Qihoo 360 and Huayuan Group Announce Strategic Partnership to Develop Smart Home Technologies

BEIJING, May 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Qihoo 360, China's leading Internet security software provider, and Huayuan Group, one of China's leading real-estate developers, have formed a strategic partnership to promote the adoption of smart home and security technologies in China's real-estate market.

Under the agreement, Qihoo 360 will design and provide intelligent home security products and management systems for Huayuan's real-estate developments. These will include intelligent surveillance cameras, security routers, location- and health-tracking wearables, electrical appliance safety alarms, intelligent gas and fire alarms, and other devices to help Huayuan improve and optimize existing security systems and establish new intelligent home security management systems.

"Qihoo 360's flagship products have historically been focused on protecting PCs and cell phones," said Hongyi Zhou, Qihoo 360 CEO. "Through this partnership with Huayuan, Qihoo 360 is not only able to offer useful tools, but a sense of security, which paired with our software can connect every user, every family and office together. This partnership is just the beginning for Qihoo 360 in the smart home technologies and IoT market."

"We are very pleased to partner with Qihoo 360 on the development of smart home technologies," said Zhiqiang Ren, former CEO and the landmark leader of Huayuan. "Although we have cooperated with other Internet companies in the past, Qihoo 360 possesses unique qualities that others do not – the two most important being security and safety. Development of intelligent technologies requires highly secure and reliable technical expertise."

"We are committed to working closely with Qihoo 360 to roll out smart home technologies to many more developments, creating new intelligent real estate communities across China," added Yuyan Sun, Chairman and CEO of Huayuan Group.

First cross-industry strategic partnership between real estate and Internet industries

Qihoo 360 and Huayuan are the first companies to respond to the push by China's central government for the Internet sector to partner with traditional industries under the "Internet Plus" strategy.

Together, the two companies will develop China's first true intelligent community. The partnership will first be implemented at a development in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province in south-central China, followed by expansion into Beijing, Shanghai and eventually all of Huayuan's developments nationally. The first intelligent community is expected to be completed by year-end.

"The future is all about interconnectedness, with a vast ecosystem of connected intelligent instruments, providing more secure and convenient services," said Qihoo 360 Chairman and CEO Hongyi Zhou. "The goal of our partnership with Huayuan is to use the Internet to develop more intelligent hardware that will create safe and convenient smart communities for future generations. No matter the distance, smartphones can be used to control every appliance in the home, protecting families and their properties."

Establishing a new benchmark for an intelligent community

Qihoo 360 and Huayuan will cooperate on a wide front, developing intelligent hardware, mobile apps and cloud services, to bring the intelligent home to consumers. The partnership is a logical extension of Qihoo 360's broad strategic move over the last two years into intelligent security hardware and services.

• With Qihoo 360 mobile WiFi, consumers can access the Internet by simply plugging in a dongle, without the need for WiFi set up.
• Qihoo 360's Kids Guard smart watch enables parents to locate and interact with their children at any time.
• The Qihoo 360 smart surveillance camera allows users to see and interact with the elderly and children at any time.
• Qihoo 360's secure router offers expansive WiFi coverage while protecting home networks.

Qihoo 360 also offers intelligent driving records to ensure safety on the roads, air quality testers and voice-activated speakers, among other smart products.

Qihoo 360's intelligent hardware strategy: Quality, Security, Openness, Connectedness

When discussing Qihoo 360's intelligent hardware development strategy, Mr. Zhou lists four key concepts: Quality, Security, Openness, and Connectedness.

• Quality: Qihoo 360 partners with traditional industry players to develop high quality intelligent hardware products. Combined with Qihoo 360's deep expertise in software, the company can guarantee that every Qihoo intelligent product is a quality product.
• Security: Security is at the core of Qihoo 360's smart technologies. As China's largest Internet security company, Qihoo 360 has deep experience and technological expertise in protecting user data.
• Openness: Qihoo 360 cooperates with both start-ups and more established companies on product development and investments to ensure the healthy development of the entire industry food chain.
• Connectedness: Qihoo 360 provides its partners with wireless technology, leveraging expertise in cloud services to offer individualized services to end users.

At the press conference held today in China to announce the partnership, Mr. Zhou and Mr. Ren, along with other industry executives, also announced the creation of an intelligent hardware investment fund. This fund aims to support emerging intelligent hardware start-ups, accelerating their pace of development, and ultimately expediting the development of China's intelligent hardware chain.

In recent years, Qihoo 360 has invested in dozens of intelligent hardware manufacturers – and the company is open to more partners in the future. Qihoo 360 will adopt an open and cooperative approach and offer partners access to its brand, capabilities, capital and other resources.

About Qihoo 360

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NYSE: QIHU) is a leading Internet company in China. Qihoo 360 is the number one provider of Internet and mobile security products in China as measured by its user base, according to iResearch. Qihoo 360 also provides users with secure access points to the Internet via its market leading Web browsers and application stores. The company has built one of the largest open Internet platforms in China and monetizes its massive user base primarily through online advertising and through Internet value-added services on its open platform.

Media Contact

Liang Yu, Corporate Communications
Qihoo 360
1-669-224-4691
[email protected]

SOURCE Qihoo 360