Vivint unveils new 'idea factory'

Vivint unveils new 'idea factory'

(Deseret News)


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LEHI — A Utah County technology company has created its own "idea factory" that it hopes will help solve some of the toughest problems in the smart home technology industry.

Lehi-based Vivint officially cut the ribbon on its new $30 million, 125,000-square-foot Innovation Center on Tuesday. The facility — built specifically for Vivint and signed to a long-term lease by the Gardner Company — is home for the development and testing of its flagship smart home platform, Vivint Sky, which was released in June.

The company is a leading provider of smart home technology delivering services through a cloud-based platform that integrates a wide range of wireless features and components to provide home security, energy management and home automation.

The building houses 320 employees in engineering, product development, innovation, information technology, marketing and design. Amenities include a full-service cafeteria that offers free meals to all employees, a fitness center and locker rooms, along with a demo home where new ideas are tested.

"We wanted all engineering teams to be gathered here to collaborate," explained Todd Pedersen, Vivint founder and CEO. "We are integrating all of the services. What happens now is open, real-time daily collaboration."

He said being able to have face-to-face interpersonal contact among team members would enhance the creative process and allow improved brainstorming and problem solving.

Pedersen said his team is working to create innovative web and mobile smart home experiences for consumers such as developing the smartest thermostat, building the largest, most reliable peer-to-peer distributed storage system, using predictive analytics to reduce false alarms and create the best security system in the industry. Engineers are also working to create a back-end platform to process 1 billion messages per day, he added.


We wanted all engineering teams to be gathered here to collaborate. We are integrating all of the services. What happens now is open, real-time daily collaboration.

–Todd Pedersen, Vivint CEO and founder


"They know each other because they work in the same building, so they're starting to think a lot more cohesively as a group instead of independently on the project they're working on," Pedersen said.

He hopes that kind of cooperation and teamwork is going to help take the company to new heights in the years ahead.

"The creativity flows better when people are around other people," he said.

Currently, Vivint is the nation’s second largest residential security and home automation provider supporting more than 850,000 customers in North America and New Zealand.

Pedersen told an audience of around 200 people at the ceremony that the smart home industry is predicted to reach $100 billion in total revenue by 2018. The global “Internet of Things” market is predicted to reach $7.1 trillion by 2020, he added.

Originally founded in 1995 as APEX Marketing Group by Pedersen and Keith Nellesen, the company was rebranded in 2010 as Vivint. Today it employs 7,000 people worldwide, including 3,000 seasonal sales reps and technicians. Last year, Vivint reported revenues of $500.9 million.

In 2012, the Blackstone Group purchased Vivint for more than $2 billion, and earlier this month, subsidiary Vivint Solar Inc. raised more than $330 million in its initial public offering. Founded in 2011, Vivint Solar designs, installs and maintains solar energy systems nationwide.

Following the ceremony, Pedersen touted the growing technology hub located at the southern tip of Utah County that has been dubbed "Silicon Slopes." He said facilities like the Vivint innovation center are helping to raise the profile of the increasing number of Utah firms that are making an impact on the technology industry nationwide.

"Just having this centralized area is bringing in financial resources," he said. A decade ago, very little venture capital or private equity money was flowing into Utah, but today that is changing greatly, he noted.

"Everyone is coming to Utah now because of this "hotbed of innovation" that is happening." Email: jlee@deseretnews.com Twitter: JasenLee1

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