Newmarket, N.H. – More than 4,000 dealers have signed up for the Russound Certified Installer (RCI) program, and the company expects that to grow to 5,000 by early July.
Russound products carrying the “RCI Required” logo incorporate technology intended to reduce unauthorized online sales of the company’s products and ensure consumers get a professional installation, the company said.
The program is open to Russound installers who buy the company’s products through authorized sales channels, whether direct or via distributors.
The first RCI products consist of three multizone controllers, including the MCA-66 and MCA-88, which just began shipping. The program also covers the MCA-88X controller, shipping in July. Future products will also get the RCI logo.
RCI products ship “locked,” requiring a certified Russound installation professional to unlock them via the Internet in order to be functional. Products are tracked through unique ID numbers paired with the installers who performed the installations. No customer information is entered or shared as part of the process.
Only authorized installers will be able to unlock the three controllers before they can be configured and used. Installers will enter their user name and password onto a smartphone or tablet web browser to access the Russound cloud, which will automatically obtain the component’s Mac ID and send an unlock command to the controller.
Product packaging states to unauthorized dealers and to consumers that the product can be unlocked only by an authorized installer.
