Black & Decker may be your go-to company when you’re thinking about a DustBuster, but what about home control? The company wants to suck up some of that business as well, and they are calling on Control4 for a little help.

Control4 just announced a deal with the appliance giant, which means that homeowners will soon be able to manage ZigBee radio-equipped door locks via Control4’s home automation system. While it may not sound that wild, it actually means you can time various events, so when you turn off the lights, the doors will lock, etc. Of course, all of this can also be done over the web, which means you can let in the cable guy and lock the door after his deed is done. 

It’s just another added bonus for your budding home system—and we like all bonuses.

On Black & Decker’s end, the company will market compatible products under brands such as Baldwin, Kwikset and Weiser Lock.

“Black & Decker is a world-class organization, and our collaborative efforts to develop interoperability between Control4’s platform and their residential access control solutions have been a pleasure for our entire team,” said Will West, Control4’s CEO. “We continue to demonstrate our commitment to collaborate with a wide range of companies that provide products for the home. There are nearly endless opportunities for all sorts of companies who want to be a part of the digital home to discover and develop synergies with the Control4 platform.”

Expect to see Black & Decker’s new residential access control offerings hit sometime during summer 2009.

About the Author:
Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.