Phyn Announces $12M Additional Investment from Joint Venture Partners Belkin International and Upono
2019-05-09
Phyn Announces $12M Additional Investment from Joint Venture Partners
Belkin International and Uponor
LOS ANGELES – May 9, 2019 –Phyn, the leader in intelligent water solutions, today announced a $12M investment from its parent companies Belkin International and Uponor. The new investment will be used towards ongoing research and new product development, growing its footprint in the US, and continuing its expansion into global markets.
“Phyn has had a remarkable start to the year with our expansion into Europe, and exciting partnerships with insurance providers and municipalities,” states Ryan Kim, CEO, Phyn. “This new round of funding is a validation of our current leadership position in the smart water solutions market and paves the way for us to continue to seize the incredible growth opportunities that lay before us.”
The investment comes on the heels of Phyn’s launch across the European market. In addition to the U.S. and Canada, Phyn Plus now brings its intelligent water management to the smart home experience for customers in Finland, Sweden, France and Spain, with Germany and other countries to follow later this year. On the domestic front, Phyn is partnering with local government entities to advance water conservation efforts including a rebate program with Southern Nevada Water Authority in Las Vegas, and a commercial pilot with the City of Santa Fe, New Mexico. As part of this pilot, Phyn Plus units have been installed in restaurants throughout the city to help business owners conserve water, prevent plumbing-related issues and save on operating costs while providing valuable data driven insights to the utility and city managers.
Phyn Plus, Smart water assistant shutoff is a powerful smart home device that continuously monitors a home’s entire plumbing system to detect leaks, conserve water, and save money. Utilizing patented machine learning technology, the device measures tiny changes in water pressure – 240 times a second – to detect plumbing issues (i.e. freezing pipes, pinhole leaks or catastrophic bursts) in real time and can remotely shut off the main water supply to prevent costly damage. Phyn Plus provides granular detail on water usage allowing homeowners to view water consumption across fixtures such as sinks, toilets, showers, and sprinkler systems all through the Phyn app. Homeowners can also ask Amazon Alexa about their water consumption and even turn off their water using voice commands.
Phyn is a joint venture between Belkin International and Uponor. With this investment, Phyn will continue to be equally owned by Belkin International and Uponor.
About Phyn
Phyn is the leading intelligent water brand, bringing solutions to market that help people protect their homes, conserve water and save money. Built upon nearly a decade of research and patented technological innovation, Phyn is poised to change the way consumers interact with water and help solve the major challenges threatening the world's supply of clean, healthy water. Phyn is backed by Belkin International, a global leader in consumer technology, Networking, Smart Home and Smart City, and Uponor, a leading provider of plumbing for residential and commercial spaces worldwide with North American headquarters located in Apple Valley, Minn. The parent company Uponor Corporation is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki, Finland. Phyn is headquartered in Torrance, Calif. To learn more, visit www.phyn.com.
The Belkin brand, acquired by Hon Hai Group’s Hon Teng (Foxconn Interconnect Technology), will station their flagship store at Syntrend Mall. It will unveil on March 13th at Syntrend, enabling consumers to experience its new products.
According to the announcement from Syntrend (a subsidiary of Hon Hai Group), Jeff Guo, Chairman of Syntrend Creative Park, will be at the opening event for the first flagship store of Belkin along with its sister brands: Linksys and WeMo. In addition, Jenny Ng, General Manager of Belkin International Asia Pacific, and others are expected to attend the event.
Hon Teng will officially announce their two major brands: Linksys (wireless routers), Wemo (smart home technology), and their main products. Hon Teng also expects to set up a smart home business to enhance the Group’s global coverage in the United States, Canada, South America, Asia Pacific and European market position.
Founded in 1983, Belkin International is headquartered in California and provides connectivity integration services for consumers, SMBs, education and government markets.
These end-user products include WiFi routers and networking, smart home technology, wireless charging and power products. Other products include smart phone and tablet accessories. Belkin is one of Apple’s certified partners, and one can purchase power related and cable accessories on Apple’s official website.
Belkin International’s three brands include Belkin, Linksys and WeMo. The three brands bring together connected things and connected home. Belkin returned to CES this year to showcase a series of new products.
As one of the biggest International consumer electronics events, CES2019 has attracted more than 4,500 exhibitors to participate. Moreover, Belkin International, the famous electronic brand, today also announces its 2019 portfolio of connected things (Belkin) and connected home (Linksys, Wemo and Phyn) products at CES 2019, to bring the consumers more smart connected experience.
CES2019 grand opening
As one of the most important categories of CES, as usual, smart home has thousands of new products this year. Belkin International, after merged with FIT last year, still continuously explores and develop the new products (Belkin, Linksys, Wemo, Phyn) at the smart home area. At CES2019,Belkin International not only launched new triband mesh router --Linksys Max Stream AC2200 (MR8300), also display the latest Wemo intelligence controller and Phyn Plus provide the smart water solution,attract a large number of visitors.
Belkin booth
Belkin's business was founded in 1983 in a garage in Hawthorne, Calif., a global leader in peripheral products, providing innovative connectivity technologies for users of computer, digital and mobile products. When Belkin's founder Chet Pipkin created Belkin, the vision was to enable people to enjoy the power and advantages of technology through the development of human-motivated products. Therefore, for a long time, Belkin has always pursued the goal of connecting all things. Today, Chet Pipkin prefers "global thinking, act locally" to treat everything that Belkin does, and it is precisely because of such ideas and practices that the company has achieved results that are consistent with the goals.
Belkin founder Chet Pipkin (left) and Hong Teng Precision Technology CEO Sidney Lu (right)
In March 2018, Hon Hai Precision Technology, a subsidiary of Hon Hai in Hong Kong, announced the acquisition of US consumer electronics manufacturer Belkin for US$866 million. Sidney Lu, CEO of Hongteng Precision Technology, introduced that after the acquisition of Belkin, Belkin has stronger supply chain support. Because Belkin always gives priority to the user experience and feedback after the launch of the product, after the merger of the two companies, Belkin can rely on Hong Teng's supply chain and manufacturing capabilities to make it in product design, Quality, application experience, etc., are more competitive in the market.
Belkin booth
Looking at the world, with the rise of mesh Wi-Fi, Belkin has quickly become one of the important players in the market with its Linksys Velop lineup, and has become the only Wi-Fi system brand in Apple's official mall. In the CES2019 show, we also see the latest Linksys MR8300 mesh router . The router supports three-band Wi-Fi (1 2.4GHz 802.11n and 2 5GHz 802.11ac), and the concurrent wireless speed can reach 2200Mbps. Four externally adjustable antennas with beamforming provide users with a wide range of signal coverage. The back is equipped with four Gigabit wired LAN ports and one USB 3.0 port for easy connection and sharing of peripheral products such as network storage. The new router is priced at $199.99 (about 1363 yuan) and is available for purchase at Best Buy and Amazon abroad. The official website has a $20 discount ($179.99).
Linksys MR8300 tri-band mesh router
Linksys MR8300 tri-band mesh router
On the stand, we can also see the WeMo intelligent control series for the smart home field, including WeMo 3-way light switch, WeMo dimmer, WeMo Mini smart socket and WeMo Insight smart socket. And the biggest advantage of these new products is directly compatible with the Apple HomeKit protocol, users can control through iOS devices such as Apple iPhone or directly with Siri, no need to rely on the previous Wemo Bridge accessories. It is reported that these new products will be available on the Wemo website in the spring/summer of 2019, and the three-way light switch will be priced at $49.99 (about 341 yuan).
WeMo intelligent control series
In addition, Belkin has also separated one of the teams to create the PHYN brand. PHYN mainly studies how users can judge the habits of people's life, the state of life, and what problems occur in life through water pressure. Nowadays, people want to be able to monitor, measure, manage and prevent the situation at home. The efforts made by PHYN are judged by water pressure. How to achieve? As shown in the figure, the water pipe in the home is installed with the PHYN detection device. Through the waveform of the water flow, it can be judged when the user uses the washing dish, when the water is flushed, when the bath is taken, etc., maybe one night, you find the home. The old man does not have water, will there be any situation, and can respond in time, which is extremely important for detecting the situation in the home.
PHYN intelligent water flow detection device
Chet Pipkin thinks this is a non-invasive measurement method. Sometimes, users can choose to install cameras in their homes to monitor the whole home. When some users think that there is a camera in their home, the user will be troubled by the privacy problems brought by the camera at home. So choosing a comfortable way to connect users to the home is the vision of Belkin.
Of course, the Phyn Plus smart water flow detection device can not only pay attention to the state of water used by family members, but also can be installed on the main water pipe at home to detect tap water leakage and automatically shut off the water source to prevent flooding. It also monitors water usage and provides users with information about relevant nodes. Users can control it through the smartphone app or Amazon voice assistant Alexa. It can be said that this product is very suitable for property management companies or new home builders who want to equip modern smart homes. Currently, this product has been launched in North America and is priced at US$850 (approximately RMB 5,769). Europe is also coming soon, so stay tuned.
In addition to the above three categories, this year, Belkin also showed a lot of peripheral accessories, such as the new Boost Charge Lightning and USB-C cable, to maximize durability and strength. Some even offer Quick Charge 4.0 technology, which can be charged faster with compatible phones. This summer will also introduce Rockstar headphones that provide direct Lightning interface for iPhone users. Later versions will also include USB-C and more.
As an important scene and field of smart product application, the family life related field has long been a must for all types of exhibitors. With many years of technology accumulation and novel intelligent product design, Belkin will undoubtedly bring more comfort and convenience to the consumers' home life, and this expectation has been strongly confirmed by CES2019.
At CES 2019, Belkin exhibited the USB - C to Lightning cable. The price is 25 to 29 dollars (about 3000 yen to 3500 yen) and it will be released this spring
Kevlar fiber with high durability is used for covering the cable. Terminal part is also molded as one piece. Though USB - C to Lightning cable which was not quite approved from Apple, third - party product finally appeared.
Recently, Belkin was bought by Foxconnn Interconnect Technology (FIT) last March and it is under FIT, along with brands like Linksys, Wemo and Phyn. At the CES 2019 venue in Las Vegas, USA, FIT CEO Sidney Lu and Mr. Chet Pipkin, founder and CEO of Belkin, both appeared in the booth and corresponded to the media (top of the article: left Mr. Chet, right is Sidney).
FIT is a subsidiary of Foxconn, a manufacturer that manufactures genuine Apple accessories such as cables, power supplies and earphones that come with the iPhone. Mr. Sidney is involved from the founding of Foxconn, after 20 years of working, he spun off and launched FIT in 2013. Mr. Chet says that he founded Belkin on his motto "Make the technology easy to use," and it has been scaled around the world.The common concept of both is "connecting (connection)." The aim is to expand the scale of the group based in Asia based on this timing when wired was the wireless era. When asked about the division of roles between the two parties, FIT says product direction, management, and manufacturing, and Belkin says it will promote innovation through branding and software development.
On the other hand, is it fair for other third parties since Belkin merged with FIT? The question comes to mind. Mr. Chet said "(for C to Lightning cable) other third parties will be released at the same time." In fact, the schedule around that is scheduled in the past MFi (Made for iPod, Made for iPhone, Made for iPad) It seems to be done to the fair even if we look at the release timing of the product.
Nonetheless, the company Belkin itself is originally close to the Apple, and there are many Apple Store limited items and so on, and cables and the like that are not released by the Apple themselves are arranged in directly managed shops with Belkin.
Although it does not explicitly say, FIT will continue to manufacture genuine Apple goods, so it seems that the advantage of the company which put wireless field in hand increases more and more.
Wemo is a home appliance approach from Linksys to a brand responsible for the IoT field
Phyn's water pipe management system. IoT for infrastructure to manage and control water volume
In addition to the C to Lightning cable at the CES venue, many unpublished products in Japan were unveiled.
Lightning, type C direct connection earphone. It is scheduled to be released in a price range not so expensive
iPad Pro (2018) faster than the one supplied, 27 WAC adapter is also preparing
Mobile charging battery with lightning female charging terminal
Audio adapter for Lightning and Type C
Stand that can charge iPhone and Apple Watch at the same time.Direct-managed store limited model changes design and sells normally
Foxconn’s FIT Unit Dials in AI for Electronics Production
2019-01-04
Foxconn Interconnect Technology is tapping image recognition to boost quality control.
Foxconn Interconnect Technology is poised to deliver some yuletide cheer when it comes to holiday gifts.
That’s because FIT is rolling out AI-powered inspection systems in its factory lines. FIT has begun deploying AI for automated high-precision inspection of components and tools in its manufacturing operations.
The move could bolster production throughput and improve the quality of devices ahead of the year’s peak sales season.
Tight gross profit margins and stiff competition of mass-produced electronics have pressed Taiwanese manufacturers to seek new ways to stay ahead.
More than half of executives at large manufacturers surveyed by Capgemini said they have invested $100 million or more on smart factories over the past 5 years. Smart factories can nearly double the profit margin of the average automotive manufacturer, estimates the consulting firm.
AI Juices Inspection
FIT is leading the way. It recently deployed its AI-powered inspection system for its injection molding manufacturing lines. The company plans to expand the effort to 30 percent of its production lines by 2019.
The manufacturing giant aims to address a shortage of trained inspectors with this technology, aiming to eventually free up these expert technicians for more valuable quality assurance positions.
Foxconn Chairman Terry Guo has said publicly that the AI program represents the company’s opportunity to “transform from traditional manufacturing.” The efforts are positioned to reduce costs, create efficiency and deliver improved results for its customers.
GPU-Powered Manufacturing
FIT has trained convolutional neural networks to identify defects in 10 different categories of components. The company’s data scientists initially fed its neural nets 600 images for each defect. The networks continue to learn from images captured by industrial cameras, continuously improving the system as more data becomes available.
NVIDIA HGX and DGX systems helped handle FIT’s massive data requirements — hundreds of terabytes — for training its AI inspection models in the company’s private cloud. FIT has also installed our DGX Station on site for ongoing training and inference as well as the Jetson TX2 module to widen its inspection coverage reach at lower price points.
“Through NVIDIA’s outstanding computational capabilities, FIT’s AI inspection capability was able to reach more than 95 percent accuracy, approaching the level of quality and efficiency of professional human inspection,” said Joseph Wang, chief technology officer of FIT.
GPUs Inspect CPU Sockets
FIT’s CPU socket injection molding machines (pictured left) are fitted with five cameras to spot 1 millimeter defects among the millions of flawless components per day produced by its precision manufacturing processes.
Tracking these imperfections during the manufacturing process is a massive undertaking, the company said. This application of deep learning wasn’t possible with CPUs, and instead required GPU acceleration.
FIT has ambitious goals for its AI. Avoiding the shipment of defective components is just the start. It eventually plans to use the technology in its manufacturing process to maximize yield quality, boosting the finished production output.
“We are aiming for fewer returns. Quality is the main goal — this is the first step of a much wider plan,” said Wang.
It is with great pride and excitement that Linksys has won the J.D. Power Award for ranking highest in overall customer satisfaction. In the J.D. Power 2018 Wireless Router Satisfaction Report released today, not only did Linksys achieve the highest overall score, but also scored highest in 6 out of the 10 measured factors: Wi-Fi Range, Reliability of Service, Security Capabilities, Ease of Use, Customer Service, Restore Connection Easily. Ranking 848 (on a 1,000-point scale), Linksys ranks the highest in customer satisfaction with wireless routers.
This is a truly significant accomplishment as we drive our business forward by delivering compelling consumer experiences. Congratulations to the team for the innovation, design, engineering, best-in-class technology, and customer service.
FIT Hon Teng Limited (06088.HK) - Statement on profitability in the third quarter
2018-11-15
It has come to the attention of the Company that some media have recently misreported that the Company recorded a loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2018, which is seriously misleading to the investors. In fact, the Company has record a profit in both the third quarter of 2018 and the first three quarters of 2018. According to the announcement published by the Company on November 13, 2018, the Company's profit from continuing operations in the third quarter of 2018 was approximately US$73.9 million and that in the first three quarters of 2018 was approximately US$181 million.
As for some media misreported that the company recorded a loss of US$1.076 million in the first three quarters of 2018, the relevant media might have misinterpreted “profits (losses) attributable to non-controlling interests” as the Company's profit. This error seriously misleads the investors because the figure is not the profit or loss attributable to the investors of the Company. In order to protect the shareholders of the Company and the investors, the Company solemnly clarifies the misinterpretation and strongly urges the relevant media to publish correction notice within 24 hours after the publication of this press release.
In view of the seriousness of the false report, the Company is now urging the relevant media to treat it seriously, correct the report immediately and stop reposting the false report. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. YANG Tsung-Han of the Company (fit-ir@fit-foxconn.com) as soon as possible. The Company has also instructed lawyers to conduct further investigations on this incident and may consider follow-up legal actions.
About FIT Hon Teng Limited
FIT Hon Teng Limited is a leading global interconnect solutions provider and one of the few global interconnect solutions providers whose offerings span wire-based, fiber-based and wireless interconnect solutions.
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