Unique Internet-driven energy management tool is intuitive, helpful.

Panamax/Furman, a company whose reputation was built on providing AC power conditioning and distribution solutions in both the professional and residential market arenas, went live this spring after extensive alpha and beta testing with a unique approach to energy management, monitoring and reporting. The company’s new BlueBOLT Remote Power Management technology is designed to provide secure hosted control via the Internet over power drawn by A/V components that are connected to select Panamax and Furman devices

“It’s an IP-based power control product, it’s extremely easy for an installer to set up and use, and it allows the end user to monitor and conserve energy that’s used by a home theater – and, in the very near future, most other energy-consuming appliances,” says Bill Pollock, the company’s president and CEO.

That, in sum, are BlueBOLT’s benefits – but the system offers a long list of energy management features and capabilities that are what Pollock calls “real value-adds for end users.

“It has a very intuitive interface which allows the homeowner to see what the energy profile and consumption are – both in kilowatt-hours and in dollars and cents – of any of the devices plugged in,” Pollock continues. The system will even send out e-mails to owners, if they choose to receive them, alerting them if they exceed their monthly budget for energy usage.

Interaction As You Like

It What’s great about BlueBOLT, says Pollock, is that gives homeowners the option to interact with the system as much – or as little – as they want to. “Some techie people want to get in there and play with it, be able to turn things on and off, and set scheduled commands to turn things on and off; others won’t, and will leave that to the integrator,” Pollock says.

But overriding a ‘scheduled event,’ such as an automatic system turnoff that was set up for energy-saving purposes, is a cinch, even for technophobes, says Pollock: “It’s all done through the computer with Internet access and any Web browser, or through any kind of smartphone. The user interface for scheduled commands is very intuitive; you can delete those, you get prompts – it shows all of the different devices plugged into it. You click which you want, you click the days of the week that you want them on or off, you pick an hour, and set it up. It’s that simple.”

Helpful Features

Data most useful to the integrator include a host of alerts that can even pre-empt system failures. Some examples: Under- or over-voltage alerts, which could indicate a problem with a home theater that needs attention before there is actually a system collapse; or an alert that occurs when a product has lost power and is running on UPS backup.

One extremely useful feature is auto-reboot functionality for the router. “Routers have a tendency to lock up frequently,” explains Pollock, “so we built in a feature so that if the device is no longer connected to the Internet, it sends a power cycle command to the router and re-cycles it, re-establishing the connection.” Often, this saves the customer having to request a service call from the installer.

Also a Client!

Pollock himself is an avid BlueBOLT user, and says he has seen the benefits of interacting with the system firsthand: “I’ve turned both my home theater systems completely off from midnight to 5:30 a.m., and have saved myself quite a bit of money in utility bills. Doing that has prevented my Comcast box from locking up, because I’m resetting it every night. In addition, it saves wear and tear on equipment. Some devices, like the DVR for instance, generate quite a bit of heat – and that heat can degrade not just the DVR but the components surrounding it.”

Growth Plans

Right now, BlueBOLT is designed solely for A/V system power and energy management. But Pollock says there are plans afoot to expand its capabilities to do the same for appliances, using wireless ZigBee technology: “Users will be able to plug a device that is so equipped into a wall and plug any appliance into it, capture the consumption information from that particular appliance, and then decide when they want it turned on and off.

“At launch, we have an excellent power and energy management platform to increase reliability and reduce energy waste in home electronic systems,” Pollock states. “But what’s most exciting is the modular expandability we are adding through hardware that is currently under development. With this, BlueBOLT will provide homeowners with a realistic and intuitive way to make informed decisions and actions to manage their energy use throughout their entire home with limited investment.”