We’re at the beginning of a new product category: intelligent home infrastructure. I don’t just mean smart plugs, voice commands, or a smart phone app for a traditional product. I’m talking about foundational home systems rebuilt from scratch with sensors, autonomous control and enhanced hardware components at their core.
At Cala Systems, we’re focused on hot water. But we see ourselves as part of a broader movement alongside companies like Quilt in HVAC, Span in electrical panels, Impulse Labs in cooktops, Irrigreen in sprinklers, and Pila in distributed battery backup. Together, we’re showing what’s possible when companies start from a clean sheet—not just building in intelligence, but designing for greater control, resilience, and real-world value from day one.
The Five Themes of Intelligent Home Infrastructure
Starting from scratch means no legacy constraints, just the freedom to build products with a whole new set of capabilities Across this new wave of home infrastructure, five themes show up again and again:
- New Sensors, New Information
Cala’s system doesn’t just know tank temperature, it measures your household’s water usage patterns and the exact output temperature. Quilt’s HVAC system senses room-by-room occupancy with millimeter-wave radar. Span gives live visibility down to each circuit in your home. Impulse’s stove is able to sense the temperature of the pan itself. Pila has a temperature sensor for the inside of the refrigerator. It’s a different level of insight that wasn’t possible with legacy equipment. - Data from Outside the Product
We designed Cala from the start to connect with the broader world. Weather forecasts, electricity rates, solar output, carbon intensity—all external data streams that feed into our control system to optimize heating. It’s not just about sensing what’s happening inside the home. Cala, Span, and Pila all rely on outside signals: Span pulls real-time utility rates and solar production data to manage circuits dynamically. Pila adjusts battery charging based on grid signals and time-of-use pricing. Irrigreen adjusts watering based on the weather. These systems aren’t operating in isolation—they’re designed to respond intelligently to conditions beyond the home.
- Autonomous, Advanced Controls
Cala’s controls blend predictive algorithms first developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with machine learning techniques. It uses your home’s future water usage patterns, local electricity rates, solar output, and more to manage water heating—turning your water tank into a thermal battery.
Similarly, Span dynamically prioritizes circuits during outages, and Quilt learns your patterns to pre-condition rooms before you arrive. Furthermore,these systems operate without needing constant input from the homeowner. They respond in real time, drawing on live data to make decisions that would’ve required manual adjustments—or wouldn’t have been possible at all—with traditional equipment. What they all share is a new class of control: autonomous, and fundamentally different from the reactive, human-reliant systems that came before them.
- Hardware Built for Precision
New sensors, external data and advanced controls are only as good as the hardware they control. Without the right hardware, it’s like putting GPS on a hot air balloon - you might know where you are, but you’re still drifting. Cala utilizes a variable-speed compressor and smart mixing valve to let us control when, how fast, and to what temperature we heat water. Span replaces mechanical breakers with digital switches. Impulse integrates a 3 kWh battery directly into a stove. Irrigreen precisely follows the perimeter of the lawn. This isn’t about bolting on intelligence after the fact- it’s about designing hardware from the ground up to be controllable. True control isn’t just software; it’s physical systems built to respond to it, too. - Better at the Core Job and Completely New User Experiences
These systems don’t just improve on the old job - they reinvent it. Yes, you get more comfort, control, and efficiency. But the real shift is in the experience: your home anticipates what you need, adapts to your lifestyle, and responds to the world around it. A water heater that preheats based on electricity rates, your hot water demand, or your solar system output. An HVAC system that starts warming the living room before you get home. A panel that reconfigures itself during an outage, no flashlight required. These aren’t just upgrades—they’re entirely new ways to live with and benefit from home infrastructure. And that’s the defining difference.
Beyond Specs: Delivering Real-World Value
Traditional product specs - like gallons, kilowatts, or amps - only tell part of the story. With this new generation of home infrastructure, the most important benefits often don’t show up on standard feature lists or metrics.
Cala doesn’t just heat water more efficiently - it ensures there is ample hot water available before periods of peak demand in each home, it manages energy use based on when power is cheapest or cleanest, and much more. Span doesn’t just distribute electricity—it gives homeowners insight and control at the circuit level. Pila isn’t just a battery—it’s a flexible, modular backup system that can be expanded room by room, and it works right out of the box.
As consumers start evaluating these systems, they’ll look beyond the usual specs. They’ll judge them on how well they fit their lives. And that’s the real measure of value in this new category.
A Better Home Experience, Starting Now
Hot water is essential to daily comfort—and it’s more expensive and carbon-intensive than most people realize, with annual costs greater than $1,000 per year for some households and accounting for 3% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why we’re rethinking it from the ground up at Cala.
What we’re building at Cala is also part of a larger shift: essential home systems that don’t just perform better, but adapt intelligently to your life and to the world around them.
The common thread across companies like Cala, Quilt, Span, Irrigreen, Pila and others is clear: these products manage themselves, reduce waste, and connect seamlessly to the energy systems and homes of today - and tomorrow. They’re making homes more resilient, more efficient, and more responsive to the people who live in them.
If you’re someone who wants a home that’s more comfortable, more intuitive, and just works, these products are for you. The next generation of home infrastructure is already here. And it’s ready when you are.
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