Smart homes from smart guy

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This article was published 02/01/2015 (3923 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of Winnipeg’s newest startups can thank sticker shock for its existence.

Salman Qureshi was building a home three years ago in St. Norbert and asked about adding some smart-home features to the project. The answer startled him. And then inspired him.

“I wasn’t thinking about anything fancy, just some networking so I wouldn’t have to worry about wireless issues,” said Qureshi, 44, the former head of product development and manufacturing at Monteris Medical.

“I got a quote for a few thousand dollars. It was unbelievable (how expensive it was).”

It was at that point the seed of the idea was planted in the back of his mind for an all-in-one smart-home device.

Umbrela was formed a little more than a year ago by Qureshi and two other former engineers from Monteris — Felipe Fernandes and Ryan Ramchandar.

With their combo of experience in hardware and software development, they have come up with an integrated automated smart-home system that uses the house’s existing wiring.

Umbrela does not depend on the home’s Wi-Fi, and neither is it smartphone-centric like so many other automation applications.

Qureshi likes to say how proud he and his partners are about the things Umbrela does not require — such as Wi-Fi connections, custom wiring, batteries or a smartphone. It also does not require lots of money.

The ultimate plan is for the plug-and-play, do-it-yourself hardware to be sold directly to consumers. But unlike many such services — especially ones that include a security component — Umbrela will not charge monthly fees.

The concept of the smart home has been around for a long time, but it’s only recently the concept seemed to be more broadly accessible. Google’s $3.2-billion acquisition of Nest Labs early in 2014 got everyone’s attention.

“Until now, smart-home technology has only been for the wealthy or super-techy people,” Qureshi said. “If you wanted a sophisticated smart home, you would have to pay thousands.”

Umbrela’s pricing strategy is not yet in place, and the system is designed so elements can be added at any time, but it seems likely that for around $1,000 a homeowner can get started with several features in place.

The firm secured a provisional patent this fall, and Chinese manufacturing is in place as well as the supply chain.

Now Umbrela is starting to show its technology to the world.

That will effectively start next week in Las Vegas, where Umbrela will participate in the ShowStopper event at the massive Consumer Electronics Show that helps new technologies get a spotlight in front of more than 1,000 journalists who attend.

“We’re super-excited about that,” said Qureshi.

The plans are to start shipping the units in the last quarter of 2015, but the prototype of the seven-inch, anodized aluminum, high-definition touch-screen module already looks like a sophisticated, finished product.

Marshall Ring, CEO of the Manitoba Technology Accelerator, said he is not familiar with the market demand or Umbrela’s marketing strategy but is sure about one thing.

“One thing I can guarantee is that these guys are good at making things,” he said.

That’s because of their experience at Monteris, which makes technology that treats deep-seated brain tumours.

Umbrela uses a Qualcom technology called Homeplug that connects to the home’s Internet router, plugs into an electrical outlet and effectively allows the home’s electrical wiring to stream broadband.

The Umbrela units replace light switches (Qureshi said if you are comfortable replacing a light switch you can install an Umbrela unit) and furnace thermostats, and then communicate with each other via miniature cameras and sensors.

The seven-inch interface module — also plugged into the home’s electric wiring — is the command centre. The system’s software algorithms learn the lifestyle patterns in the home and can activate environmental controls, lights and even streaming music automatically, in pre-set mode or manually.

Qureshi said the marketing and financing strategies are still in development. He said plans are to launch a crowdfunding campaign early in the new year more for marketing purposes than actual fundraising.

 

But later in the year, the company does hope to seek an initial round of venture financing.

“So far the company has been funded by the founders ourselves,” said Qureshi. “We wanted to get the technology to the point where we could go to investors and show them the product as opposed to a drawing on the back of a napkin of a hard-to-describe technology.”

Qureshi figures his 10 years at Monteris Medical was an excellent training ground for launching his own startup.

He arrived in Winnipeg from Karachi, Pakistan, to get his Grade 12 at West Kildonan Collegiate and then went to the University of Manitoba for his mechanical engineering degree.

After graduation, he got a job at Bristol Aerospace and worked on defence and space projects. While working at Bristol, the company helped him get an MBA degree from the U of M taking evening classes.

In 2003, he was recruited by Monteris, which was then a startup itself.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca