Honeywell Security : Endeavoring the coherent innovation approach

Honeywell invests over $100 million a year in research and development. It has its engineering “centers of excellence” in the U.S., Canada, China, Korea, India, Scotland and France and leverages technologies that are developed elsewhere in Honeywell and brings them to the security business.

Mr. Vikas Chadha, Director-South Asia, Honeywell Security Group

Q. Honeywell , a big name into automation industry, please brief us about company’s journey from inception till growth? and share some of the milestones?
Honeywell International is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader serving customers worldwide with Aerospace products and services; Automation and Control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; Automotive products; Turbochargers; and Specialty Materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell’s shares are traded on the New York, London, and Chicago Stock Exchanges.

Honeywell Security Group, a business unit of Honeywell International’s Automation and Control Solutions (ACS), is a leading global supplier of electronic security systems. Automation and Control Solutions (ACS), the largest business group of Honeywell International, is a global leader in providing product and service solutions that improve efficiency and profitability, support regulatory compliance and maintain safe, comfortable environment in homes, buildings and industry.  It has built up a strong competitive strength by building strong customer relationship. It has a large installation base from a diversified product portfolio. In fact, Honeywell automation and control products, technologies and services are at work in a hundred million homes and five million buildings worldwide.

Due to continuous commitment and passion to service ACS has built up global brand recognition for Honeywell International. Honeywell Security Group has an extraordinary range of solutions across burglar alarm , video surveillance, access control technologies & home automation systems. An exponentially growing business unit of Honeywell International, Honeywell Security caters to the electronic security needs for various verticals and segments like industrial, governmental, defense, transportation, commercial, retail, hotel, hospital, Corporate Buildings, IT, ITES, banking and also the residential market. Honeywell has long been a leader in automation and control systems. We’re also certainly a leader in security and HVAC. Intelligent home automation is a natural extension of that experience. We have a rich experience in providing innovative home automation products and solutions to the real estate market around the globe and in Asia.

Q. Could you brief us about Honeywell Home Automation product range? And brief us about the market prospects for automation products like smart lighting systems and vista series?
Honeywell Home Automation product range covers community-wide integrated Home Network System HS7000 series, Standalone Smart Home System HRIS 1000 series, Video Door Phones, Home Burglar Alarm Systems - Vista and Armor series, Wireless Lighting Control System and the Honeywell Residential Video System starts with standalone video door phones for individual houses, multi apartment door phones, lighting control devices to the highest level of lighting and security integration.
The Users today wants more and more, to have the best of security, comfort and convenience and the same can be achieved using Honeywell Home Automation products. These solutions are specially designed keeping in view of the requirements of homes in this part of the world which are different than western countries.

Q. Please brief us about company’s global reach and market share into Indian automation industry? What the marketing strategies are in order to out-front the competition?
Honeywell, with a history over 120 years, is a world leader of automation control and smart home technology. Honeywell provides Smart Home Solution in Korea since 1980’s and have installed more than 200,000 units’ network systems in Korea up to now. Honeywell home automation control solutions have been adopted in many world-recognizable property complexes. These include the Old Town Commercial Island with 405 households, a luxury property development next to Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building; Mangrove West Coast, a 1,300-unit luxury landmark property in Shenzhen, China; Tianjin City Center, the first intelligent resident in North China and Hangzhou Oriental Royal, the first highly-integrated intelligent community in East China; and others in Asia-Pacific as well as around the world.

Across Asia Pacific our Video Door Phone System have had extended installation bases as well. In India there are installation ranging from Video Door Phone to Complete Home Automation in many prestigious residential projects in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi NCR, Bangalore and Kolkata. Honeywell invests over $100 million a year in research and development. It has its engineering “centers of excellence” in the U.S., Canada, China, Korea, India, Scotland and France and leverages technologies that are developed elsewhere in Honeywell and brings them to the security business.

The state- of- the- art global R & D centre in Bangalore employs more than 6000 people, out of which 500 employees are dedicated to the Security business. There is continuous development cycle in our products to make the solutions more and more user friendly. Honeywell Security believes that we can only be successful when our partners are successful and continuously strives to develop leading technology products and solutions to our customers and be their Partner of Choice in security industry. Thus as stated earlier the local R & D setup helps us to be closer to market and competition. Constant innovation is a core competency of Honeywell.

Q.Which are the key technological trends that are driving home automation industry?
Today the user wants to have a view of its house from a remote location for example sitting in office want to have a look at the lighting loads on or off or want to check the status of its appliances like AC or want to see that their kids are being taken care appropriately by maids or people working away from hometown want to see their ageing parents and their wellbeing remotely etc.

When the user is out of the house he doesn’t want the possible intruders to feel that the home is a potential target for them so he can schedule various lighting options so that the house looks occupied. While watching a film the user can close the curtains, dim the lights and control the DVD by a single touch of button on the remote controller with him and can have an alarm to notify him in case of breakage in some other part of his house. All these needs are driving the home automation industry to continuously innovate. Through the use of our Vista alarm solution the user can arm his house and can have a real time alarm sent to him in case of a possible intrusion along with a signal to a central monitoring station which can inform the authorities to take action in time. TCP/IP and wireless technologies and integrated reliable control of fire, break-ins, lighting, curtain, air-conditioning, heating, ventilation and other sub-systems are the key driving trends in home automation industry.

Q. Could you brief us about Indian and global perspective of Honeywell home automation products? What are the distinguishing factors?
Honeywell draws from its global expertise and technology in the development of the home automation product line. With the rise in the per capita income of Indian household the need for global products as well as solutions which provide user safety and security, comfort and convenience has been increasing. With lot of focus on R&D, we customise and modify the global platforms to better suit Indian market conditions to perform optimally in our power supply conditions, environment etc.  Honeywell has been at the forefront delivering the integrated smart home solutions to the customers at the hour of need of the market. The global expertise in Automation & Control business, our constant investment in the India in talents and technology as well as partner network are the distinguishing factors that make Honeywell as a true Partner of Choice for our customers.

Q. Please tell us about the future plans for automation products? how do you plan to plan to develop your Indian operations?
India is one of the most important global markets for Honeywell Security Group and its fastest growing market in the world. Keeping this in mind we are confident and would continue investing in this market. Although today the Indian consumer is learned enough and is in touch with the best- in-class technologies, there is a need to continuously educate them and inform them about the latest trends and technologies which can help to achieve energy efficiency combined with user convenience and comfort. Gone are the days when a simple lock guarding our homes was sufficient. With the family structures undergoing a change and concept of both partners working has led to an increasing sense of insecurity, leading to a demand for external security gadgets. There are a lot of working couples whose children stay at home alone after school or whose aged parents live alone. Security systems can increase the safety quotient in these situations. These nuclear families and working couples understand and accept the security and comfort needs and are ready to invest in these products.

With growing penetration of internet in our lives and increased technological feasibility through 3G, it is much more convenient to see, access your home through internet which few years back was a dream. Through the use of Honeywell smart home control system, video door phone, smart lighting control switches, Vista touch screen and Armor intrusion panel or the residential video system, all these things are now possible. After all, our home and our loved ones are our most precious asset, and a home security and comfort system is one of the most important investments we’ll ever make.

For more information on
Honeywell security
products and applications please visit us at
www.honeywell.com/securitysouthasia
or write to us at security.india@honeywell.com