"Less than a month after completing its move from Palumbo Drive to its spacious 43,500-square-foot headquarters on New Circle Road in August, Elan Home Systems was again breaking new ground.
The Lexington-based manufacturer of multi-room audio/video and home control systems, which offers a family of 800 products designed to take high-tech entertainment housewide, has introduced a new line of interactive touchpads called Olè, with designer film options to match every dècor and a pricepoint made to suit more wallets.
"We've just shaken up the whole keypad market," said Kat Fowler, Elan vice president, marketing and technical services. "It's really created a whole new product category in our industry."
In terms of the product's positioning, Olè is designed to bridge the gap between the more elaborate, graphic-rich LCD touch panel and the simpler, more affordable keypad controls. The technology allows users to access housewide systems such as satellite radio, CD and DVD collections, and lighting through a custom-installed backlit unit with a mix-and-match choice of designer film overlays, frames and functionality options, all for an MSRP of $380. By comparison, Elan's VIA! touch panel system, which the company touts as one of the most affordable on the market, carries a price tag of $1,800 and up.
"It reduces the cost dramatically and brings what we do to more people," Fowler said. "We knew it was a home run, but it has surpassed even our expectations."
Dealer response to Olè, which was officially launched at the CEDIA Expo in Denver in September, has been overwhelmingly positive, Fowler said, with more than 9,500 units sold in its first two weeks on the market, making it Elan's most successful product launch to date. Olè was also recognized by Electronic House Magazine as one of its Products of the Year for 2006. In addition, Elan has reported stronger sales of its overall home systems since Olè hit the market, a factor which it attributes to the availability of the more affordable but still graphically appealing Olè touchpads.
"Olè sets a new benchmark in design, control and price for the specialty market," said Bob Farinelli, Elan's president and chief technology officer. "With the massive number of dècor-matching possibilities, Olè will immediately raise the bar with respect to what dealers can provide for clients, while increasing their profits through its simple programming setup."
The company, which has doubled its staff and its office space in just over three years, has moved its operation into two buildings just off Liberty Road, one of which houses its improved headquarters training center to serve Elan's network of 700 dealers in 56 countries. In addition to its monthly training sessions for dealers and installers, Elan draws more than 400 dealer representatives to Lexington every spring for either its Trio summit for business, sales and technical managers or its Tech Week intensive training session, which alternate annually.
"Our whole philosophy here is not to add a ton of dealers," Fowler said. "What we try to do is supply more products so we have more options for them."
In addition to its Olè launch, Elan has also recently broken into the home theater market, thanks in part to its acquisition of Washington-based Sunfire, a company with a longstanding reputation for the design and development of high-performance home theater products.
Elan's decision to enter the home theater market resulted not just from the growing general interest among consumers in home theater options, Fowler said. The company also identified home theater systems as a key market entry point for its clients, with many customers getting their initial introduction to Elan's product line while shopping for home theaters.
Elan launched its Theaterpoint home theater speakers last year in an effort to extend its reach into this potential customer base and widen its offerings, but its marriage with Sunfire has given Elan quick access to more products and solutions, as well as instant status in home theater.
"Now we're in every room in the house," Fowler said.
With the addition of Sunfire, Elan has roughly 140 employees, more than 115 of whom are based in Lexington.
In coming months, the company also plans to release a new iPod integrated docking station called VIA!migo, which will allow users to deliver iPod-based music and video through whole-house audio/video systems, at a retail price of $599. The product, which will be compatible with almost all iPod music models and feature the ability to upgrade its software to match iPod's latest and greatest, is targeted to start shipping in December.
"Millions of people worldwide own iPods," Farinelli said. "The beauty of this is that now homeowners can enjoy their favorite music anywhere in the home and access it with ease using Elan control panels and our multi-room systems," Farinelli said.
"I'm excited about 2007," Fowler said. "This year was a year of change, but next year will be a year to grow."
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