Gary Sinise Foundation Grants Wounded Veteran Customized Smart Home With Key Technologies Provided by Core Brands

On November 19, 2010, U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Mark Litynski’s life was forever changed. After volunteering to be the point man on a foot patrol, he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED), resulting in a bilateral above knee amputation and amputation of his left forearm. In early 2012, actor and humanitarian Gary Sinise learned about Litynski’s tribulation, and decided that Mark and his wife, Heather, would be the recipients of a specially adapted customized smart home, through the Sinise Foundation’s R.I.S.E. Program. With design modifications and expert technologies provided by top manufactures like Core Brands, the home was successfully completed this summer, making the triple-amputee’s daily life much simpler.

“I saw a video that Huffington Post produced, ‘Hidden Wounds,’ that featured Mark and Heather sharing their story,” Sinise explained. “It was my first strong awareness of what they were going through and I knew that I wanted to look into building them a Smart Home.”

Constructed with Litynski’s mobility at the epicenter of the design, the home is equipped with extra-wide hallways, pull-down cabinets, and anELAN Entertainment and Control System. “The ultimate goal of this project was to provide Mark with a home that he could move freely around and live more independently,” Executive Director of the Gary Sinise Foundation Judith Otter added.

Facilitating the communication between all of the home’s electronics, the ELAN system allows Litynski to operate everything from a mobile app on his smartphone or iPad. If his devices aren’t accessible, Litynski can operate the home through an ELAN gHR200 remotes or one of the four ELAN gTP7 in-wall touch screens installed throughout the home. All of the platforms were created with the end-user in mind, so Litynski can operate each system seamlessly, on devices that he and his family use daily.

The home theater, motorized window shades, security cameras and complete audio system are just a few of the many connected systems in the home. The audio system creates some serious sound, equipped with 7 Niles HDLCR in-wall LCR high-definition loudspeakers, 12 Niles DS8PR 8-inch ceiling-mount performance loudspeakers, a Niles CM8SI ceiling-mount 8-inch two-way speaker, and 3 Sunfire HRS-IW8 in-wall dual 8-inch subwoofers with a Sunfire amp. Additionally, all 6 of the home’s LINEAR IP indoor/outdoor cameras can be monitored through ELAN, which will be extremely beneficial when the Litynski’s are raising their first child, due this November.

The Smart Home was built in Duluth, MN, near Litynski’s hometown, where winters can be extremely brutal. Senior Project Manager Scott Schaeperkoetter explained, “We were nervous about the remoteness of the location and the delays that we could have possibly incurred due to extreme weather conditions. Thankfully, the contractor, Pete Franzen of Legacy Custom Homes, did an amazing job working through the hard winter months and delivered the home ahead of schedule.”

With the likelihood of extreme weather every winter, the home was designed with an effective power management system. To keep the Litynski home’s power up and running all year long, the system integrator installed two Panamax M4315-Pro 8 outlet power conditioners and a BlueBOLT-enabled Panamax MB1500 uninterruptible power supply and power conditioner for the home theater.

Everything in the home was custom-designed for not only Litynski’s mobility, but also his personal interests. “We also designed the home around Mark’s love for the outdoors,” Otter explained. “There are many large windows in the great room and kitchen that allow Mark to sit anywhere in those rooms and look at the woods and wilderness around him.” Outfitting the windows are 21 QMotion Qadvanced Automated Roller Shades featuring ultra-quiet, friction-free operation and no external wires. Two QMotion Qconnect systems allow the shades to be controlled by the ELAN home automation system.

“This home will allow me to be more independent,” Litynski stated. “It probably sounds so simple to someone else, but I can’t describe the feeling of being able to do something yourself that you once couldn’t. The simplest task can be enjoyable and you want to do it again and again, just because you can. I feel I have been blessed a thousand times over and beyond of what is enough.”

Honoring veterans like Litysnki, the Gary Sinise Foundation’s R.I.S.E. Program was established to provide wounded heroes and their families with the necessary resources to overcome daily life challenges. The Gary Sinise Foundation is committed to helping our wounded heroes increase their mobility and reclaim their self-reliance. 

“A big part of what we do at the Gary Sinise Foundation is raising awareness for the issues that our servicemen and women face and engaging the community to support their hometown hero,” Otter concluded. “We were thrilled that this happened on this project and that many national partners such as Core Brands provided key technology to help us complete this project and provide Mark with as much independence as possible."

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Core Brands Technologies Help Provide Independence for Wounded Veteran in New Donated Home

Smart homes can change lives. Just ask veteran MSG John Masson and his family, who were recently handed the keys and iPad to their new specially adapted smart home at a dedication ceremony held in Southern Pines, North Carolina.  After losing three limbs in Afghanistan in 2010, Masson was selected by Building for America’s Bravest, a partner program of the Gary Sinise Foundation’s R.I.S.E. program, to receive a smart home that aims to ease daily challenges and afford him independence. With new technologies donated from top manufacturers including Core Brands, almost all aspects of the home can be completely controlled through the family’s smartphones and tablets wherever they go.

“This is truly a blessing and it’s changed our lives,” Masson said of his family’s experience in the home. “I’m thankful every day for everyone involved, from the builders and workers on site to the companies that donated equipment and materials, to Gary Sinise himself who helped get this amazing house built in less than 10 months. The technology is fantastic and it helps me do a lot of things much easier, even something that seems simple like changing a DVD. That could be a challenge for me alone, but now through the ELAN g! iPad app and the Kaleidescape movie server I can change what I’m watching without needing to get in my chair and cross the room, saving me time and frustration. I’ll never be able to thank everyone enough, but I’ll continue to do so at every opportunity.”

Among the many accoutrements in the home are retractable cabinets and shelving, automated lighting, window shades and security systems, transfer benches, whole-home audio and video and more. Nearly $130,000 (retail value) of technology equipment was donated and installed, and the brain that ties it all together is an ELAN g! system that gives Masson and his family easy control.

The home includes two large ELAN in-wall touchscreens and an iPad to make it easy for the family to manage three climate zones, 29 motorized window shades, a full Lutron RadioRA 2 system, two doors with electronic locks, security, surveillance, and multi-room audio and video including a professional home theater, affectionately referred to as the man cave. With an Epson 6030 series projector, Vutec screen, five Sunfire CRS-3 ribbon speakers mounted on the wall, two Sunfire SubRosa subwoofers and six additional Niles speakers for surround, this man cave provides the ultimate home viewing experience for the Masson family.

“The man cave is one of my favorite things about the house,” Masson said. “Anything that makes my life easier or more convenient is a huge help for both functionality and my state of mind. It all comes back to the wonderful people who made this all possible, who’ve given me back a lot of freedom to live comfortably. It was challenging to have guests over since I came back in 2010, and that’s something a family needs. Now we can have our family and friends come to the house without worrying about complications or space and I can set up all the music, lights and anything else form my iPad.”

According to Joel Berrettini, the project’s lead technology integrator and owner of IT and Media Solutions, working on this home is the least he could do. “I would do anything for these men, and I will continue to do so as long as the opportunity is available. Providing wounded veterans these homes, to regain a sense of normalcy and independence, takes a lot of partners and a lot of cooperation. The product donations from Core Brands and our other valued sponsors make these homes possible and we cannot thank them enough.”

Using the latest technologies from ELAN Home Systems, Niles Audio, Sunfire, Lutron, QMotion and others, Berrettini designed a system that gives Masson as much control as possible to stay in charge of his home. In fact, Masson’s home will soon be one of the first in the world to use the new ELAN 6x4 HDMI matrix to deliver HD video throughout the home. Berrettini is expecting to install two of the matrices in early 2015.

From installing touchpanels at a height comfortable for John and using occupancy sensors in key areas to a one-button setup to turn on the home theater, fast access and ease of use is the key. Additionally, Berrettini gave John and his wife some peace of mind by setting the system so the kids can only access controls for the lights, media and window shades. Remote access was also a top consideration, which is simple with the ELAN g! system. The family can now use the ELAN g! mobile app on nearly any mobile device to check their cameras, security, lights and HVAC from anywhere in the world.

Berrettini installed the home’s technology with help from local integrator Sandhills Home Theater, who provided unexpected free labor to help speed up the installation.

Masson has served in the US Army in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, in the Indiana Army National Guard, the Ohio Army National Guard and the 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne), and was deployed during  Operation Iraqi Freedom an Enduring Freedom. In 2010, while conducting Village Stability Operations in Afghanistan, Masson stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) and lost an arm and both legs.  Thanks to his training, he was able to assist his fellow Medical Sergeant in treating his wounds – actions which saved his life.  He’s received both the Purple Heart meda

Smart Systems Technologies Creates Home Automation Systems That Help Builders Sell More Homes

Jimmy Salloum, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Irvine, California based Smart Systems Technologies, Inc, (SST) remembers the exact moment that the light bulb went on and he realized that a sea change was about to transform his company’s business. 

“It was 2011 and Standard Pacific Homes had come to us to help them market a 55 home development in Marina Del Rey, California called The Beach Collection at Latitude 33,” Salloum said.  “The tri-level townhome beach bungalows were inspired by Southern California’s “strand homes” and designed to offer the best of modern beach leaving.  Everything was perfect with these bungalows except for the fact that they weren’t selling as fast as Standard Pacific Homes expected.  They asked us for ideas and we suggested they include a basic Home Automation Systems Package with the purchase of the units.  They did.  The bungalows started selling.  And we realized that our business was about change dramatically — and for the better.” 

Salloum and SST President Craig Curran created a special Home Automation Systems Package built around the ELAN g! HC-4 System Controller.  The package also included a vandal-resistant camera, two programmable thermostats, one three-button lighting control switch, three one-button lighting control switch, one Apple Extreme Wireless Network Router, one 16GB WiFi Apple iPad, one TV interface, and two viewer licenses.  The builder also began to pre-wire all of the homes for audio and, in some cases, included speakers.

“As soon as the prospective homeowners listened to the demonstration of the smart home automation package, the units began to sell,” Salloum explained.  “Frankly, we were blown away by the impact these systems had on the buyers decision making.  Even more telling for us as a systems integration company was the fact that 80% of the home buyers upgraded from the base home automation package to add speakers, head-in equipment, and the full-on integration of the ELAN g! System in to the entire audio-video system.”

Not surprisingly, one of the key benefits that appealed to these homebuyers was instant gratification, Salloum explained.  “This is one of the key strengths of the ELAN g! System.  It delivers instant everything without the 10-15 second delay that other home automation systems have and that’s a huge difference.  Imagine turning on the light button and having nothing happen for up to 15 seconds.  That’s an insane amount of time to wait when you turn on a light switch.  The homeowner will start pushing the button over and over again turning the lights on and off on a repeat basis.  With the ELAN g! System, there is absolutely no delay in performance.”

Two other critical reasons for the success of the ELAN based Home Automation Systems Package is that the system performs almost flawlessly and it can be updated remotely.  “The 55 units in the The Beach Collection at Latitude 33 all featured the ELAN HC-4 System Controller and we didn’t have one service call.”

Based on the initial success with Standard Pacific Homes, SST began working with their other builders and developers to offer similar automation packages.  The company works with a veritable Who’s Who of leading builders including, in addition to Standard Pacific Homes, K. Hovnanian Homes, The New Home Company, Taylor Morrison Homes, Richmond American, The Irvine Company, Pulte Homes, and Del Webb.  “In each instance, and working closely with the goals and objectives of each builder, we created home automation packages that were configured and priced appropriately for every class of home.  We have found that the demand for smart home control exists from buyers looking for homes priced from $700K and up,” Salloum explained.  “And, obviously, the higher priced the home is the greater potential there is to sell upgrades from the basic automation package.  For homes priced at or around $700K the upgrade take is 10-20%.  At the $1-million level the uptake rate goes to 20-30% and the $2-million level the rate really jumps to 50% or more.” 

One of the reasons why SST likes working with ELAN, beyond the performance of the system itself, is the fact that it is part of a bigger company that can meet a larger number of their AV/IT needs.  “When you work with ELAN, you are working with Core Brands, which is part of the event bigger Nortek Technology Solutions Group, which is part of the bigger still Nortek, Inc.  We install a lot of other products made by Core Brands, and in the future we plan to specify and install even more.”

Looking at ahead to the immediate future, Salloum is excited to begin working with the new ELAN g1 System, which is available in three very affordably priced configurations. “This is going to be a real game changer for our business, our builder clients, and, ultimately, for home buyers who, until now, still have felt that an automation system was beyond their reach.  The ELAN g1 System essentially allows us to talk to home buyers that would have been interested only in a lower priced security based automation system.  With the g1 system these same customers can now seriously consider an affordably priced entry level system that opens them up to whole home control and distributed audio, not to mention everything else that g! connects to and controls.”

With over 13 years of experience and awards from Pulte Homes, Standard Pacific Homes, K. Hovnanian Homes, and more, home buyers can rest assured that SST will deliver the Southern California Smart Home solution of their dreams.  The company’s customer service team thrives on providing the highest level of service and support through its service technicians and technically trained office staff.  SST’s technical staff is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to support any security monitoring needs.  SST’s customer service department is dedicated to giving the customer 110% all day every day. The company’s corporate headquarters is in Irvine, California and it maintains satellite offices in both Tucson and Tempe, Arizona.  For more information, visit www.sstun.com. 

ELAN will showcase its smart home control technology at the 2015 International Builders Show (IBS) in Las Vegas, Nevada (January 20-22, 2015) at the Broan-Nutone LLC booth (#C4520).