Pool Automation: From Variable Speed to IntelliCenter

Muy buenos días a todos, o buenas tardes, dependiendo de dónde estén. Bienvenidos a esta edición de Pentair Pool LATAM Podcast. Con nosotros esta tarde, o esta mañana, tenemos a Rodney McCall.

Rodney, welcome to this second edition of the Pentair LATAM Podcast. You're our second guest to it.

So why wasn't I picked as the first guest? Who had precedent over me? That's a good question. So Rodney, just to start kicking it off, can you tell us a little bit? I mean, how did you get in the pool industry? Because as you know, this is not something we

grow up. Nobody grows up wanting to be a pool guy. Usually it's a firefighter, a police officer, or, you know, a nurse, a teacher.

Yeah. Adrian, I appreciate you having me on. I almost grew up wanting to be a pool guy.

So, very soon I started to enjoy, and my first job was cutting grass and, you know, cutting all the neighbor's grass and all that kind of thing. But as a child, I loved the ocean. I loved the water.

And so it was, and I am a Pisces, born in February. So I, it's a natural for me. One of my first jobs when I was 15 years old was a lifeguard. And all the wonderful things about being a lifeguard. But I also enjoy... I'm sure that's why you, I'm sure that's why you chose that job. You know, 15 being a lifeguard.

And taking care of the water, right? That was my first priority. Oh, yeah. But the reality is, when it came to the, to the pool, I enjoyed the water chemistry part, like testing the water and making sure that the water was good. We were actually using gas chlorine at the time. So I, and this

was back in 1982, I think in the, in the mid to low eighties, 1980s. So we had chlorine gas tanks.

And because I had that interest, I was in charge of switching out the gas, the gas chlorine tanks.

And I don't know if you've ever seen that, but you put the mask on and you have to replace the seal on every tank when you do that. But I did, I really did enjoy and took pride in how clear the water was. And then as I went off to college at UNC Wilmington, which it was at the beach, it was a, it was a college at,

you know, at the beach. And I said, Hey, that's a natural for me, study economics and finance there.

But I took every class in the, in our, in our, that was water related. So advanced swimming, advanced water safety instructor. And so from there, when I graduated in college in 1991, I had sent my resume out to, to the large pool companies, the large manufacturers and didn't have any sales

experience. So ended up working for a company that sold liquid chlorine throughout the Carolinas. And they are still in business. Um, and I kind of spread their business across the Carolinas and called on swimming pools, um,

commercial swimming pools and sold them liquid chlorine. And then they would need some equipment. So I learned how to replace commercial equipment. And then went on from that, um, did vinyl liners. I worked for a vinyl liner company.

Uh, and then a job came open with Coca-Cola. Um, and I worked for Coca-Cola for six years.

That was my only job out of the swimming pool industry. Um, and by the way, when I was in college, I worked in a retail store. I tested water. I delivered hot tubs. I ended up in the bottom of the swimming pools, raking out the bottom of the swimming pools. I, I would say I built swimming pools, but I was actually the guy with the shovel.

Uh, you know, digging the, digging the holes. Um, and then, uh, a job came open with Sta-Rite. And, um, started with, uh, I interviewed, got the job and that was in 2003. And then a couple of years after that, as you know,

Pentair bought Sta-Rite. And, um, um, then I, it ended up one of my most fierce competitors in the Southeast, um, that I, I butted heads against him in, in trying to take his accounts left and right. When I was with Sta-Rite and he was with Pentair, he ended up being my boss. And so that changed things. Um, and so I, a job came open.

Hold on. Who was that boss? That was Mike Eccles. Oh, really? Yeah. So he had the Southeast for, for Pentair. And so, and he was my, I, I, he was my most fierce competitor. I was trying to go after his accounts left and right.

And so then, uh, when that happened, um, I kind of, I somewhat saw the, saw the writing on the wall and there was a job opening for, uh, our, our Pentair's brand new pump, the IntelliFlo. And it was a field application specialist because the product manager who introduced the first variable speed pump in the, in the,

the, for swimming pools in the world, um, was really busy. And so I had the hydraulic knowledge and, and I had done some training for Sta-Rite. It was a great fit for me. And so then I became the national IntelliFlo field application specialist and introduced variable speed technology to the swimming pool

industry. That was a rockstar job for me. I mean, that was, uh, so 2000, uh, 2005, 2004, right?

That's correct. That is correct. Exactly. Yeah. And, um, and that's what I, that's when I started crossing paths with you. Uh, I was working with the, uh, dark side, uh, that other company.

Uh, and I remember going to the, uh, Florida, uh, Swimming Pool Association, which was the name back then FSPA.

Um, and I would go to, you know, council meetings and you'd be giving a, a talk about the IntelliFlos and all its virtues.

And I'm like, holy man, I, we don't have anything like that. And we're not going to have something like that for a couple of years.

Uh, so I, I, I, I did everything I could to kind of stop the flow of that. Uh, no matter how many curve balls I threw at you, uh, one thing that, that, that helped me gain a lot of respect for what you did.

And, and who you were as a person was, you always answer each question correctly.

And truthfully, even though it was a tough question, even though it was going a little bit against the pitch at, at that time.

Uh, you always responded, um, you know, very carefully and truthfully. And, and I, that always stuck with me about you as, as far as being a straight shooter and, uh, calling things the way you see them.

So. Well, thank you. I would tell you that going to Florida and seeing you in the audience, I was like, oh my gosh, Adrian is here again.

He is going to, he is going to try to, try to stump me with some kind of question.

And you weren't, you were good at that. Um, trying to throw me off. But I think the benefit is I had done those, uh, seminars so, so much.

I pretty much had gotten all the questions and had a fairly good answer for them.

And the interesting thing about the IntelliFlo. And even when I started to first hear, okay, I, it was just unbelievable, right?

That you're going to, all the single speed pumps using 2000 Watts of electricity.

And then this thing is going to come in and use like 200 Watts of electricity. It was just unbelievable.

And I think that was the, that was the hurdle that we had to get over that. Yeah.

Just by slowing the pump down, you have this great energy savings. It was, it was a disruptor to the industry altogether.

It's, it was, it's, it's one of those products that, I mean, you look at, you look at where we're at now compared to, uh, to back then.

I mean, I remember, you know, um, because we didn't have an IntelliFlo trying to push two speed motors.

I mean, and that wasn't very efficient either. So from that to where we're at now, where, you know, all the pumps sold in the U S or, or, or, or at least a 90 some percent of them were either variable speed pumps or variable flow.

Um, I mean, that's a, that's a long way to go. And, and, and the other nice thing about it is that you want to, I mean, this was a new product.

I mean, you had a lot, the pool industry, let's, let's call spade a spade. We're not quick to change.

We're not quick to change. No. You know, we are not, you know, we don't adapt to change very quickly.

It takes us a while. Yeah. As an industry. Yeah. And here you are championing this product that says, Hey, listen, forget about the pump that you're using now.

Pay three times, whatever it was back then more for this pump. Um, and you know what?

I think it, it, it talks true to the, the job that you did and, and, and, and Jeff, uh, did and, and the rest of the team that were out there pushing the product because, and to the people that develop the product and the people that made it in the, or actually still make it in the factory.

Um, because it's been such a successful, uh, product line and it's helped the industry so much help homeowners as well, which is the important part.

The people that interact with our products. Um, now saying that, how do you go now from variable speed to our topic today, which is pool automation?

Yeah. Um, so from a career standpoint, do you mean, or yeah. Um, well, so what made you want to get into pool automation?

Yeah. I, I, I will say I, it, it happened upon me and, um, I, I've, I've always been somewhat technical and really enjoyed being on job sites.

And being the IntelliFlo specialist, I was on, uh, uh, just, uh, a myriad of job sites.

Every pool as, as, as you know, is a snowflake. And so they're all different. And so since they are on our automation system, I, I had to learn really, uh, really well, how our automation worked.

And because I was, when it, when, you know, it was like a hard job, I was sent out.

Like there's 16 pumps on a job. All right. Send Rodney out because we, we need him out here to, to do this.

Um, and I was happy to go love, love seeing some, some beautiful swimming pools by our builders out there.

And there's nothing like being out in the field. I still, it's my favorite place.

Sitting in the office is not what I love to do. I love being out in the field. Now it is 90.

I think we're, it's 92 right now. We're supposed to get up to 97 degrees here in South Carolina.

There are days where it's kind of nice to be in the air conditioning. And I, I, I will appreciate that as well, but going to the field, um, and then working with automation a lot.

It was, that was somewhat, I learned it, understood it very well. And I, I had trained everybody in variable speed, or at least we had gotten people over the learning curve.

And so I kind of worked myself out of a job as far as the IntelliFlo specialist position went.

And then, so then I went into growth and a lot of our growth ideas were how to sell more IntelliFlo.

I did the energy audit program with Pentair, uh, with the help of Jeff Farlow, as, as you mentioned early, earlier.

Um, and we put this energy audit program together. Um, and I remember, I remember when I first started, my, one of my first trips, and I got to tell the story because this story is funny as heck.

Um, you know, you helped me out doing some training for a, a property, a hotel chain, very popular hotel chain in the Caribbean.

And, uh, it's one of these all inclusive places. Uh, I remember, what was it? Is it the, was it mostly married couples there?

Right. I mean, it was, yeah. It was like an all inclusive honeymoon. Right. But they got swimming pools.

Right. And we were watching, we, it was either sweet, sweet 16 or, or the NBA finals.

I can't remember what it was. We're watching at the bar and, and, and this lovely couple that, uh, they would celebrate their anniversary there every single year.

Uh, I remember the lady turns around and says, well, you know, what brings you here?

And I tell her, I says, well, no, we're doing some, some, some training with the staff.

And, and she turns around and tells her husband, I told you they weren't a couple.

I was like, all right, all right. But a good looking couple we'd have made. That was a, that was a hoot.

I still remember that story. But, uh, so I, you know, that, that energy audit for us in, in, in Latam was very successful.

I mean, once we got dealers to, to buy into the program, um, and there's so much that is still to be done in, in, in Latam when it, when it comes to, uh, uh, audits and what, what, how they can be used as an engine to drive business.

It, you know, it's, um, training it that's the energy audit program, train the industry, how to sell the product properly.

And, uh, we had the tools, you know, measuring the current Watts and we had the Excel spreadsheets and that kind of thing.

Uh, and it was really just teaching them how to, how to sell it. So, and we're, we're still doing those kinds of things today, um, with our, with our education programs, um, just, just teaching, helping the industry, you know, bringing the industry up.

Um, so from that, uh, I came up with some, some growth ideas and then I, uh, one of the ideas, uh, that I came up with was a, a low cost automation system.

Uh, IntelliConnect, I launched that as a product manager and then really just, um, kind of moved up into our automation, uh, department.

And now I'm, I'm leading automation for Pentair. So it was, it was kind of just all those little natural moves that, that ended up putting me here.

Um, so I'm, I'm so thankful, uh, Pentair has really, as you know, um, offered you and I great opportunities to, to travel the world.

Um, be in resorts and look at swimming pools. Um, so, I mean, it's not, and learn and, and so it's, it's, uh, I will say it's, there's been, it's been very hard work.

We put in a lot of, uh, hard work, but we've also had some fun along the way. Yeah.

You know what? And when you're enjoying what you're doing and you're passionate about it, I, I, you know, I relate to you very much when, when you say this is my favorite spot is out in the backyard.

It's out in, on job sites. I mean, um, I remember starting in the industry. I learned more on in backyards, asking customers, Hey, why do you do this?

Uh, you know, just being curious about the process, being curious about, you know, what the, why, um, I think that.

That has helped me more in my career than, than, than anything else is, is having that curiosity.

And, uh, you know, as, as we see things change now, uh, and technologies nowadays are moving faster and faster.

Um, how do you see the potential for the, for automation in the, in the pool industry?

Cause I, I, I didn't think to step back. I mean, you know, you and I started when the, it was a rectangle with water and they might have a diving board on one end.

And that was it. You had a light, a pump, a filter, and that was it. There was nothing else to it.

Nowadays we're, we, you know, we're seeing, you know, all kinds of water features, uh, negative edges, spas, you know, laminars, all these functions.

Um, which add a high level of complexity to the pool. Right. And I think, so it's like going back, you, you reminded me, um, it, we didn't see automation just wasn't much of a thing.

And then pool and builders decided, uh, Hey, I can, I'm going to, not only I'm a bill, uh, you know, I've got a customer, they want a pool, but they also want a spa.

And so a lot of times they would just have a set of equipment for the pool and another set of equipment for the spa.

And they would operate separately. Um, and, and then I don't know who it was, but the pool spa combo, where you could use one set of equipment to operate the pool and the spa.

So you could, you could switch valves and you would heat the spa, or then you could switch the valves back and you could only heat the swimming pool.

Or if you turn one valve and send water from the pool back to the spa and you create the spillover.

So it was awesome. So the money that was saved, you know, you don't have, you only have to have one set of equipment.

The other thing that solved is if you have such a small body of water, like a spa, it's hard to keep the chemistry up in that.

But with the pool spa combo, you, now you've got your, you've got that. Now it's a big body of water.

Exactly. And so the problem with that though, is the cuss, as you probably know, the customer, they would use their spa.

They would go back and they would go back to the equipment pad and then move the valves, go to bed and wake up the next morning.

Their spa was empty. The pool had overflowed with all the spa water because they had turned the valves in the wrong direction or not turn the valves.

And Compool, I think one of the, if not the first, one of the first automation systems automated that for you.

So if you want to pool mode, you press pool spa, you press spa, you want spillover, you press spillover and it moved the valves for you.

And I think that, that is when automation really started to grow. We have a graph, we have a graph that I'd like to pull up that, that has the, a slide that has the, the transition over the years.

And, and you mentioned Compool and it was back in, uh, 1995 that, uh, back then the old man readers.

1995, PACFAP requires, uh, Compool. So that, that, that dates us. Yes, it does.

It does. Um, yeah. And, and so once that happened and I, you know, going back to, so where do I see automation in the future?

Um, so from that, from that point, automation started to really grow because, um, you needed, you needed that control.

You, you, you had a function that automation all of a sudden solve the issue. It made pull operation easier.

It's the push of a button. And I think. Plus you, you, you got rid of that. You got rid of that extra set of equipment.

You're doing everything with one equipment. That equipment runs every day. You know, it has water flow through it every day.

So, so pool. The, the automation made those, the movement of those valves. Uh, it automated it for you.

And then I think another growth period happened with automation when variable speed pumps came out.

Um, so variable speed pumps. If you have a water feature, even if you have a single body of water and you're going to add a water feature to it, having automation and setting the speed setting, say three speeds for that water feature, and then being able to control that from your automation system.

I always, I used to, when I was, and you probably heard me say this in one of those seminars, variable speed pump for a water feature is like volume control for your backyard.

Because you can have Niagara Falls. You can have all this water pouring over and, and you know, that, that gets fairly loud sometimes with a water feature.

All you have to do is press it down. So you got a low, medium, high for water features.

And that also, even it made it automation, a thing for single bodies of water as well.

So that, I think that was another growth period for us. I think, you know, for me, I remember I, I, I moved from Puerto Rico to, to Florida back in 99.

And there was a handful of, you know, builders in Orlando, a handful of builders in Jacksonville, a handful of builders in Melbourne that were doing automation.

And I'm, when I tell you there's a handful, it's a handful of, if not less, but then, you know, we started looking at the design of the pool started to change quite a bit.

And then the stuff that we started adding. So for example, sheer descents or sheer waterfalls, and then, well, you got to control that.

So our, well, you know, instead of putting another pump, why don't we put a valve and use the existing pump and then just, you know, set that valve.

So it doesn't open completely or opens three quarters of the way. And then, you know, back then fiber optics was becoming very popular.

Oh yeah. Unfortunately. And, you know, and then thankfully SAm and SAL came out to replace that.

It's okay. How do I control now? I have color in the pool, but I have multiple colors.

So how do I stop it in the color that I want? How do I get that, that, that atmosphere, that backyard living space, backyard living room under control?

And, and I would always use the analogy in trying to get people to understand what automation does for, for, for homeowners.

So imagine buying a car and your radios in the trunk. And anytime you want to change anything, you got to stop, you got to park, you got to get out, you got to walk around, you got to open the trunk.

And then you got to either bring the volume up or bring it down or change the station.

You know, it just disrupts the whole experience for the homeowner. So then obviously variable speed, variable flow came in and that totally changed the ball game.

I mean, I see, I see the market in Latin America be not to, not to that stage. I think it's, it's a little bit more mature and it's a maturing market, but you know, in the adoption curve and we've all seen this, you know, ever, Everett Rogers, I think is the, the person that put it together.

And it basically talks about how quickly technology is adopted. Um, and you know, at the far left, uh, if you're looking at the screen, it's, it's your early adopters.

Those are the people that, um, I, and when it comes to like mobile and certain things, I, I consider myself one of those where, you know, I participate in like the beta programs that, that Apple offers.

To, to be able to try the software first. Um, we know that we're going to run into issues.

We know that there's going to be glitches that, uh, there's going to be a certain amount of pain that comes from, from being an early adopter, but you're willing, you're willing to, uh, you know, you're willing to suffer it.

Uh, cause you got the newest stuff, you know? Right. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'm a nerd that way.

And, uh, you and Carlos, Carlos is always on the, on the edge. He's like always showing me the newest, the newest app and that kind of thing.

So, uh, yeah, I, I mean, we, we pride ourselves and, and, and, and, and trying to be ahead.

And then, you know, from there you got people that, you know, are a little bit more visionary and then you get to the point where, okay.

Now if you show me the evidence, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll adopt it. I'll, I'll, I'll buy into the, uh, uh, I'll pay the pay of the, uh, uh, uh, price of admission and I'll go into it.

And then at the very end, when you see the old lady, you got those that, I mean, if they could still be using a flip phone, um, or they could get a car that actually had roll up windows, they would buy it.

Um, but they don't have no, they don't have a choice, but to come along on the ride because either that, or they basically become obsolete in the market.

Um, well, you know, you mentioned mobile phones, my mom, uh, and, and, uh, she's 93 and she knows how to use that thing.

She's, she's going to check Facebook to see, see the pictures of her friends and all that.

And so she's, um, like, yeah, that the mobile phone adoption is, is absolutely amazing.

Um, and, and even, uh, automation. Automation. I do see that it really, people want to, people want to swim.

They want to, they want a simple experience. They want to, they want clear water.

And as we move forward, uh, in at, at Pentair with our automation offerings, we're, we're really trying to make swimming pool ownership effortless.

Um, and energy efficient as well. Like, like, I don't think you can truly have a energy.

You cannot optimize your energy efficiency on a swimming pool. Uh, especially when you have like a heater or things on the swimming pool that require more flow.

Uh, unless you have automation. And so for instance, we know go low and slow for your, for energy efficiency sake.

And even for filtration, you're getting good filtration at these low flow rates. And then when a heater turns on or, or, or heat pump and you require that higher flow rate, you, or, or, or water feature or whatever it happens to be, you ramp the pump up.

And I think those benefits of, of that auto, automatic control, automatic speed control.

Um, it just, it just makes it easier for the customer. Uh, and I think also the, the, the, the time factor, we all have less, less time in our lives.

You know, um, if, if you're a, uh, a family and you have kids, I mean, uh, my kids are grown now, but I mean, it was, you know, pick up at school, take them to practice from practice here, that there.

You didn't, you know, you didn't help. There's not a whole lot of time. Every time, every, every, every, every generation is having to deal with having less time to enjoy themselves.

Having less time of leisure, having less time to relax, having less time to exercise.

And people are having to carve it out, uh, out of their busy schedules. Uh, and I think automation offers them a solution to it.

Yeah. At least if anything, a partial solution to it. It allows them to, to, to not have to wait, you know, to be able to program their heaters and make sure the temperature's right.

If they're going to, they're a swimmer and they swim in the morning, they can make sure that the pool is, is ready for them.

And they don't have to wait and sit around and maybe miss a workout or, or the, the, you know, we forgot to turn on the heater.

And now that the kids can't use the pool cause it's too cold. Um, so I, I think the time factor also plays, uh, a role in it.

And now when you, you look at it and, and from all our surveys, we, you know, we know that customers want what clean water.

They want an efficient pool and they want, they want, you know, comfort, you know, they don't, they don't want a deep learning curve.

Um, and I think, and they also, and Adrian, uh, yeah, the support thing is, is absolutely important and peace of mind.

Um, like sometimes they just want to check in on their swimming pool if they're out of town or whatever, make sure everything is working okay.

And of course we've got our notifications that, that, that you can activate on ours to, to let you know if there is some, some sort of issue.

Um, and. It's like I, I left for a trip the other day and I looked through, I look at my camera and I left my garage door open.

You know, here I am, I'm in Mexico, my garage is, is open. So yeah, that peace of mind in the sense of being able to catch those things and react to them and, you know, call the neighbor.

Hey, listen, could you mind coming over, closing the garage and, you know, uh, but in pumps or in pools.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I think it not only benefits the customer, but even, uh, I mean, it's huge homeowner convenience, but also the service companies that are taking advantage of our remote monitoring platform where they can just on one screen, monitor all of their customers pools in one place.

I think there's, there's benefit there. Our customers love that feature. Yeah. Our, our customers really love that feature.

They, they, you know, especially the, the ones that, that get it, that, that, that are installing multiple units and, and being able to offer that as a solution to their customer as part of adding value.

Uh, to be able to, to, to, to justify that in, in rationalize that price, a difference, um, you know, because we're all doing the same thing.

We're all selling similar products. We're all, you know, the only way to kind of separate yourself from the competition is to build value in what we do.

And, and, and, and, and be able to, to demonstrate that value to a customer and, and explain to them our value proposition and make sure that they understand that they're getting their money's worth and dropping the price is not an option.

Yeah. You know, because it kills, it kills the other stuff that we need to be able to drive innovation and be able to, uh, to offer that support when things don't necessarily go right.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, what? Yeah. And I, what's that? I'm curious to, I'm curious to hear some, a little insight of what, what, what's coming down the, the, down the road for automation and, and how you visualize Pentair's automation coming into finish, finishing in 2026, going into 2027.

What can you share with, with, with, uh, with our dealers in Latin America, as far as what they can expect from Pentair automation in the next year or so?

Yeah. I, I can share a little bit, uh, without giving away any secrets. Without giving it.

Yeah. You know, our competitions, you know, watching cause. Just like you did, just like you did at my seminars, you attended my seminars.

You're, you're always the one you attended more seminars. We had a word for it. We had, we had, we had a word for it.

We had a term and it was called RC research and. Okay. Um, yeah. So I will say, uh, we have a new firmware 3.014 and we just introduced what we call easier provisioning.

And so if you have installed an IntelliCenter, what you had to do is you would go out to the outdoor control panel.

And that's where you would type in the information. And then, um, you would, if the customer had set up an account already, you would enter the email on the outdoor control panel.

And that's how you connected it too. So we some, that, that process. I don't love typing on the outdoor control panel.

Um, everybody knows it's so much easier just to type things on your phone. Right.

So we took a lot of the provisioning process of the IntelliCenter and we put it in the app on the app side.

So now you, uh, you can, you can set up, you can use your dealer account and you can set up a customer.

You can say, um, you, you, use your dealer account, open up your dealer account on Pentair, uh, pool, go to the outdoor control panel.

And if, when you, uh, open up the Pentair pool app, it will ask you, you know, do you, do you wish to, or you can choose, I want to add an IntelliCenter.

So you click add an IntelliCenter. It will instruct you to go to the outdoor control panel, press settings.

Um, I've got one right here, press the headings and then scan QR code. And the scan QR code is right at the top.

And then you take your phone and scan that QR code. And then it puts that IntelliCenter into your Pentair pool app.

So as a dealer, I have two choices. I can either log in as the homeowner, like let's say they've already set up and you can do that same, uh, process using the QR code or as a dealer.

Maybe you don't know the, the email address that the homeowner wants to use, or, um, you, you know, you don't have that information.

You can put that IntelliCenter on your account. You can go back to the truck, do all your programming for the IntelliCenter and then send it.

Then maybe call that customer, get the email that they wish to use for their Pentair pool account.

Tell them to set up their Pentair pool account using that, whatever email they want to use.

And then you can invite that customer to, uh, Pentair pool, uh, to use the, their Pentair pool.

And then their OST, their, their IntelliCenter will show up on their account. I didn't do a great job of explaining that, but.

So start from, from finish to, from, from start to finish in the old process. So average, what are you thinking?

I don't know if, if you were really good, it might take 10 minutes. Um, some guys struggled with it, so it could take longer.

The new process takes about, we've done it in 30 seconds. Um, so we have greatly made it just so much easier.

Now we are right now we are shipping with, uh, an older firmware 3.008 because that new firmware 3.014 has not gone to production yet, but you can go to our website and, um, put, put it download onto a USB.

You can download that new firmware on there. And then the next job site you go out to, you can put that new firmware on the, uh, on the outdoor control panel via our, our normal firmware download process.

I, I, it's, we have a lot of people who, uh, have started using the easier provisioning process.

We've gotten great feedback on that and it does greatly reduce the time. And it, it is, it is a more robust process than we've ever had with IntelliCenter.

So I think that's, as far as 2026 goes, that's, that's one of the biggest additions we've had.

Um, in 2027, we have, we are, we are building a more functionality in, uh, to IntelliCenter.

And, um, there's not some, there's not much that I can talk about, uh, as far as, as what some of that functionality, but we are always going to be growing that product.

And the interesting thing, the compute power that IntelliCenter has is massive. And so that is one thing that we did really well is the platform that we have it on is we can, we can grow on that platform, uh, vastly.

From where we are today. And, you know, one of the cool things I, I, I, I like about the, uh, by the IntelliCenter is we talked about earlier.

I'm a nerd when it comes to like Apple products and, and is that, you know, you can buy an IntelliCenter today.

And in a year and a half where all these features that you can't talk about that we're working on, but they're, they're, you know, they're coming.

Um, they're going to be able to enjoy without having to pay anything extra, you know?

So it's like buying an iPhone and then getting an iOS update where you have all these new features.

Um, and you know, it didn't cost you anything. Um, I was talking, I was in, uh, Mexico city or up in, uh, uh, a lounge in Ramona and I were having breakfast and, uh, I was wearing a Pentair shirt.

Customer pulls me to side out of your work for Pentair. Hey, listen, I have a easy touch, um, in my house.

And I have, you know, he's kind of explaining the setup that he had. And he goes, I know you got a new, you know, a new program, a new product in IntelliCenter.

And my pool builder is trying to get me to switch. What's your take on it? And when I present it to him like that, it's like, Hey, listen, this is expandable.

They're going to get new updates as things go. I mean, he's like, Oh, we were, we had not left the lounge and he had already called his pool owner, uh, his pool guy to come do the switch.

So I think when, when we offer things, uh, customers both will surprise us because, uh, nowadays the consumer is adopting technologies a lot faster, uh, than it has in the past.

And, and, and I think on one side, that's good on the other side, it creates some concerns for us as an industry.

Uh, because those who are going to be able to grow in the years to come are going to be the ones that are, can adapt to new technologies and are willing to, to, to take small risks or calculated risk in order to, to, to, to take small risks.

Um, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to improve their customer experience and be able to provide what the customer really is, is going to be asking for.

Um, we have a, a slight graph that, that, um, I'd like to share with, with the group and it's, um, it shows the different technologies.

And how long in years it took for at least 25% of the population in the U S to adopt that technology.

Wow. So if you could, uh, bring up that, that slide. So what we're seeing is 1920.

1920. What, what technology do you think it launched in 1920? Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Wow. And telephone was a telephone. And was that, that might've been earlier than 1920.

It was the radio. Radio. Okay. Okay. So radio took 31 years for 25% of the population in the U S to adopt it.

You look at TVs, 26 personal computers, 16, uh, mobile phones, 13. And those were like the bricks back then.

And, you know, internet seven, seven years, smartphone four. And then you get the AI and it's two months.

It's incredible. Yeah. That is, this is absolutely amazing. I saw something the other day.

Um, our generation and I'm, I'm going to make us old here. Uh, is the first generation to know what it was like, or excuse me, the last generation to know what it was like without social media and without internet.

We are, we're the, we're the. We're the. Knowing where you were.

Exactly. Yeah. I used to leave, used to live the house. I mean, I got kicked out.

It wasn't like, you know, it was like, all right. You guys done your homework out.

You know? Yeah. So it, it, it is a, it's amazing how fast it's growing. And, and you know what?

I think that's the other thing that we need to also recognize is that we have a group of new, of new generation of consumers, new generation of customers, as far as dealers.

Um, that, you know, are, are willing to, to, to push the envelope, uh, new generation of pool.

Right. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And exactly. That is. It's wanting. It's going to be.

It's going to be a requirement that they operate their swimming pool with their phone.

I mean, that, I think that is going to be, it is just going to be expected that they are able to, to, to operate their pool from their phone.

So if you ask like, where are we going next with automation? It's, it's that automation's on every swimming pool.

Like our, our IntelliFlo3 introduces this, you know, it has two relays built in. It is simple automation for a pool.

And so that is, that is at least the starting point that you're able to control color lights with your, your phone and, and, uh, adjust the schedules for your pump.

And, uh, you could operate a, a salt chlorine generator or even heater using the, the built on in relays.

You can't adjust the output of the chlorinator right now, but, um, certainly try to get into.

It's a entry level. It's a entry level. I mean, there, there's plenty of pools out there that, that, that were built back in the day that, that might not need all that.

Um, it, it doesn't have all that complexity. So a simple automation system would, would work fine.

Um, but I think at the end of the day is we were, we, we have a, I look at my, my son is, is 24, you know, from here to 10, maybe 15 years, you know, he, he becomes a potential pool owner.

Uh, and consumer. And I mean, that kid's, you know, all of him and all his friends are just a generation.

They're just, they're, they're thank God that he can carry a conversation with adults.

Like the fine there, but it, it, you know, they, they're really focused on, on mobile, but you know, mobile first.

And, and I think that with the Pentair pool app, we provide that to the consumer, we fill in that need.

And then we offer three levels of, you know, automation, if you want to call it that way.

You know, the, the first entry level, which would be the IntelliFlo3 with the relays.

Then we go into IntelliConnect, IntelliConnect. And then from there to the IntelliCenter.

So I think that we, we, we offer a wide range. Uh, of, of solutions, uh, to, to the, to the industry and to the homeowners.

Uh, I think that this coming generation of pool dealers are going to surprise you.

So I think they're, they, they, the ones are in it, um, are highly innovative. Um, it's funny cause somebody sends me a YouTube video and there's a company in, in Puerto Rico.

They, uh, uh, they do renovations, new construction, second generation, um, second generation builder, uh, or second generation pull company.

Uh, and they have a podcast that has a high, you know, a big following. And it's, so I'm watching this.

This is all the, the gray guys from, from Pentair, the silver guys from Pentair. Cause all our hair is white and all these guys are, are young.

You know what? I tell you, but they're, they're, they're, they're innovative. They're pushing the envelope.

They're trying new things or, you know, doing things a little bit differently. And I, you know, I gotta give them kudos for that.

Cause that, that, that is something that I would like to see more and more in the industry is people moving outside of their comfort zone.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think, um, the more you talk about it, the better you get at talking about it.

Right. That if you're, you know, I know that first, that first interaction with a customer talking about a product that maybe you, you have some familiarity with, uh, can be, can be a challenge.

But the more you're talking about it, the better you're going to be at talking about it.

And I think you're doing your customer a disservice if you're not offering up automation because it does make pool ownership easier.

And, um, and yeah, it does. It's a little bit of learning curve for, for the guys maybe who have not, uh, as a rule offered automation on a swimming pool.

But you know, if you're not offering it and your, your competitor is offering it, then, you know, sometimes I think your, your competitor is seen as more tech forward and that they might have an advantage on you.

So. It might be just the automation becomes a reflection of the rest of the package that you're offering.

Um, and if you're, you know, if you're offering automation, you're offering variable, uh, variable flow pumps, you know, you're offering IntelliFlo3s.

You're offering, you know, a IntelliChem, uh, BioShield, uh, all the, you know, Intel core, uh, you know, all those, a quick pure, all those products add, um, value to the pool from a homeowner standpoint, from ease of operation.

to water chemistry, water quality, uh, ease of use, you know, better bathing, bathing experience, uh, security, as far as, you know, pathogens that might be chlorine resistant.

If you're not doing that, I don't think you're doing your, your, your customer, a, a, the service that they should deserve.

I mean, I, I think like you said, you're doing them a disservice by not at least not offering it.

Let them make the final choice. Um, as a consumer, I, there's nothing worse than finding out after you've already made a purchase.

That there was something better that fits your needs better, but it wasn't offered to you because the salesperson was either not.

Um, he, he wasn't versed in it, never took the time to learn about it, or he's afraid of the budget that, you know, all of a sudden he's making financial decisions for you.

Yeah. It, where you have somebody that says, Hey, listen, if this was my pool and I was building this, this is what I would put in.

Yeah. If you can't afford that. All right. Let's start working on that. And then let's work our way backwards.

But at least you have, you put that choice on their, on their lap. Yeah. Yeah. I remember being on a job site, uh, several job sites, a matter of fact, with IntelliFlo and, and the customer standing there, we get it hooked up.

We get it running. And, um, uh, oftentimes the service person would be there, which might not be the same person that sold the actual IntelliFlo.

Uh, but oftentimes we would say, yeah, you need to be here. So you, you can, you see what this thing is about.

And the homeowner standing there, he's like, why didn't you offer this thing to me?

Why? How long has this been out? Well, it's been out for three years. I would have bought this thing purely on how quiet it is.

I, the energy efficiency is, is one thing, but this thing is so quiet. You don't even hear it running and, and customers be like, why didn't you tell me about this?

Like, so I completely agree. It's, it's, uh, it's something that we have to get over.

I mean, we've, we have really come a long way, um, in this industry from, from back in the day, just like timers, toggle switches to where we are today.

Um, I, it's, it's, it's, it really is amazing. I don't think the, the goal has changed.

Uh, which I think is just make pool ownership easy. Um, and make it more enjoyable, make it more reliable, uh, make it so the customer it's harder for the customer to break the system.

And I think automation does all that. Um, and that technology has evolved over time, but I think the mission is, is really still the same.

Like let's just, let's make it easy for the customer. So they have an enjoyable pool experience.

They have the best possible. And I think it, I think we're, we're at the, we're going to see more change in the next five years than we've seen in the last 15, 20 years.

Uh, you know, obviously AI brings a, a different aspect to, to it's a game changer.

Uh, not only for obviously for how we conduct business and, and, and, and, and the, the flow information.

I think now a homeowner has, you know, as much information as a pool professional, he might not be able to have the judgment on how to apply it, um, necessarily, but he, which is dangerous, but he has the information.

So, you know, if we're not offering the product and our consumers are going in and doing the research and finding out stuff that we're not offering to them, or we're not providing them.

Um, that's an easy way to lose their confidence and their trust, uh, which takes forever to build and very easily lost.

So I think there's a, there's a huge opportunity, uh, in the next couple of years.

Um, obviously we're going to continue to, to support the trade, do what we can to help our dealers grow.

Uh, whether it's their automation, whether it's, you know, sanitizers, uh, IntelliFlo3s.

Um, we are committed to, to providing customers with an easier way to operate their pool and, and, and offer more enjoyment.

So, uh, Rodney, we have not resolved all the world's problems. Uh, as of yet, but I, I do appreciate you taking time from your busy schedule to, to chat with us.

Uh, and I, I, I do want to continue this conversation. So, uh, we're going to invite you back at some point.

Uh, but for now, we'll let you get back to your day, John. Hey, I appreciate that.

Thank you so much. Hey, thank you, Adrian, for, for, uh, for having me on the show today.

Uh, I, you know, I, I greatly appreciate our, our friendship. I, I consider Pentair.

Um, it is my extended family. Um, and, uh, I devoted my career to, to this company.

And, and I, I, I really feel like anytime I can get, uh, some educational skills, uh, some education out, some met the message out.

Um, I'm all for that. So I'd, I'd be happy to be, to be back. Um, and hopefully, hopefully the, the listeners, uh, got some good information today that they can take and, and make their, their jobs easier, uh, and also make that, you know, their

customers ownership, pool ownership experience, um, easier just, just through automation.

So we would be happy to be back. Uh, and, and let's talk again. And thanks for our friendship, Adrian.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.