We at Sears believe that through our very significant relationship with Home Director and the Internet Home Alliance, we're going to be able to help knit this together in a way that will make sense. For large national builders, assembling a cohesive technology package for every division has been nearly impossible because of the fragmented supply chains in the home-systems industry. Home Director, ProSyst and Echelon are the companies involved. The software allows lighting control routines. Just as Sears installed power lines for some of the first electric washing machine owners, it is now helping 'create the market' for networked appliances, says Bill Kenney, vice president for home and online strategy at Sears.
Buyers have the option to specify the particular upgrades they want in their homes.
Newmark Homes is debuting this weekend at Coles Crossing, a northwest Houston community. Home Director allows an individual to control every room in the house with an Internet touch pad that can be placed by the TV, refrigerator, bedside or anywhere. Just about any sort of digital device can be hooked up to the Home Director. The retailer also announced a partnership with Home Director, a national home networking technology company, to provide home networking hardware, software and services to builders. Sears and Home Director provide the voice, video and data networking technology infrastructure, including an Internet connection everywhere in the home, to enable appliances to be connected to the Internet.