France-based Legrand, the world’s largest switch and socket maker, announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Netatmo, another French company that specializes in connected home devices.
France-based Legrand, the world’s largest switch and socket maker, announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Netatmo, another French company that specializes in connected home devices.
Netatmo will be integrated into Legrand’s portfolio, as the company strives to strengthen its presence in the smart home industry, and to speed up the development of its connected solution program Eliot.
Legrand said with the acquisition, it “strengthens its presence in the Internet of Things” and “takes another significant step forward in deploying its Eliot program for connected solutions.”
Netatmo’s founder and CEO Fred Potter will become the Chief Technology Officer of the Eliot program, and will contribute to the design of connected solutions.
Founded in 2011, Netatmo has launched 13 smart home products that are sold all around the world. Its product portfolio includes smart thermostat, smart radiator valve, indoor and outdoor cameras, and weather stations. It is sometimes compared to the U.S.-based smart home company Nest.
Netatmo has collaborated with companies in the building industry through its “with Netatmo” partnership program to develop integrated solutions that fit into home infrastructure.
Netatmo has more than 200 employees and 1.3 million active products, and generates annual sales of around €45 million (US$50 million). The company’s 130 engineers with expertise in artificial intelligence, integration of software into products and user experience will join Legrand’s R&D teams.
Potter believes the acquisition marks a positive development in the smart home industry. “The acquisition of Netatmo by Legrand will help make smart homes a reality, along with our aim of seeing our solutions adopted by as many people as possible.”
“Our teams will continue to develop new products and update existing products with the same care to offer our users the best smart home experience,” Potter added.
Legrand has been a stakeholder of Netatmo since 2015, and in the three years since, have co-developed various smart home solutions, including the Céliane with Netatmo and Living Now with Netatmo.
Apple HomeKit compatibility
Netatmo just yesterday announced that its Smart Indoor Camera (Welcome) becomes compatible with Apple HomeKit. With automatic firmware update, users will be able to control the camera with Siri and to link the camera to other HomeKit-compatible devices.
The smart camera is equipped with facial recognition technology and can learn faces and refer to them by name. As such, it can warn users via their smartphone when an intruder or a stranger is detected, by sending a picture of the unknown face along with a video.
With the HomeKit update, users now have access to the live stream from the camera. They can use voice commands like“Hey Siri, show me the living room” to view what is happening in any places where the camera is installed.
Also, users can create customized scenarios with their cameras and other smart home devices. For example, they can create a scenario where the lights turn on when the camera’s sensors detect a person, and turn them off when the person leaves the room.
The Smart Indoor Camera sells at £200 (US$256) at retail on Amazon.uk and Netatmo’s website as well as in retailers John Lewis, Maplin, Argos, Shopdirect, Dixons retails, Smartech.