Frequently Asked Questions

Whenever we meet with new potential clients we are commonly asked these questions. Reviewing our responses will help you understand if cyberManor’s design approach to whole house technology integration fits your family’s short and long term home technology needs.

What makes cyberManor’s New Home Technology Center (NHTC) unique?

Our showroom home was designed with technology products that we consider to be best of breed products (see best of breed product definition below) based on our 20 plus years of providing custom technology integrated experiences for our San Francisco Bay Area clients.

This is not a showroom home with products designed by a manufacturer to showcase their own product lines. Nor is it a showroom home where product selections were based on sponsorship money. This is a home with products we would want (or now have) in our own homes based on our knowledge of today’s best home technology solutions and where we believe our industry is heading.

Home tours are given by our sales and engineering team, not volunteers or docents, since our NHTC is located directly behind our main corporate office. Visitors not only get to see how everything works, but get a deep and thorough of understanding of how all the technology works – from a detailed review of our AV and telecom racks to a visit to the garage to understand the infrastructure required for solar battery, smart circuit breaker, lighting control, and smart shower installations.

Lastly, our showroom technology solutions are never static, it is our R&D center as well as our showroom. We are always trying and adding new products to vet and test their reliability and benefit to our customers, from electronically triggered film based window coverings to new indoor air quality solutions.

What was the impetus behind the building of your New Home Technology Center?

The primary impetus for the home was to showcase a technology solution in every room inside and outside of the home – not just the traditional AV media rooms, lighting control, cameras, etc. We wanted potential clients to see and touch how technology could improve their lives in every part of the home, including the kitchen, bath, and outdoor spaces. That is why we worked so closely with Bosch/Thermador and their HomeConnect line in the kitchen and laundry room and with Kohler with their connected bathroom products. To better understand how important technology solutions are to Kohler, their vision statement reads as follows:
The world will know Kohler as the brand that provides smart environments that help consumers care for themselves and the ones they love.

For Kohler and Bosch/Thermador to realize this vision they need to professionally demonstrate their products beyond their traditional channels and partner with custom integration channel companies like cyberManor. Our showcase home is the perfect location for these companies to highlight how their products complement many of the technology solutions in an integrated home – in our case one integrated by the Control4 platform.

Another very important impetus for the home was to reinforce the message to our clients and builder partners that cyberManor’s core strength is the knowledge and demonstrable expertise to be the single source contact for all technology solutions in the home. For cyberManor to create long term and real value for our customers we need to advise them on the full range of technology solutions for their new or remodeled homes. We frequently hear from clients that have toured the home that they wish their contractor had told them about intelligent multi-valve showers, behind the mirror TVs, or smart skylights (for example) before they started building their dream home. But now they are too far along in the construction process to add these home technology products. We want our clients to understand all the home technology options that may fit their needs both for today and tomorrow. Now our clients can knowledgeably prioritize what is important to them and their family with the best overall information on a broad range of home technology solutions.

The current situation is severely impacting business, but that notwithstanding, what’s most in demand for your customers right now? How do you keep your potential clients from not being overwhelmed by the breadth of home technology offerings?

Covid-19 has significantly changed people’s willingness to meet face to face right now. As a result many customers and builder partner’s prefer to have virtual tours of our showroom until everyone feels safer to move around more freely. To accommodate that need we now do virtual tours upon request. A couple of months ago we did a virtual tour of our new home technology center to a large group of sonnen battery employees that attended from around the world. We will be doing more of those virtual tours as well as creating a cyberManor video channel that will showcase all the technology features of the home.

Our clients typically are not overwhelmed by the technology for a couple of reasons:
* When you walk into our New Technology Center Home it just looks like a beautiful and comfortable, contemporary home – the interior design shows very little obvious technology and yet there are almost 100 networked devices in about 1000 square feet of space.
* All the home’s technology is controlled by a single application – Control4 on touchscreens or iOS/Android mobile devices or by voice such as Alexa, Google, and Josh. Ease of usage and intuitive control interfaces are the panacea for technology complexity.

The greatest demand from our customers is that cyberManor provide a fully integrated technology and control solution for our clients, one that includes whole house AV, lighting control, motorized windows, security cameras, etc. These custom integrated technology solutions must also blend with the overall aesthetic and interior design of the home.

How are our customers reacting to voice control for home automation?

Overall well. We think voice control of the home is still in its infancy, but it gets better literally on a daily basis as the software improves. Some voice commands are incredibly powerful and well received, such as “I’m home” and “I’m leaving”. Invoking these commands turns on/off TVs, music, lights, HVAC, motorized blinds/skylights, and the security system in our showcase home. Watching all of these systems operate simultaneously with using just 3 words is an awesome display of custom electronic integration and the value it can provide for our client’s homes.

If app based solutions are so easy to use why can’t I just buy these products and install these systems myself? Why do I need cyberManor as my custom integrator?

The answer to this question really depends on the product(s) you want to install. For the core home technology systems that serve your entire house you will usually need a custom home electronics integrator. Whole house lighting control with nearly unlimited lighting fixture support, motorized window shades with an extensive variety of window treatments and fabrics, distributed audio/video with built in high resolution TVs, high fidelity speakers, and high definition indoor and outdoor camera security systems all require professional expertise and planning. All of these systems require extensive whole house prewiring to enable the reliable distribution of audio, video, and control signals throughout the home from a Centralized Telecom Rack. These home technology solutions require a robust wired and wireless networking infrastructure to ensure that all of these systems communicate and integrate well with each other so they can easily controlled by keypads, mobile devices, and voice inside and outside of the home.

What are your criteria for selecting your “best of breed” product offerings?

These company’s products possess at least four of the following key attributes:

  • Extremely high product reliability
  • Extensive R&D efforts to maintain a market leadership position
  • Competent, reliable, and responsive technical support team
  • An ongoing commitment to improve and enhance graphical applications that run on all Apple and Android mobile platforms
  • The company’s product platform has become an ecosystem for third party products that enhance their product line
  • A unique new offering of entertainment or home control from an iOS, WatchOS, tvOS or Android OS product

I am building my new home – what home technology products and services can you provide for me?

Whether you are building a new home or remodeling an existing home you can review all of our services here. Our cyberManor team looks forward to working with you and your builder team.

Where can I see and experience these Smart Home products?

Many of the products described on our site can be seen and experienced at our Control4 Certified New Home Technology Center in Los Gatos.  Click here to make an appointment to view these solutions.