Ericsson, Comcast Ventures, HP, Zubie, and other key executives to discuss convergence of connected cars and smart homes at CONNECTIONS™ Conference

Parks Associates announced today that 27% of U.S. car owners would like a feature that enables a connected car to communicate with the Internet-connected devices in their home, such as smart garage door openers and door sensors. Parks Associates and industry leaders will address the market dynamics of the smart home and connected car ecosystems, as well as future trends and investment strategies for these and other connected home industries, at the 20^th-annual CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference, May 24-26, at the Hyatt San Francisco Airport.

“The connected car and smart home markets are growing in parallel with each other, and remote home security and controls, entertainment on-the-go, and home energy management are emerging as key use cases to expand consumer interest in the connected car,” said Jennifer Kent, Director, Research Quality & Product Development, Parks Associates. “At CONNECTIONS™, we examine the crossover opportunities in the connected car and smart home ecosystems and the challenges in bringing these disparate industries together.”

Parks Associates reports companies with assets in both ecosystems, such as mobile network operators and insurance companies, stand to benefit the most from the convergence and will push the markets closer together. Currently the smartphone is the connected device most closely associated with the connected car—61% of car owners would prefer to bundle vehicle data with smartphone data under one billing plan. Smart home devices are starting to take a prominent role in the connected car ecosystem as well. Smart home players like Nest, ADT, Alarm.com, and Hue have already announced partnerships with players in the automotive space.

“Connected car players need to develop assets and foster partnerships across adjacent connected ecosystems, such as the smart home and smart cities ecosystems,” Kent said. “Consumers gravitate towards connected solutions that enhance their lifestyles wherever they are; solutions that are closed, device-specific, or otherwise do not play well with others will struggle to retain consumer loyalty in the long term.”

CONNECTIONS™ features these sessions on the connected car and smart home markets:

“Connected Cars: Innovation and New Consumer Experiences,” Tuesday, May 24, 4:45 p.m., moderated by Jennifer Kent, Director, Research Quality & Product Development, Parks Associates, features the following speakers:

• Matt Bornski, Director and Chief Architect of Enterprise Services, Wink
• Navin Ganeshan, Chief Product Officer, Zubie
• David Jumpa, Chief Revenue Officer, Airbiquity, Inc.
• Diomedes Kastanis, Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson

“The car represents a great opportunity to show consumers what the connected home can really do for them,” said Matt Bornski, Director and Chief Architect of Enterprise Services, Wink. “Leaving and entering your home are two of the points of highest activity in terms of interactions with your devices, and as more of these devices become connected devices, and as more cars become connected cars, we can reduce friction of the transition between home and away and give consumers a great experience that makes their lives simpler.”

“Growth and Investing in the IoT and Smart Home,” Thursday, May 26, 1:45 p.m., moderated by Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates, concludes the conference with a discussion on the next areas of investment for the consumer IoT and the products and services that are exciting to investors and VCs. The panel features the following speakers:

• Chris Avery, Managing Director, Investment Banking, Maxim Group LLC
• Vinicius David, Director of Consumer Services, HP
• Manny Fernandez, CEO & Co-founder, DreamFunded.com
• Peg Jackson, Managing Director, Mooreland Partners
• Michael Yang, Managing Director, Comcast Ventures

"Demand from investors to invest in Internet of Things companies is on the rise, and now with equity crowdfunding, we can allow 240 million Americans to invest for the first time in 83 years,” said Manny Fernandez, Co-Founder & CEO of DreamFunded.com.

“The future success of the IoT and smart home space relies not only on the emerging startups and technologies, but investor decisions, support, and guidance from the VC community,” said Michael Yang, Managing Director of Comcast Ventures. “CONNECTIONS™ provides a brilliant platform for investors and entrepreneurs alike to understand the ecosystem, identify the trends, and discuss best next steps to bring the smart home together.”

Event sponsors include Reception Sponsors CEL and Zonoff; Session Sponsors Icontrol Networks and PlumChoice; Lunch Sponsors Coldwell Banker and NXP; Silver Sponsors Alarm.com, Assurant, Asurion, Centercode, ROC-Connect, Support.com, ULE Alliance, WiZR, and ZigBee Alliance; Bronze Sponsors Audio Analytic, Ayla Networks, Cirrent, EVRYTHNG, Flextronics, Honeywell, HP, iQor, mnubo, People Power, PlanetEcosystems, WeatherBug Home, and Z-Wave; Program Guide Sponsor Vivint; Breakfast Sponsors Greenwave Systems and leakSMART; and Break Sponsors Home8, Home Advisor, Nortek Security & Control, State Farm, and Tyco.

For more information on CONNECTIONS™, visit www.connectionsus.com. Follow the conference on Twitter at @CONNECTIONS_US, #CONNUS16, and on the CONNECTIONS™ Industry Insights Blog. To schedule an interview with an analyst or request specific research, contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com, 720.987.6614.

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