Joining us on the podcast from Salt Lake City, UT, is Eric Smith, who most people with a history in the custom integration industry will immediately associate with Control4, the company he co-founded, along with Will West, back in 2003.

After some time away from the smart home industry, Eric and Will have returned with their new company, called OliverIQ. Their goal is to put smart home automation “in reach for everyone” through what they’ve dubbed Smart Home as a Service.

Partnering with national and global service providers, such as ISPs and large home builders for example, OliverIQ aims to scale their platform rapidly, offering comprehensive product support, unlimited online and phone support, in-home assistance, and security system monitoring, all for a low monthly cost.

Our guest today, who serves officially as CTO of this new company, helps explain more about the concept behind OliverIQ, provide some updates since its launch back in January, and share some surprising reactions from custom integrators so far.