"Front-End" software recommendations

[vamike]

I've been using HAI Omnipro 2 since 2008 with HAI Automation Studio powering my touchscreens.  With Automation Studio seemingly at end of life and with my desire to create a customized mobile app (vs. Snaplink), I know it's time to find and dive into the right "front-end" software.
 
I know many front-end software apps (HomeSeer, CQC, Bitwise, etc.) offer varying degrees of integration, logic control, etc., but I will always keep my most important and security logic in the Omni because it is just rock solid and always works.
 
So my question to this community:  if you were to start today with a front-end, what would you use?
 
Here is my initial take after a week of evaluating a few of the options:
 
Bitwise

• This is what HAI is pushing and presumably Bitwise is the replacement for Automation Studio.  I've played around with it and it's great as an A/V control system.  Bitwise just introduced Omni integration but they still have a ways to go.  The mobile app designer is good, but again it lacks some capabilities that in my opinion make it suitable for security and automation.  For example, i don't like that the end-user can select their start page (GUI in their language) and the app cannot jump to GUIs based on Omni events/triggers.

HomeSeer

• I like everything I read about HomeSeer and I would love to expand my logic/automation to the breadth of plugins HomeSeer offers.  I'm a little hesitate about running another server in my system, but perhaps the purpose built HomeTroller's are solid.  For me, the lack of Nuvo integration is a potential show-stopper, although I could get around some of it by having the Omni drive Nuvo via Buttons from HomeSeer Omni plug in.

CQC

• CQC looks interesting as well and has a strong following.  The fact that it almost when out of business awhile back is concerning and the pricing seems a bit steep for software-only solution (I have 6 kids and a wife who also need "clients").  The logic control seems solid but the mobile designers "in development" are also concerning.  

I know there are others out there like eKeypad, Haiku (Space), etc. but haven't had time to fully evaluate all of them.
 
As far as my requirements and what's important to me....

• I like building sophisticated logic
• My favorite part of automation is the human interface (touchscreens, voice input capability, text to speech acknowledgements, etc.).  For this reason, I am very intrigued by the text to speech abilities of HomeSeer, CQC, etc. and the HomeSeer Alexa integration.  I would love the ability to "Say Something" or play specific MP3s to specific audio zones.  Today with Omni/Nuvo, I am limited to the 500 Omni words and paging to all zones at once via the 2-way voice module.  I've come up with some very creative uses for this, but an unlimited vocab, localized zoned TTS, Alexa, etc., would be exciting!
• I need to support interfaces for both IOS and Android devices and I would like to replace all my Omni 5.7 Touchscreens with iPads (cheaper, bigger).
• I cannot practically replace the Nuvo Grand Concerto system...I've invested way too much in it.

Thanks in advance!
Mike
 
OmniPro II
100+ HLC/UPB lights
6 Omnistats
Nuvo Grand Concerto w/ 16 zones
3 Zwave Locks
15 Axis IP Cams

 

[Dean Roddey]

The going out of business thing was a long time ago now. It was at the depth of the financial disaster, when discretionary income products like these were pretty much at the bottom of almost everyone's list except the wealthy. A lot of companies didn't make it through that. But we've been around now for 15 years, and will almost certainly outlast most of the recent arrivals in this business. 
 
Anyhoo, CQC is of course a full bore, pro level automation solution. It works perfectly well layered over an Omni system, and you can divide up the chores between them as you see fit. But, there are lots of things the Omni doesn't handle, so having strong automation logic support above it makes a lot of difference. And you might find, once you get used to the power of that sort of higher level automation logic scheme, that you might want to move more stuff up to that level. 
 
If you want super-slick touch screens, then CQC is basically the choice. It has the most powerful graphical interface system, and allows you to create touch screen interfaces as fancy as your graphical skills and aesthetic sense allow.
 
I would also point out that drivers are not separately charged items in CQC. So the price can be misleading. Other products often charge separately for drivers, and the price can add up, and will continue to over time if you add or replace hardware.
 
Our Echo support is also very open ended, so you can do very fancy queries and commands, not just basic control of things. 

 

[pete_c]

+++ Dean Roddy - CQC
 
It is difficult for me to comment as I tinker much and automation is a hobby here.
 
I will get to the automation of whatever widget, however means I happen to use; then get bored and move on typically here. 
 
I'll recommend Homeseer here as I have evolved with it since 1998.
 
This can skew my views today on it for newbie yut automaters.
 
I typically say that it is easy to automate but never really consider my historicals / monies / time spent when mentioning that.