Imagine being able to view TV programs and closed circuit camera output on any TV in the house, pick up one or more telephone lines or access high speed Internet lines in any room, and share printers anywhere through a local area network. Then, as you leave the house, with the flick of a single switch switch, you dim all the interior lights, shut down your electronic appliances, lower the thermostat and activate the security system.
Horizon Technologies Inc., of Victoria, B.C. and NORDX/CDT Inc., of Pointe Claire, Que. have joined forces in the potentially lucrative home-networking and -automation markets. Under their collaborative arrangement, NORDX/CDT provides the cabling, connectivity and multimedia communication centre infrastructure, while Horizon supplies the automated control system and components that plug into the infrastructure.
NORDX/CDT's high performance RUN home cabling system and modular communications centre products support all of a home's multimedia services, including telephone, cable TV, high-speed data, fax, shared Internet access, digital video, networked personal computers, security and home-automation applications. In short, it's the infrastructure for the information superhighway.
Apart from the obvious convenience and improved communications, a home-networking and -automation system controls the indoor environment, lighting and appliances, resulting in a more comfortable indoor environment and energy savings. For example, Horizon worked with Natural Resources Canada to develop an intelligent graphical thermostat that warns when the furnace filters need changing or the heating system's efficiency requires attention.
For the two companies, the goal is to make such systems so reliable and affordable that they can be installed in every modern home, apartment, condominium or small business. Horizon and NORDX/CDT have therefore concentrated on developing flexible, integrated and standard-based solutions that will grow with evolving technological developments.
NORDX/CDT's RUN cabling system is available now and the integrated Horizon-NORDX/CDT products lines are expected to formally launched in early 2000.
(250) 592-0487
Ludo Bertsch
Horizon Technologies Inc.
(514) 822 7140
Morris Stelcner
NORDX/CDT Inc.