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8 Security Dealer & Integrator / www.SecurityInfoWatch.com April 2017 Kerzner SECURITY WATCH Alarm.com Settles with Honeywell End of antitrust lawsuit signals the close of Alarm.com's acquisition of Icontrol Networks' Connect and Piper business units larger base of customers," Kerzner says. "There is even more to be done." In addition, Kerzner says the com- bination of the R&D; capacity between Alarm.com and Icontrol will help it meet the ever-evolving needs of the smart home market. "There is probably more activity and more changes happening today than in the past, and we believe you have to invest even more," he says. "Alarm.com has been growing its R&D; spending faster than revenue has been grow- ing for the last couple of years because we felt like we needed to invest for the future. This allows us to accelerate that because we have a larger team and a larger customer base to support." As a company, Alarm.com has experienced transformative growth in recent years with the rise of connected home technology. The company, which started out as relatively small, niche player in the security space, has grown to launch an initial public offering on the NASDAQ in the summer of 2015 and has seen its stock price nearly double over the last year and a half. Kerzner attributes the company's growth primarily to their dedication to developing innovative technology offer- ings, and the strong support of their dealer partners through the years. "We think the security industry is the best engine for bringing smart home technology into peoples' lives. It has been a busy couple of years and this deal is an opportunity for us to take that even further," Kerzner concludes. "I think the technology industry is a place where you always have to be going forward – figuring out how to invest more and innovate faster – and that's what we are trying to do." In related news, Comcast has announced that it has officially com- pleted its acquisition of Icontrol's "Converge" software platform. In a blog post, Daniel Herscovici, senior vice president and general manager for Xfinity Home, said that like Alarm.com, the acquisition will give them control over their R&D; roadmap. "By owning the part of Icontrol that brings the core home security technol- ogy platform to life, we can invest stra- tegically for the future and accelerate the pace of innovation for Xfinity Home – particularly in the area of connected home security," Herscovici writes. ■ Alarm.com has entered into an agree- ment to settle the antitrust lawsuit recently filed against the company by Honeywell and has subsequently closed its acquisition of Icontrol Networks' Connect and Piper busi- ness units. In an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Alarm.com said the settlement agree- ment became effective upon the closing of the acquisition and that both com- panies have agreed to keep the terms of the settlement confidential. According to Dan Kerzner, chief product officer for Alarm.com, the com- pletion of the deal means the company will be able to significantly ramp up its R&D; efforts by combining the efforts of the Piper and Connect teams – located in Silicon Valley and Ottawa, Canada, respectively – with their existing R&D; offices throughout the county. "The motivation behind doing the deal was our belief that there is a secular trend going on around the smart home and Internet of Things," Kerzner says. "These are all things that Alarm.com has been leading in since 2000 when we got started, and we feel there is going to be both more opportunity and compe- tition moving forward. We see this as an opportunity to double-down on the research and devel- opment investments that we have always made, and to extend the offerings that we can bring to the industry." The completion of the acquisi- tion also means that Alarm.com will be adding ADT to its customer list, as the residential security leader currently leverages the Icontrol remote services platform. Kerzner says this is yet another reason they will be accelerating R&D.; "We worked with the Protection 1 management team for a long time, so we think it is a great opportunity to scale our development efforts across an even The Piper home security system comes with a 1080p video camera, a motion sensor, a siren and a mobile app. The Piper business unit was a part of Alarm.com's acquisition. BY JOEL GRIFFIN