Partnership to Provide Affordable Home Automation to Mid-Market Homeowners and Builders

Hanley Wood is partnering with Digital Lifestyles, LLC to provide home automation designs for their architectural plans, sold through their websites, eplans.com and dreamhomesource.com, as well as all of their magazines. Digital Lifestyles' program takes the client from start to finish in providing the service of bringing home automation to the mass market.

(PRWEB) February 21, 2005 -- Digital Lifestyles, LLC, and Home Planners, LLC, wholly owned by Hanley Wood, LLC, have partnered to provide consumers and home builders with an affordable home automation upgrade package. Home Planners is promoting the upgrade package through its plans magazines and books as well as two plans websites: www.eplans.com and www.dreamhomesource.com. The pre-construction exposure will help increase public awareness of the custom electronics industry and spur an estimated workload growth of 3% or more in 2005.

Digital Lifestyles universal plug-and-play wiring topology design-named HA-Ready"-is the cornerstone of this innovative product. HA-Readys standard design offers 10 subsystems: lighting, security, telecommunications, climate control, home networking, home theater, whole-house audio/video distribution, video surveillance, electronic entry access, and motorized window treatments, and can be applied in single-family or multifamily dwellings. Designs for wiring a gaming substructure are currently in development for use with Sony, GameCube, Nintendo, Xbox, and other gaming platforms.

HA-Ready provides an affordable entry point for mid-market consumers and builders looking to create the home of the future. The topology installation and materials are priced at approximately $4-7 per square foot, making it affordable for the mainstream, 2,500-square-foot market. This unique and affordable approach has one goal-to encourage adoption of advanced home technologies and increase growth opportunities across multiple businesses and business models.

HA-Ready offers installers more labor revenues and the opportunity to design and install additional electronics beyond the basic wiring topology. The universal topology will support any currently available electronics system, account for furniture placement and rearrangement, and accommodate future growth and technological advances.

Digital Lifestyles has also formulated a partnership with ConnectHome that will allow potential installers to participate in ConnectHomes installation network. In return, ConnectHome refers its incoming design work back to Digital Lifestyles. Full ConnectHome dealers receive full 3rd party design work, training, and technical support for their local projects. ConnectHomes website is www.connecthome.com.

The list of compatible systems includes, but is not limited to: AMX, Crestron, Xabler, Xperinet, Xplore, HAI, Applied Digital, JDS Technologies, LiteTouch, Lutron, Vantage, Centralite, Lightolier, Elan, Destiny Networks, Matrix Audio, B&K, Oxmoor, M&S Systems, ADA, Opus Technologies, Audio Access, Audio Control, Russound, Xantech, Niles, Sonance, Speakercraft, NuVo, ChannelPlus, ChannelVision, Makita, Sivoia, Somfy, BTX, Ademco, Napco, GE Interlogix, and Elk.

About Digital Lifestyles, LLC
Founded in 2001, Digital Lifestyles, LLC is a personal technologies design firm that specializes in project documentation, interface design, and producing operation and troubleshooting manuals for complete automation systems. Digital Lifestyles also offers a comprehensive training curriculum and has a unique vision for introducing advanced levels of home automation and personal technologies to the mass market.

About Hanley Wood
Hanley Wood, LLC, is the premier media company serving housing and construction. Through five operating divisions, the company produces award-winning magazines and Web sites, marquee trade shows and events, rich data, and custom marketing solutions. The company also is North Americas leading provider of home plans.

Founded in 1976, Hanley Wood is a $200 million company owned by VS&A Communications Partners III, LP, the private-equity affiliate of media industry merchant bank Veronis Suhler Stevenson.

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