security and home automation platform, while Piper, based in Ottawa, Canada, designs, produces and sells a WiFi-enabled video and home automation hub.
Combined, the two businesses give Alarm.com "technology infrastructure, talent, key relationships and new hardware devices," the company said. According to Alarm.com CEO Steve Trundle, the acquisition will also enhance the company's research and development scale.
No financial terms were disclosed by Comcast, but Alarm.com said it is paying approximately $140 million for the two business units.
As for Comcast, the deal reaffirms the company's focus to IoT and connected home security technology, the company said.
"As this business becomes part of Comcast, we will strategically invest in its technology and technologists, so that we can deliver new features, products and services to both individual Xfinity Home customers and enterprise-level Converge customers," said Dan Herscovici, SVP and GM of Xfinity Home, in a blog post.
Icontrol employees in Austin who are slated to join Comcast will form the company's new engineering center in the area. Herscovici said the team will work closely with engineers in Philadelphia and Silicon Valley to build connected-home and connected home security products.