Case Study: Makeovers That Matter

Even in the land of extreme, some makeovers are more extreme than others. New Jersey integrator Silicon East naturally was thrilled when its longtime business partner, The Pinnacle Companies, a local construction firm for which it has handled numerous home integration projects, asked it to participate over the summer in a special episode of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

The challenge: Outfit a new home for the Llanes family of Bergenfield, N.J., not only with intelligent automation systems, but also with the latest in accessibility and assistive technology for its disabled family members. Quickly, the solution provider found itself at the center of its largest project to date—one that it would be forced to complete in less than one-fifth of the time it normally would schedule for such an undertaking.

"When you are really out at the leading edge of doing this, you really are out in unchartered waters. There's no question that this stuff is not just plug and play," said Silicon East President Marc Harrison, who assumed the role of general contractor for the project after it was clear the show's producers needed more guidance. "I recognized that if someone didn't do it, there was no way [we] could have pulled this together in the week." As it was, the tech buildout was orchestrated by Harrison and his volunteers in the span of about three days, with several hours of sleep snatched here and there when exhaustion set in.

With its natural cedar shakes outside and Asian aesthetic inside, which includes a water wall in the entrance hallway that keeps the house properly humidified, the Llanes' new house is an interior designer's dream. It also is a gadgetphile's fantasy. The entire three-story structure, including its solar panels, is linked through an automation system from Home Automated Living (HAL) that can be controlled via voice commands. The system can handle basic tasks, such as regulating the heat or air conditioning; monitoring the security cameras and appliances; turning on and off the lights; and controlling the automatic blinds.

The latter two tasks take on special significance for the Llanes household. That's because four of the six family members—father Vic, his mother Isabel and his daughters Carrie and Guenivir—suffer from a degenerative eye disease called anaridia. As they are exposed to light, individuals who suffer from this condition eventually go blind. Vic and his mother already have lost their vision completely, while the girls are considered legally blind. The HAL system lets the two other family members, mother Maria and son Zeb, maintain the ambient lighting at levels suitable for Carrie and Guenivir's eyes that will minimize damage. It also can be used as a sort of signaling system: That's because although Zeb hasn't been afflicted with anaridia, he has been deaf from birth.

"We could say, 'Turn on Zeb's bedroom light for five seconds.' It really beats having to go upstairs to call him; it is not like we can just shout his name," Vic said.

He continued: "Another matter is the thermostat control, which people with sight take for granted. With the home automation, I can do it myself and with confidence that I have adjusted it to the exact setting I want. I used to count or even just guess how many up arrows or down arrows."

One of the hardest tasks for Silicon East to accomplish was hooking the home automation system into the solar panels from BP Solar, Harrison said. Even though there was no previous middleware linking the two, Silicon East found a way to provide data regarding the ambient environment back to the system monitoring the panels. On days when solar energy is powering the house more efficiently, the system can communicate back to the Llanes' utility company, reducing their electric bills.

Three access points from SonicWall provide the home with a wireless network, as well as an interface back to Silicon East's headquarters in Manalapan, N.J., through which the solution provider can monitor the status of all the devices in the home. The whole system is connected to the outside world with Verizon's "fibre to the home" service, providing 30-Mbps Internet access, which most of the family members surf using Hewlett-Packard notebooks.