Integration News
Legrand launches new home automation platform for production homebuilders

“Homeowners today expect connectivity and control in new homes,” said Fritz Werder, VP & General Manager for the company’s On-Q and NuVo lines. “Most new homebuyers are making home automation a priority. Intuity gives builders a unique, easy-to-install platform that meets buyer expectations without delaying the building process.”

According to Werder, the company’s intention was to provide homebuilders with a modular, easy-to-sell home ecosystem that would support buyers’ most-requested home technologies. Intuity accomplishes this in two ways: First by supporting Legrand’s own subsystems, including its On-Q IP cameras, video door entry and intercom, its RFLC lighting systems, and its On-Q multi-room digital audio system that supports networked content and many popular online streaming services.  

Intuity then offers integration of third party, Legrand approved Z-Wave components, including HVAC thermostats from Honeywell and Trane, digital door locks from Kwikset and Yale, and home security systems from Honeywell and GE/Interlogix.

With the Intuity control app, downloadable from the Apple Store, users can operate all aspects of their Intuity system from any iOS mobile device or from Intuity’s wall-mounted Command Center, which houses an iPad mini, as well as incorporating both an intercom station and a zone of digital audio.  The same user interface is also available from any laptop or desktop computer, so users have a consistent experience whether they are checking their live camera feed remotely on their cell phone or activating lighting and audio for a relaxing evening at home.

Said Werder, “Intuity’s comprehensive digital platform gives buyers the simple home control they want. And builders can present it to customers with total confidence knowing that it comes with the backing of one of the most reliable and respected brands in the business.”
 
A Modular, Enclosure-Based System
Intuity includes modular components that are housed inside a structured wiring enclosure as part of the home’s wiring infrastructure. Intuity’s brain is its HA7000 Automation Controller, which in addition to providing basic Internet connectivity also directly supports Legrand subsystems, such as digital audio, intercom, and IP security cameras.  All these subsystem modules mount inside the enclosure and plug directly into the Central Control Module.

The platform also supports both Legrand and 3rd party wireless subsystems through a pair of wireless bridge modules that connect to the system enclosure via category cable for power, but otherwise communicate with both the Central Control Module and the individual subsystem, such as RFLC lighting control, thermostats, door locks and security, wirelessly.
 
Marketing and Support
Understanding the importance of supporting both its builder and installer customers, Legrand will offer an extensive suite of sales and merchandising tools to help simplify the selling process.  The Intuity support program includes demonstration products for installation in model homes, videos of Intuity in use, sales training to help builders present the lifestyle advantages of home automation, brochures and other consumer support materials for distribution in the model homes and design centers, and a sleek, consumer demo app which takes potential buyers on a virtual tour of a home outfitted with Intuity. The company has dedicated regional representatives to work with each builder to assess and implement a program to meet their needs, which will include an extended warranty option that Legrand will roll out later this year. 

“Intuity is the first system designed specifically to meet both the builder needs for simplicity and repeatability and the buyers’ desires for basic technology and future upgradability,” said Werder.  “And Intuity is backed by Legrand’s established record of superior product and builder support. That’s a key consideration for builders venturing into new, uncharted waters.”