The latest in home video and audio is integrated with monitoring systems throughout the SunRiver community’s homes.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HONEYWELL

Among the innovations are fiber-optic cable to each house that enables residents to receive cable television and achieve simultaneous speeds of 1 gigabyte per second to the Internet, said Dwayne Nielson of Triaxis, the communications provider.

“We’ve also created the Intranet which has community events and association news,” Nielson explained. “You can schedule things with it and use it as sort of the resident’s home page, pull it up to do google searches, get e-mails, a lifestyle thing.”

Darcy Stewart, managing partner of SunRiver St. George, pointed out that the residents of the community, which already has approximately 1,000 homes built and another 1,200 planned, were accustomed to a high level of communications technology.

“The residents have been very computer-literate, some moving from large metropolitan areas where high-speed Internet service was available,” Stewart asserted. “So we started looking into the idea of pulling together a package that would be on the cutting edge of what’s available for technology, and that’s the point at which we got involved with Triaxis.”

Homes in the community feature integrated security, HVAC and lighting control. Activities in the community can be monitored from residents’ homes.

“The bottom line is we have an automated solution that all of these features can be interrelated and monitored to the home,” Nielson emphasized. “Instead of home security, we call it home monitoring. One of the reasons people move here is it is a safe place, so sale of security is not as appealing as home monitoring.”

The home monitoring systems chosen for SunRiver are from Honeywell, Syosset, N.Y. The integrator working for Triaxis on the project is Visual Imagery, Alpine, Utah.

“They’ve done the inside wiring and the home theaters, and they’re working on the security systems,” reported Nielson. SunRiver is a Honeywell Platinum Community and a Honeywell Partner of Choice.

It offers an 18-hole golf course, a 35,000-square-foot recreation center, a fitness facility, computer lab, indoor and outdoor pool, billiards and card room, library, ballroom/theater, tennis courts, putting green, shuffle board, horseshoes, basketball, small parks and additional athletic facilities around the community for active adults, Stewart noted.

“We delivered the first home in June 1998, so now the last two years we’ve been sending fiber to every home in the community,” Stewart declared. “Triaxis is retrofitting those homes that were not built with fiber initially so that within a couple of months, we’ll have 100 percent of common fiber network.”

Honeywell provided the turnkey solution Stewart was seeking, and In2 Networks, Salt Lake City, provided the software and hardware interfaces between the Lutron lighting systems used and the Honeywell HVAC and structured wiring distribution panels.

“The system itself is built on simple network communications that allow installers very quickly to adopt the technology,” pointed out Daren Orth, one of In2 Networks’ founders.

“With this system, you can attend the next homeowners association meeting from your living room,” Stewart maintained. “Through the controls of the home touch panel or your personal computer, you are ready to cast your vote as you participate in the proceedings via television from the comfort of your own home. These and other security features make up the amazing Honeywell Platinum Community.”