Cable MSO Altice USA will begin marketing Nest connected home products and services across its footprint, which consists of Optimum and Suddenlink operations. The products include Nest Learning Thermostat, Nest Thermostat E, Nest Protect smoke and CO alarm and Nest Cams. The Altice USA home networking portfolio will also include Altice Aware, a subscription service for provisioning of intelligent alerts and 24/7 continuous video recording for Nest Cams. Professional installation also is available.
“Altice USA is focused on providing our customers with the services and solutions that support their full digital lifestyles, and offering Nest products is our next step in delivering a more robust and differentiated product set to enable the smart home experience and meet even more of consumers’ connectivity needs,” Dexter Goei, Altice USA Chairman & CEO said in a press release.
The Nest connected home product portfolio is currently available at select Suddenlink and Optimum retail outlets. Altice USA reports it plans to expand availability to all its sales channels, including all stores as well as online and by phone, in the future.
Altice USA was formed through the acquisitions of Cablevision (Optimum) and Suddenlink by European based Altice, forming a top five cable MSO triple play provider in the U.S. The U.S. operations recently went public, trading under the ticker NYSE:ATUS.
Home Networking Challenges
Home networking is a promising business as consumer and home office demand grows. There are challenges, however. The growing presence of these networks presents easy attack points for hackers. One common method in which they are exploited is the creation of botnet armies that are used to mount destructive DDoS attacks.
For instance, one of the main ways that the huge Mirai botnet — which still is active – got so well penetrated is reportedly by compromising home video surveillance cameras present in home networks. In many cases, these cameras are operating with inadequate or no security at all. Presumably, Altice’s involvement will help to alleviate these threatening type situations.
