The only unfortunate aspect of on-q alc is THEY dont promote it. They will tell you FLAT OUT to your face they dont, as well as their HMS controllers. I cannot make sense of it. They claim its less than 2% of their total volume. So? To me that reaks OPPORTUNITY for the manager of that "group" to have a gang buster division that has the highest percentage increase in sales. That division COULD have 300% growth. How many can brag about that? They refer to it as their "blue collar" line. Ok, so? It works. Its not cheap. They are more focused on their vantage line but IMO, ALC is a very viable solution for even high end homes. Kind of frustrates me their lack of support. (not saying TECH support, they are pretty good).
ALC and on-q HMS are rock solid and a viable product. its unfortunate they wont promote it. it DOES make one think it will be all gone one day and soon. They claim it wont go away. On-Q biz plans make no sense to me, none.
I think the biggest issue in the lack of effort on On-q's part for ALC and HMS is their relationship with HAI. To that I say get over it and fix it.
You are right about how they don't promote it. It's because of a combination of factors.
First it's a product that's harder to understand than structured wiring and is a much smaller portion of their sales than say TV/Telephone distribution or intercom systems. So, the bulk of OnQ sales reps and agents spend their time where their experience level is. There are however a substantial number of OnQ reps who are experts and promote it well. If the reps in your area do not know how to talk the language then chances are, they don't understand the technology.
Next, Since Legrand now funds OnQ's direction, they spend the bulk of their time moving towards the things that sell the fasted and the mostest! There are some who realize like you that opportunity exists. we also know this. And in my case we spend our time promoting the product and teaching classes on it. As such we at SETNET number among the largest suppliers of the ALC product line each year.
As for Vantage, they don't expend much energy either. That division is doing a good job without much corporate involvement and are better for it.
The relationship between HAI & OnQ is an interesting one and there has been recent talks about the two slow dancing a lot closer. There are a number of HMS enhancements around the corner and any doubting Thomas who says otherwise will eat some crow in 2008.
One of the most overlooked products that OnQ has is their stand alone controllers and interfaces for ALC lighting. It amazes me that few people (especially you techies in the DIY world) don't capitalize on the power and low cost of these products more. For example you can create a stand alone lighting system and link it to almost any control scheme through the stand alone ALC serial interface and or Input Output modules.
With my distributorships inventory so closely tied to OnQ and ALC products I would feel like a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs if I thought OnQ would move away from the line. I am committed to the product line and my warehouse proves it!
My words are not just opinion, they are educated and experienced. Remember my earlier posts about being a consultant on the roll out of the first ALC switch. While Gary Axe at OnQ is the real genious, I mention my long range (over 12 years with the ALC product world) cloeseness to the family of products to qualify me as not just another opinion.
Lastly and sadly OnQ now commands the dominant market share in several areas of our industry and they are backed by deep pockets. They are no longer the employee owned company who could turn on a dime. Instead, they must work through the politics to make any moves. As such promotion and product development takes longer but has a more solid foundataion. I like this better than worrying over them going out of business due to poor cash flow!
Signs are that the building insdustry is slowing quite a bit and this shake up may force a lot of smaller manufacturers to hunker down or worse yet, force them out of business. So, wading through the politics of a slow moving giant is bothersome, but they will survive an economic downturn far longer than most!
