A home automation installation on a project home in Westchester County, New York, won IVCi Home the 2007 Crestron Integration award for “Best Integrated Home System.” The award goes to a solution that best integrates lighting, HVAC, security, distributed audio and video and home theatre systems into one Crestron control panel.

I don’t allocate many articles for those I would deem “professional integrators,” like the folks at IVCi Home. Maybe that is because I imagine only a small percentage of readers could actually afford one of their solutions. (Incidentally, IVCi’s award-winning project was designed and installed for an entertainment industry type who wanted the home to “embody Hollywood-style elegance. I doubt many corners were cut.) The truth is, though, it’s the higher-end of the home automation industry that drives would-be developers of affordable solutions to attempt to replicate the professionally installed system for those homeowners who have equal interest in – but perhaps not the affluence to afford – whole-home automation.

So, read up on the IVCi award-winning home, dream about having your own integrated home automation system, and take solace in knowing that you can, and you don’t have to spend whatever this homeowner spent…

Ben Hardy - Contributing Writer

Between watching re-runs of the The Jetsons and convincing his Insteon and Z-Wave controls to get along, Ben Hardy is immersed in the world of home automation, home control, and home networking.