Home security specialist partners with product design and development firms 

Home security start-up Boundary has signed contracts with consultancy i4 Product Design (i4PD) and product developer Invent, Design, Build (IDB) to bring its “disruptive smart home security alarm to life”. 

With a track record for designing successful consumer products for brands such as Flymo and Bosch, i4PD is working with Boundary to “achieve its mission of creating a beautiful, user-friendly smart alarm”. Among i4PD’s recent work was the Indiegogo launch of a client’s wellness device, which went on to secure more than $2m in funding.

Andrew Chalmers, Project Manager at i4PD, said: “Our team working on the Boundary project are entirely focused on creating a beautiful product, while providing all the functionality that consumers expect from a smart home security system but at an affordable build cost.

“The suite will include a control hub complimented by an app to allow remote control of the alarm from their smart phone. The user will also be able to set or unset the alarm using a key fob as backup.

“We will use our experience to make sure the system has the right balance between functionality and aesthetics. We don’t simply want the smart alarm system to be secure, but also easy-to-use and desirable.”

System architecture and regulatory compliance of Boundary’s product is being handled by IDB, a Glasgow-based company that specialises in helping entrepreneurs go from an idea to “launch and beyond”. Having worked previously for Honeywell and Ericsson, and latterly as technical director of innovation centre CENSIS, IDB’s founder Derek Liddle specialises in bringing innovative IoT sensor products to market.

“Boundary is a great project to work on,” said Liddle. “They are moving away from the obscure, complicated control panel which users find difficult and are bringing the user experience bang up to date with a solution that is not only modern and user-friendly, but also offers grade two alarm system security and police response.”

IDB is providing Boundary with electronics and embedded system design, which will include secure connectivity to both sensors and third parties.

Robin Knox, co-founder of Boundary, said: “We are enjoying working with both i4 and IDB as we continue to refine and develop our smart home alarm. Both firms have strong track records in achieving fantastic results and are exactly the safe hands on the tiller that Boundary needs.

“We are passionate about supporting the local start-up scene and tech community here in Scotland, so with both companies being local to us, we are sticking to our ethos of using home grown talent wherever possible.”

Boundary is planning a Kickstarter campaign for early next year and aims to sell between 500-1,000 units, raising between £50,000 to £100,000 in investment.

Knox and co-founder Paul Walton aim to raise a further £2m during 2019, including an angel round early in the year. The pair sold their previous business, Intelligent Point of Sale, to iZettle, which was subsequently acquired by PayPal for $2.2bn earlier this year.