Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA)

Organization aims to foster innovation and provide consumers with safer, simpler and more interoperable options for HVAC and other long-life appliances and systems in their connected home ecosystem

Trane Residential (Trane) and American Standard Heating & Air Conditioning (American Standard), two leading residential HVAC brands, today announced the launch of the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA) with global manufacturers Arcelik, The Electrolux Group, Haier, GE Appliances and Samsung Electronics (Samsung) at Samsung’s pre-show Keynote address at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). HCA will provide consumers with safer, simpler and more interoperable options for their larger investment, long-life connected appliances and systems, focusing on HVACs, TVs and appliances. Katherine Shin, Secretary at Home Connectivity Alliance and Vice President of Customer Experience for the Residential HVAC and Supply business at Trane Technologies, joined the CES Keynote to discuss Trane’s involvement as a founding alliance member and HCA’s collective commitment to building a more intuitive and seamless smart home experience.

Through HCA, Trane and American Standard along with other founding alliance members will set out to develop guidelines for Cloud-to-Cloud interoperability across long-life appliances and systems like HVAC that consumers use and rely on every day. The alliance’s efforts support compatibility across multiple manufacturers to provide consumers flexibility in purchasing multiple brand appliances and systems that will work together without being locked into a single platform or sacrificing privacy and data protection. HCA also aims to make consumer data more accessible to drive insights consumers can act on immediately that result in real savings and efficiencies.

“At Trane and American Standard, we continue to innovate and design residential HVAC systems and devices that are integral to the home,” says Shin. “For instance, our smart thermostats can automatically adjust temperature settings based on whether homeowners are at home or away or homeowners can adjust the temperature via the convenient app. Alternatively, they can grant our independent dealers access to remotely diagnose HVAC problems and order replacement parts in advance of an on-site visit. These smart home features offer both homeowners and dealers an invaluable layer of convenience and can reduce homeowner energy consumption and utility expenses while saving the homeowner and dealer time. However, our smart products and many other long-life systems on the market today collect a profound amount of data that must be utilized in a secure environment or otherwise risk consumer satisfaction and trust. Forming this alliance allows us to be the collective voice for home electronics data privacy, where we will agree upon industry standards to protect our consumers’ data so that manufacturers like us can provide even more energy-efficient products that build a more sustainable future.”

HCA invites other connected device manufactures to join, as members will have the opportunity to innovate, influence industry trends, share expertise across peers and become leaders in expanding the connected home ecosystem and in delivering simple and elegant consumer experiences. By collaborating with other standards organizations and governing entities, HCA will foster fair competition and drive innovation to provide consumers with the safest, most feature-rich and interoperable options in their connected home.

“Support from Home Connectivity Alliance member companies like Trane Residential and American Standard Heating and Air Conditioning gives us a strong foundation to deliver results,” said Yoon Ho Choi, President of Home Connectivity Alliance. “With first-hand knowledge of appliance manufacturing and an emphasis on consumer data privacy, we are well-equipped to integrate HVACs and other large systems to improve consumers’ experience in the home.”

To learn more about the Home Connectivity Alliance, membership benefits and how to join, visit www.homeconnectivityalliance.org.