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Control4 Deepens Homeowner Personalization with OS 2.9, Delivers New Integration Partnerships and Expanded Dealer Opportunities

The “Connects with Control4” program includes nearly 10,000 supported third-party devices, with new partners Amazon, Lutron, Sonos, Z-Wave and more, driving the industry’s largest interoperable smart home ecosystem.

Dallas, TX – September 14, 2016 6:00 PM ET – Control4 Corporation (NASDAQ: CTRL), a leading global provider of smart home solutions, announces the immediate availability of the Control4® OS 2.9 and highlights its open platform for the connected home with the “Connects with Control4” program, featuring integration support for nearly 10,000 devices. OS 2.9, the newest operating platform for Control4 automation systems, delivers enhanced experiences for homeowners, multi-dwelling unit (MDU) property developers and residents, and independent Control4 authorized dealers.   
 
Control4 OS 2.9 introduces more hands-on personalization for the homeowner. Right from a Control4 touch screen interface, homeowners can create their own “Wake Up” and “Sleep” scenes, configured individually by room, including lighting, music, TV, and shades. Dealers can also customize the Control4 user interface for the unique needs of any smart home with Experience Buttons, which feature dynamic graphical icons for customer favorites, such as fountain, fireplace, and Mockupancy® scenes for easy one-touch access to functions and scenes, along with visual feedback of the scene state. With OS 2.9, Control4 includes an all-new window blinds and shades experience, with an intuitive interface to control and automate individual window coverings as well as the entire system of blinds throughout the home, and includes deep interoperability with products from the leading window shade manufacturers Lutron, Qmotion and Somfy.
 
Driving Interoperability in the Connected Home
For Control4 authorized dealers, the Control4 OS is all about enabling device interoperability and enhancing the dealer’s ability to deliver customized smart home experiences for their customers. Composer Express, the award-winning mobile installation tool, allows dealers to quickly scan a “Connects with Control4” QR Code to add it to the project.
 
“Everything working seamlessly together is central to the connected home experience, yet fluid interoperability remains the number one frustration for consumers, especially when bringing new connected products into their homes,” said Martin Plaehn, Control4 CEO. “The power of Control4, combined with the expert skills of our dealers, along with our vast partner product ecosystem, helps to remove that frustration and delivers the required orchestration and personalization of the connected home to every member of the family.”
 
The “Connects with Control4” program underscores the Control4 open platform with support for nearly 10,000 connected devices. Within the Control4 ecosystem, 185 companies are now shipping over 1,500 devices enabled with Control4 Simple Device Discovery Protocol (SDDP) technology – making the integration of those products into a Control4 enabled smart home easy and seamless. The “Connects with Control4” family now includes products from Amazon, Lutron, Nest, Somfy, and Sonos.
 
“Our recently announced endorsed partnership with Control4 will ensure that our sound platform integrates as seamlessly as possible with their system, now and into the future. Our goal together is to deliver the very best audio experience for customers and this is a great example of Sonos serving as the sound platform for the connected home,” said Brad Duea, Managing Director/GM Americas-Pacific at Sonos. “With Control4, customers can listen to music out loud in any room of the home, controlled by simple touch or voice commands, either independently or as part of personalized scenes.”
 
Continuing to expand the connected home ecosystem, the roll-out of Control4 OS 2.9 delivers the support for 13 specific Z-Wave devices, including electrical outlet and sensor modules to enhance Control4 lighting, comfort, and security solutions. Control4 announced that its entire line of EA Series controllers is now Z-Wave Certified, via a new plug-in Z-Wave module. Additionally, Control4 recently joined the Z-Wave Alliance to further enhance its solutions and offer a greater selection of smart home devices.
 
The New Control4 MDU Offering for Expanded Dealer Business Opportunity
To enable Control4 dealers to capitalize on the continuing growth in multi-dwelling developments in cities around the world, Control4 announced a new MDU offering that is available today worldwide and powered by OS 2.9.  Control4’s MDU offering includes property-wide video intercom communications, better integration with lobby door stations, integration with SIP-based phones, concierge services integration, and a full line of smart home solutions that can be customized for individual residences. The new Control4 MDU offering features a fault-tolerant communications server, which supports properties ranging in size from several to hundreds of residences. Smart MDU properties that include Control4 technology deliver peace-of-mind for the residents and the convenience of a complete video intercom solution that connects individual units via a Control4 touch screen to street-level door-stations from leading providers such as 2N and Siedle. MDU residents can also work with Control4 authorized dealers to design a personalized Control4 system beyond the standard offering and enjoy at-a-touch access to property amenities and concierge services via integration with Vertilinc. The Control4 MDU solutions will be on display during CEDIA 2016 at the Control4 booth #4116.
 
Availability and Pricing
The capabilities of the Control4 OS 2.9 release are available today for existing customer installations and are also pre-installed on newly ordered EA Series controllers and T3 Series Tabletop Touch Screen.
 
The new Control4 Z-Wave module is $70 US MSRP, the Control4 Communications Server Lite is $1,350 US MSRP, and the dual-CPU Redundant Control4 Communications Server Pro is $6,000 US MSRP.
For more information on Control4 visit www.control4.com.
 
About Control4
Control4 [NASDAQ: CTRL] is a global provider of automation and networking systems for homes and businesses, offering personalized control of lighting, music, video, comfort, security, communications, and more into a unified smart home system that enhances the daily lives of its consumers. Control4 unlocks the potential of connected devices, making networks more robust, entertainment systems easier to use, homes more comfortable and energy efficient, and families more secure. Today, every home and business needs automation horsepower and a high-performance network to manage the increasing number of connected devices. The Control4 platform interoperates with more than 9,900 third-party consumer electronics products, ensuring an ever-expanding ecosystem of devices will work together. Control4 is now available in 91 countries. Leveraging a distribution channel that includes over 3,900 custom integrators, retailers, and distributors authorized to sell the full-line of Control4 products, with over 1,100 additional dealers and distributors that are authorized to sell our Pakedge branded networking solutions only, Control4 is delivering intelligent solutions for consumers, major consumer electronics companies, hotels, and businesses around the world.

Control4 Press Contact
Kimberly Lancaster, Caster Communications
[email protected]
401-792-7080
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 Copyright ©2016, Control4 Corporation. All rights reserved. Control4, the Control4 logo, and Pakedge are registered trademarks or trademarks of Control4 Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other names and brands may be claimed as the property of their respective owners. All specifications subject to change without notice.
Source: Control4