Exclusive Interview with Mr. Maulik Unadkat, Founder of Beyond Alliance, a smart home automation company

Maulik Unadkat is the Founder of Beyond Alliance, an established Automation, AV, Networking, and Electronic security solutions brand for luxury homes and commercial spaces. With a rich experience of over 15+ years in the field of residential and commercial automation, Maulik envisions creating a thriving tech eco-system in India that is up to date with global trends and empowers spaces with seamless convenience and productivity.

Founded in 2008 by Maulik Unadkat, Beyond Alliance has established itself as a leading technology designer, offering automation, AV, networking and electronic security solutions for luxury homes and premium commercial spaces. The company’s 15+ years of remarkable growth from a modest 3-person startup to a strong team of over 125+ certified professionals highlight its unwavering commitment to creating excellence, expertise and experiences that digitally transcend lifestyle spaces.

Beyond Alliance currently boasts six luxury experience centers across Mumbai and Surat, making it the sole Indian consumer centric brand to achieve this reach in the residential and commercial automated systems and integration space.

 We had a conversation with Mr. Maulik recently to know more about the smart home automation industry and this is how it went:

1. How does Beyond Alliance’s smart home automation technology integrate with existing smart devices and systems?

Beyond Alliance is dedicated to new design and build projects and strongly believes in wired technologies when it comes to controlling critical applications like lights, fans, Acs and curtains. Not only is it more reliable since wired designs have zero downtime but it is also lightning quick as wired communications have zero latency. So existing devices and systems demand wireless infrastructure which comes with its own unique challenge. For Hi-End luxury homes Beyond Alliance has a zero tolerance design approach and robustness of the system is at the epicenter.

We aim at reinventing modern living by introducing cutting-edge technology that blends in smoothly with aesthetics and establish ourself as a reliable technology partner for architects and interior designers. Our goal is to set a new standard for innovative technology solutions for smart homes and offices, with a particular emphasis on improving convenience, productivity and sustainability. Enhanced connectivity and artificial intelligence have shifted home automation from being a luxury to a necessity.

2. What is the scalability of your system, and how does it adapt to growing smart home networks?

We truly believe that tech designs must be forward compatible. A classic example of this is that even if a home was commissioned by us in 2010 using a Crestron infrastructure, we can make it function on an apple homekit which was launched much later and is today a must have control interface. This is possible with addition of a simple bridge and zero upgrade of any old hardware is needed for this transformation.

When we wire a home we keep in mind tech developments that are being discussed in global forums that we are a part of like Cedia. Scalability is a cornerstone of our designs because technology updates itself and completely transforms every few years. While we use the latest WiFi6 standard to design a wired mesh network for a space today, the cables we use are compatible with the next two standards being developed, WiFi6E and WiFi7.

3. How does Beyond Alliance’s smart home automation enhance the luxury living experience?

For us at Beyond, luxury means adding intelligence to the space. Designing spaces that think, breathe and come alive is our attempt. We are averse to retrofit automation solutions because they have smart switches as their core offering. Smart switches or devices are not what the end user needs. It’s a smart home that’s spelled as a requirement and the two are distinctly different.

The systems we design adapt to the user’s lifestyle.

• Vibes – Lighting is designed to be human centric and is made to follow the circadian rhythm, i.e. the colour of the sun, ranging from 2200 Kelvin to 6500 Kelvin, using tunable dimmable DALI lighting control to give a nature friendly ambience even in an artificially lit space. Each user decides which lights combine as a group, a departure from the traditional decision making authority being an autocad layout or the electrical contractor.
• Comfort – Sleep patterns of users of switching between ACs and fans in the middle of the night, multiple times is what scheduling can do for us. Optimum comfort is created to ensure it’s not too cold or too warm by auto learning pattern-based suggestions using AI. Curtains of windows where the east or west sun is too harsh can be automatically shut to avoid heat traps being created during peak hours.
• Ease – Audio Visuals are big boy’s toys but not every user in the home knows how to set them up for usage. This deters most from investing in too much technology as they find these complicated to use. Another phobia is dependency on the phone for everyday control. A simple answer to these is custom engraved keypads which have a movie button that sets everything up at a click. Nobody needs to know which button to press on remotes of what device. Everything is preconfigured.
• Energy – Who doesn’t know that ACs are most efficient at 24 degrees and lights don’t need to be at 100% when enough natural light fills up the room? But who will take the effort of ensuring these smaller drills are done. That’s where automation fills the gap. All these minute details are taken care of in design.
• Content – There is a heightened appreciation for a high-quality home life, particularly in the wake of COVID-19. Urban dwellers are increasingly turning to Ultra Short Throw 4K projectors for immersive binge-watching of OTT series or recreating a cinematic experience at home. A precisely calibrated 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos surround sound system enhances the viewing experience, immersing viewers deeper into the action and drama of their favorite content.
• Security – Gone are the days of repeated swiping fingerprints to get access to our own homes. Face recognition readers do the job as quickly as your latest iphone and let you in. Cameras have AI built in them to do more than just being a CCTV recorder.
• WiFi6 – Seamless data transfer is non-negotiable in times when each user owns at least 4 devices that are bandwidth eaters and demand uninterrupted streaming without buffering.

4. Can you share examples of high-end interior design projects that incorporated your technology?

As per data available to us about 1040 homes above 10 crore are sold in the city of Mumbai in the last 12 months. Beyond Alliance is a part of 200 of these HNI projects every year. We are technology partners for more than 300 Interior Designers and Architects. We have been fortunate to be a part of projects of leading celebrities, industrialists and professionals who are torch bearers in their field. The entire credit for this goes to the team of 125 certified professionals that we have on board who understand the sensitive needs of these projects.

5. How do your systems integrate with premium materials and finishes in luxury homes?

Beyond Alliance strives to source speakers and keypads from across the globe to match the aesthetics and finishes of the space they reside in. For one of our projects we manufactured keypads using the same marble that was being clad on the walls. We have customized speakers to be made out of the veneer of choice of the interior designer so that it completely blends with language spoken by that room. Tailoring solutions to the demands of the project is a minimum bar we thrive to set. We go the extra mile to achieve this.

6. Can you discuss any notable projects or collaborations?

It’s been more than 15 years of serving the design and build industries and we have been fortunate to be part of many projects that make it to the front page of leading lifestyle magazines, spaces of many page 3 celebrities and every once in a while challenging new applications like hospitality, clubs and museums. An elaborative list of projects is mentioned on our website www.beyond-alliance.com.

7. How do you balance functionality with aesthetics in your designs?

We offer a plethora of options when it comes to front end devices. With at least 100 finishes to choose from when it comes to keypads designers are spoilt for choice. Whatever be the finish, engraving on each of these is possible to ensure that users across diverse age groups and technical skills can use them comfortably. We have sometimes engraved keypads in regional languages to achieve this purpose. We design atmos surround sound systems with speakers that can be concealed in ceilings or walls, can be hidden behind a projector screen or can be even covered with veneers or wallpapers. Painting over speakers is also a reality without compromising on the acoustic performance.

8. What kind of support and maintenance do you offer to ensure seamless operation?

We are blessed with a 125 people team that passionately tames technology to work as it’s supposed to. India is not a DIY market and hence the expectations from system integrators is sky high. More than 10000 active users would vouch for the relentless service we extend going out of the way depending on the nature of the problem faced. Technology if set up well always behaves itself but whenever it doesn’t we have the right diagnostic tools and resources to detect and correct the same. We are backed by one of the largest teams in the country and that speaks of our commitment to serve those who have trusted us with their tech needs.