Parks Associates event focuses on converging Internet of Things industries

Parks Associates today announced the keynote lineup for the 20^th-annual CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference, featuring executives from Amazon, Cablevision, Comcast’s Xfinity Home, Rovi, SmartThings, and Vivint Smart Home. These IoT leaders will address the use cases and emerging business models that will successfully engage consumers and grow revenues in the converging IoT industries – including smart home, connected entertainment, and mobile ecosystems.

“CONNECTIONS™ offers executives a significant opportunity to discuss the dynamics of the IoT and the connected home ecosystems, which are constantly shifting as new players and solutions enter the market,” said Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates. “Consumers are embracing these new technologies, with nearly 50% of U.S. broadband households planning to buy a smart home device in 2016, and expressing new concerns, with 44% of consumers extremely concerned about their private information being stolen. The CONNECTIONS™ keynotes are leaders in the IoT and will offer visionary plans for businesses to grow these markets and address challenges in order to deliver an exceptional consumer experience.”

CONNECTIONS™ will host over 650 executives from the connected entertainment, IoT, and smart home industries at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport in San Francisco, May 24-26. Parks Associates analysts will moderate all sessions and present new consumer research. The keynote schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, May 24

• 10:15 a.m. – Daniel Herscovici, SVP & GM, Comcast’s Xfinity Home, will present the opening keynote “Platform Disruption: Overcoming IoT Adoption Challenges.”He will discuss strategies for unifying the consumer experience as they navigate and interact with the Internet of Things. 
• 2:15 p.m. – David Isbitski, Chief Evangelist Alexa and Echo, Amazon, will present the afternoon keynote “Accelerating Smart Home Adoption through Voice Control and Alexa.”He will address the role of voice control as the ecosystem of partners grows and use cases expand across traditionally separate verticals.

Wednesday, May 25

• 10:00 a.m. – Rob Comstock, Executive Vice President, Operations, Cablevision Systems Corporation, will present the morning keynote “Being the Service Provider of the Future.”
• 5:00 p.m. – Robert Parker, SVP of Engineering, SmartThings, will present the keynote “Driving Mass-Market Adoption of the Smart Home.”He will discuss best practices and strategy around how to expand the smart home market, including ways to drive consumer usage once these solutions are in the home.

Thursday, May 26

• 9:30 a.m. – Matt Eyring, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Vivint Smart Home, will present the keynote “The Transition from Connected Home to Smart Home.”He will explore the key elements of integration and consumer interaction necessary to drive the best user experiences in the smart home.
• 1:15 p.m.  – Michael Hawkey, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Discovery Business Group, Rovi, will present the final keynote of the conference. His keynote presentation, “Powering ‘What’s On’ In A New World,”will explore the latest trends shaping entertainment discovery.

CONNECTIONS™ 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, HomeAdvisor, 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.

About CONNECTIONS™

Parks Associates' 29th annual CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference is hosted May 13-15 at Renaissance Dallas at Plano Legacy in Plano, Texas, and brings industry leaders together to provide insights and business forecasting about the adoption of technology including broadband, smart home, security, connected health, energy, and home automation.

CONNECTIONS™ provides ongoing insights throughout the year with virtual and in-person conference sessions. Parks Associates' analyst team leads the conference sessions, which are focused on technology innovations, consumer adoption and trends, product and service forecasts, and the evaluation of new business strategies, partnerships, monetization opportunities, and value-added service design.

CONNECTIONS™ is a pivotal platform for partnerships and exploring the future of technology adoption and its impact on consumers and businesses. www.connectionsus.com