The Gate smart lock is the only device on the market with a built-in wide-angle video camera that streams live footage to the owners' Gate app over Wifi or 4G cellular networks.
Gate Labs, a home security startup based in San Francisco, California, has officially launched a feature-rich smart lock in the smart home market, retailing for $349.99 on the Gate website and on Amazon.
The Gate smart lock is the only device on the market with a built-in wide-angle video camera that streams live footage to the owners' Gate app over Wifi or 4G cellular networks. Owners receive a notification when Gate’s motion sensor is triggered by a visitor approaching the door at which time live video recording begins. Owners can communicate with guests via Gate’s two-way audio system and continue to observe all activity as the door opens and visitors enter the home.
Gate comes with features that are commonly offered among other smart locks—owners having the ability to lock and unlock their doors remotely, send unique access codes (i.e., temporary e-keys) with preset expirations, and use physical keys as a backup—but what Gate has that competitors do not is a single unit set up with a standard HD 150° field-of-view camera embedded in the lock unit. Other smart lock systems require additional items (sold and installed separately) to equal Gate’s engineering quality and feature set.
“We created Gate to help parents and on-the-go homeowners securely manage access to their homes,” said Engle Saez, CEO of Gate, “Whether it’s getting groceries delivered, letting the dog walker in, letting the kids in, receiving Airbnb guests, or a permitting a repairman to come in and fix the thermostat while you’re away—Gate lets you grant and manage access, observe activity live, and interact with anyone who comes through your door—all from the Gate App on your phone.”
The idea for Gate originated from a common experience shared by three electrical engineers who were working on a Google X project near Menlo Park in 2014. The engineers—Ehsan Saeedi, Harvey Ho, and Danial Ehyaei (Danial came from Qualcomm)—were working long hours and couldn’t always be home when their groceries were delivered, the cleaners arrived, or the laundry was dropped off. Food spoiled, people waited, and laundry swung in the wind. Tired of hiding and losing keys and missing deliveries, they created Gate to make a convenient, modern lifestyle more tenable.
“We designed Gate to function as your personal 24/7 doorman,” said Danial Ehyaei, Chief Technology Officer at Gate. “Homeowners can issue one-time codes to individuals they trust like nannies, dog walkers, neighbors, and delivery or service personnel for access to their homes while they’re away.”
The $50 billion smart home industry is exploding and it seems a new player enters the market every quarter, but Gate is already looking ahead to the future of smart home security, and gearing its product roadmap towards the next horizon in smart lock innovation.
“Sending access codes will soon be obsolete,” said Saez. “We’re working on biometrics as a way to provide added layers of security, including facial recognition. Three years from now, anything requiring trusted access control, such as security sensitive environments like daycare centers, schools, hospitals, hotels, banks, and theaters will be able to authenticate you. This concatenation of hardware, software, and firmware is the foundation for the Gate Trusted Access platform.”
Product Adopted:Residential Security