Smart hardware partnership

By Mighton.

This year’s FIT Show is the first at which several exhibitors introduce their take on ‘Smart’ hardware and security for windows and doors, including a partnership involving Mighton, Mila and Apple.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which takes place each January in Las Vegas, is hotly anticipated as the launch site for the very latest in high tech gadgets and gizmos. This year’s crop of the fab and the fanciful included a meatless, meaty burger, a smart ‘poop’ sensing litter tray, a flying car and (more in the mainstream) the latest generation of 8K TVs. Oh, and a new smart door lock, Avia, the first to use Apple HomeKit technology for multipoint locks.

What is more intriguing about the door lock, however, is that it was introduced at CES by Mighton Products, a British company best known for manufacturing and distributing high quality hardware and fittings for traditional timber box sash windows.

Developed over a period of two years Avia was to be seen for the first time not just at CES but at this year’s FIT Show.

Avia is distinguished from anything previously offered to the UK window and door market, by linking with the California based giant and using Apple HomeKit technology. And, with UK replacement residential doors almost exclusively fitted with multipoint locking systems, reaching the market through an exclusive partnership with Mila within the home improvement sector; Avia would appear to have an extremely high chance of success.

Avia is undoubtedly clever. The product, the first of a range of Apple HomeKit-based smart home products being developed by Mighton, is controllable using iPad, iPhone or Apple Watch – both manually or by using Siri – as well as by keypad, fob, and, most exciting of all, face recognition through an optional accessory.

Multipoint locks are secured by simply raising the handle and unlocked using the specially developed Avia app or any of the other options. Access for additional users may be easily extended, controlled and revoked via the app remotely, for example to allow easy access for service providers.

The Apple HomeKit platform is highly secure and stable. The electronics use military grade software protocols, and users of the Avia app can learn at a glance the status of the lock, with a full audit trail recorded for all activity. A traditional key may be used in the TS 007 3-Star cylinder as an emergency backup to offer total peace of mind. Any competent person may install Avia in minutes on existing multipoint-equipped doors.

Mila will use its extensive market presence and expertise to introduce the Avia smart lock to residential door manufacturers and installers serving the home improvement market. The company’s managing director Richard Gyde said that Avia is the most impressive smart lock yet and believes it offers door fabricators and installers a highly secure option to homeowners familiar with Apple HomeKit technology.

At the same time, because Avia is fitted on the inside of the door, it also allows them to fit Mila’s familiar SBD accredited SupaSecure stainless steel door handle on the outside.

“There are more than 1.3 billion users of Apple products worldwide and the prospect of offering such an advanced product, the world’s first for multipoint door locks, is very attractive,” Richard said.

Mighton Avia smart locks and accessories will be available from May 2019 to the UK window and door trade through Mila and to other professional and commercial customers via the Apple website, Amazon and direct via the Avia site.

H30