Industry-leading companies speaking at Parks Associates' 21st-annual CONNECTIONS(TM): The Premier Connected Home Conference, May 23-25 in San Francisco

DALLAS, TX--(Marketwired - Mar 22, 2017) -  Consumer IoT research firm Parks Associates today announced the keynotes and initial speaker lineup for the 21st-annual CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference, which will be held May 23-25, in San Francisco, California. The executive conference focuses on ways to engage consumers and grow revenues in the converging IoT industries, including smart home, connected entertainment, and mobile ecosystems. The conference features keynotes by executives from Comcast, Cox Communications, Intel, and Vivint Smart Home and new research from Parks Associates.

Parks Associates research shows that innovators and early adopters are driving the smart home market, and this group is adopting solutions for safety, security, and access control. While the security industry remains the leading channel for smart home services, consumers are adopting point solutions in increasing numbers.

"As smart home solutions expand into new product categories, smart home service providers need to expand their ecosystem to keep up with the consumer," said Elizabeth Parks, Senior Vice President, Parks Associates. "CONNECTIONS™ addresses the overall market for the connected consumer, including new use cases, product features, and evolving business models that will successfully engage consumers and increase adoption of products in multiple IoT industries."

The 21st-annual event, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, will include the following keynote speakers:

• Matt Eyring, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Vivint Smart Home
• Kristine Faulkner, Senior Vice President / General Manager, COX Homelife, Cox Communications
• Miles Kingston, GM of Smart Home, Intel
• Sridhar Solur, Senior Vice President, Product & Development for Xfinity Home, Internet of Things and Data Services, Comcast

"The smart home is forcing convergence of traditionally separate industry silos, and partnerships are driving new value as integrated and flexible solutions offer a variety of unique user experiences," said Tom Kerber, Director, IoT Strategy, Parks Associates. "With more than 650 executives in attendance at CONNECTIONS™, we will shine the spotlight on new partnerships and share new business models, technology innovations, and monetization opportunities."

"Generating enthusiasm around home energy management comes down to providing consumers with meaningful data, which is increasingly challenging as the volume of information produced by connected home IoT devices and sensors continues to grow," said Amena Ali, Chief Revenue Officer, Whisker Labs. "At CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference, we look forward to discussing strategies to get consumers excited about energy management, deepening their engagement and incentivizing them to take action."

"Delivering customer value via IoT analytics and data science is the next big opportunity for smart home providers. Manufacturers who will be able to improve product design, accelerate adoption, and enhance user experience -- using insights from connected product data -- will eventually lead the smart home space," said Jennifer Sewell, Head of Product Marketing at mnubo, a leading IoT analytics solution provider. "I am excited to partake in the Parks Associates' CONNECTIONS™ event to meet leading consumer IoT and smart home brands and discuss how data-driven insights can help them differentiate and take their value-proposition to the next-level."

Additional confirmed speakers include:

• Amena Ali, Chief Revenue Officer, Whisker Labs
• Greg Berkin, Managing Director, Concours Ventures
• Dan Berte, Director, IoT, Bitdefender
• Oliver Cockcroft, Product Architect, Ayla Networks
• Jay Darfler, SVP Emerging Markets, ADT
• Casper de Clercq, General Partner, Norwest Venture Partners
• Dan DiClerico, Smart Home Advisor, HomeAdvisor
• Justin Doucette, Sr. Dir, Product Management, Linksys & Wemo, Belkin International
• Scott P. Ford, CEO, Pepper IoT
• Seth Frader-Thompson, Co-founder and President, EnergyHub, Inc.
• Luke Freiler, CEO, Centercode
• William Greene, Product Manager, Energy Services, Nest Labs
• Kal Gyimesi, Automotive Marketing Leader, IBM Watson IoT
• Kurt Hoppe, Global Head of Innovation - Connected Car, GM
• Hakan Kostepen, Executive Director - Product Strategy & Innovation, Panasonic
• Greg Kruczek, Director of New Ventures, Asurion
• Ryan Lester, Director, IoT Strategy, LogMeIn
• Joe Liu, CEO, MivaTek
• Stuart Lombard, Founder & CEO, ecobee
• Arlen Marmel, VP Marketing & Distribution, Ellation
• Elizabeth Mathes, Director of Smart Home, The Home Depot
• David Meyers, Chief Commercial Officer, Grid4C
• Lainie Muller, Director, Wellness, Alarm.com
• Kelemen Papp, Executive Director, Mooreland Partners
• Jeff Patton, GM Connected Home Products, GE Lighting
• Duane Paulson, SVP-Strategic Development, Nortek Security & Control
• Peter Radsliff, VP, Marketing, Arrayent
• Tom Rivers, VP, Connected Car Marketing, Harman
• Jerome Rota, Chief Scientist, Usability, Greenwave Systems
• Jennifer Sewell, Head of Product Marketing, mnubo - IoT Analytics
• Michael Yang, Managing Director, Comcast Ventures

Moderators / Analysts:

• Dina Abdelrazik, Research Analyst, Parks Associates
• Glenn Hower, Senior Analyst, Parks Associates
• Jennifer Kent, Director, Research Quality & Product Development, Parks Associates
• Tom Kerber, Director, IoT Strategy, Parks Associates
• Brad Russell, Research Analyst, Parks Associates
• Patrice Samuels, Senior Analyst, Parks Associates
• Brett Sappington, Senior Director of Research, Parks Associates
• Harry Wang, Senior Director of Research, Parks Associates

Parks Associates will also host three pre-show workshops on May 23, led by the firm's senior IoT analysts, on the following topics:

• Smart Home and IoT: Growth, Consumer Trends
• Connected Health and IoT: Technology Innovators and Disruptions
• Connected Entertainment: Evolving Platforms and Services

The workshops will include the latest research and industry analysis from Parks Associates. Recent data from the leading consumer IoT research firm includes the following:

• One-third of newly acquired home security systems are self-installed.
• 26% of U.S. broadband households own a smart home device; 11% of U.S. broadband households own a smart thermostat.
• 5% of U.S. broadband households own a smart plug/adapter module.
• U.S. broadband households with smart light bulbs own 2.4 of these products on average.
• 19% of U.S. broadband households plan to buy a smart major appliance in the next 12 months.
• 70% of U.S. broadband households with smart energy devices report saving money due to reduced energy consumption.
• 42% of U.S. broadband households would select electric utilities as their first choice for energy management services.
• 51% of U.S. broadband households find an IoT device that alerts them to smoke and fire highly appealing and 41% find a device that alerts them to a water leak to be highly appealing.
• More than 30 million U.S. broadband households will have a home security system by 2019.
• 11% of U.S. broadband households now have a smart watch, and approximately one million use their watch to control devices.
• 18% of U.S. broadband households own a wearable fitness device such as a smart watch or fitness tracker.
• Two-thirds of wearable fitness device owners use the device daily or almost daily.

To register for the 21st-annual CONNECTIONS™ conference and a pre-show workshop, visit http://bit.ly/CONNUSregistration. 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' 21st-annual CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference will take place May 23-25 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport in San Francisco. CONNECTIONS™ is the premier connected home event hosting over 700 executives from the connected entertainment, IoT, and smart home industries. The event provides a day of pre-show research workshops highlighting Parks Associates' consumer data and analysis and two days of conference sessions focused on technology adoption and trends, forecasts for new products and services, evaluation of new business strategies, and recommendations about technology innovations, strategic partnerships, monetization opportunities, and value-added services.

The event provides executive networking opportunities and insights from industry leaders on entertainment, mobile, and smart home market segments. Throughout the event, sponsors offer tabletop demos during networking events, spotlighting new technology innovations and services.

For more information, contact sales@parksassociates.com, call 972-490-1113, visit www.connectionsconference.com.