Keep a Watchful Eye on Your House with the Blink Smart Home Monitoring System

Kimberly Kulesh

This blog was authored by Don Shulsinger, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Immedia

1. TI: What Is Blink Home Monitoring?

Blink is a one-of-a-kind, battery-powered, ultra-affordable, whole home-monitoring system that’s simple to set up and use, and is equally perfect for both renters and homeowners. Its compact, totally wire-free design houses innovative HD video technology, plus motion and temperature sensors, to deliver instant home insight to your mobile device via the Blink App.

2. TI: What Makes Blink Stand Out from Its Competitors?

Blink is a unique entry into the home monitoring space: a wire-free HD home monitoring and alert system that aims to make smartphone-based home insight easy and affordable for the masses, whether they rent or own. How? By building a product around three tenets that translate into real-life benefits for its rapidly-growing community.

Make it affordable. With no monthly fees, users can create a whole-house system for far less than the cost of traditional home monitoring and security products, with the flexibility to affordably expand their system as necessary.
Make it easy to set up. Blink offers simple, DIY set-up that requires little technical or toolbox know-how. Its battery-powered, wire-free design makes it uniquely appealing, in that users can truly place it anywhere - on a bookshelf or desk, flush on the wall, or in a corner, without having to worry about the nearest outlet, or unsightly wires draped across their home or apartment.
Make it simple to customize and manage. Blink allows users to create a system that suits their lifestyle. Want to make sure your garage is safe? Arm Blink’s motion detection, and receive an alert and video clip if a door or window opens. Prefer to check in on your furry friend a few times a day? Activate Live View for a glimpse of what’s happening at home. Worried about a break-in? Add the optional, 105db alarm unit to ward off intruders. Want to keep an eye on your home while you’re away on vacation? Blink’s batteries last a year, giving you the flexibility to check in as much as you want.
Users can also choose from two video storage options: free cloud-based storage (which holds 1440 5-second clips) or local USB storage (which holds over 40,000 5-second clips), and temperature and status alerts round out a rich feature set that’s scheduled to expand further in 2016.

3. There Are Many Wireless Connectivity Technologies on the Market. Why Did You Choose to Integrate Wi-Fi® In Blink?

In an increasingly wireless world, convenience and flexibility are key. Through the use of Wi-Fi, we are able to provide the broadest possible number of consumers the power to move, operate, and use their system anytime and from anywhere. With its Wi-Fi-based technology, Blink makes access to one’s home and peace of mind just a tap away.

4. Why Did You Choose TI’s SimpleLink™ Wi-Fi CC3100 Connectivity Technology for Your Product?

TI's SimpleLink Wi-Fi technology is a cost effective, easy to integrate, low-power, small footprint solution which is ideally suited for Blink. By utilizing the SimpleLink device’s ability to support intermittent connection mode – in which the device goes into low power mode for extended periods of time, and then upon a sensor trigger indicates activity in the room – the device performs a highly optimized fast wake up, reconnection and transmission of visual data to the cloud. This low-power technology enables extended battery life of the product for a better overall consumer experience.

5. Where Do You See Your Technology/solution Going in the Next Five Years?

With the advanced technology Blink already has in place, and the possibilities available in today’s fast-paced market, there is significant potential for our already one-of-a-kind system to continue to grow. As wire-free design is one of our primary differentiators, we are highly aware of the demand for outdoor-compatibility, and this may very easily be what our consumers see in the next generation of Blink. Another highly-requested feature is smart-home integration, and with convenience to our users being one of our top priorities, this is certainly a feature we are excited about implementing in the future.

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