Above: Plume’s humorous & cleverly conceived campaign video for their new home IoT security service.
By Claus Hetting, Wi-Fi NOW CEO & Chairman
Plume – the company famous for its plug-into-the-wall Wi-Fi mesh ‘Pods’ – last week expanded its product portfolio to include AI-based IoT security in a bid to become the world’s leading smart home platform. Plume’s suite of services for home Wi-Fi and security are now available direct-to-consumers in the US and UK. Meanwhile, UK broadband provider TalkTalk signs up Plume for whole-home Wi-Fi.
Secure, intelligent home connectivity is right now one of the hottest mass-market opportunities in tech and hence the race is on to get consumers more of what they want – which is mostly great Wi-Fi everywhere – and zero of what they don’t want – which (among other things) is getting hacked. Among the most aggressive and successful young companies in this space is US-based Plume.
Last week Plume launched their direct-to-consumer service in the UK: The service allows consumers to purchase Plume Pods and sign up to a trio of services that include ‘Adaptive Wi-Fi™’, ‘HomePass®’ (for parental controls and guest access), and now also ‘Advanced IoT Protection™’.
The latter uses behavioural analysis and AI techniques to protect homes from attempted hacks by isolating devices that exhibit abnormal behaviour. The AI-based solution will learn to recognise normal usage patters and hence “will spot abnormalities in real time and immediately act to protect users,” Plume says in this press release.
More service providers choose Plume for Wi-Fi
But Plume’s ambitious attack on the home connectivity and security market is also multi-pronged and multi-faceted. In February of this year UK broadband provider TalkTalk signed up Plume to provide select TalkTalk subscribers with ‘Adaptive Wi-Fi™’ (aka whole-home Wi-Fi) and ‘HomePass®’ services via a couple of ‘SuperPod’ Wi-Fi routers.
Plume’s other recent European service provider deals include Tele2 Netherlands and Melita of Malta. On the American side of the Atlantic, cable giant Comcast has long been a Plume customer. Meanwhile, Plume last year co-launched an open-source software initiative called ‘OpenSync™’ aimed at speeding up and simplifying the Cloud-to-device delivery of new services.
Presumably some of Plume’s service provider deals will now be expanded to include home IoT security protection, too, although this is unconfirmed. The ‘SuperPod’ Wi-Fi router is the larger and more powerful version of the original plug-into-the-wall Plume ‘Pod’. For specifications on Plume hardware see here. To learn more about Plume’s ‘Adaptive Wi-Fi™’ read CEO Fahri Diner’s blog here.
Want to know more about Plume? Meet Plume’s dynamic CEO and founder Fahri Diner at Wi-Fi NOW USA in Washington DC on May 14-16. View our full program and reserve your space now using this link.
/Claus.
