Official Omni Lines discontinued

[HogarDigital]

This is the whole Bulletin for Leviton received it today.
 
So sad news
 


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To our valued dealers and home automation professionals -

We want to make you aware of upcoming changes to our Omni product line.

Leviton continues to support the Omni product family. However, production for new installations is currently being phased out. While inventories currently exist, any new production runs have been completed. Full product warranties will remain in place, as will ongoing support through our repair and replace program. Further, Omni wiring follows industry standards, allowing installations to be expanded or modified in the future utilizing similar industry products.

Omni has held a unique niche in the market for many years. However, as technology changes, many of its groundbreaking automation capabilities can now be accomplished at lower cost using services such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, as well as smart security systems and hubs. These solutions offer low-cost touchscreens, app control, automation routines, schedules, remote access, and integrations that have changed the landscape.

Leviton Decora Smart Wi-Fi has grown into a powerful lighting control system that we encourage you to try. The line is expanding to include wall stations, receptacles, and the Decora Voice Dimmer with Amazon Alexa Built-in, which will all launch later this year. In addition to Wi-Fi, Decora Smart devices are also available in popular technologies such as Z-Wave, Zigbee, and HomeKit.

Leviton has always been committed to the support of our customers, and to the development of innovative products and technology. We sincerely appreciate your support as we continue to evolve and grow with the many exciting changes in our industry.

Please continue to reach out to [email protected] with any technical concerns.

Thank you,
Jay McLellan, Vice President - EMC&A New Orleans




 


 
 

 

[Dean Roddey]

It's hard to really understand the real reasoning behind this. I mean:
 
1. The Omni is (or was) targeting primarily professionals, and though some adventurous DIYers installed them, that couldn't have been more than a small bit of their sales I would think.
2. None of the stuff they offer up in return are things that any pro installer would likely use to replace an OMNI, so I can't imagine that this statement is really addressing professionals, at least not in a way they would really take seriously.
 
So it's sort of confusing. So, were there not hardly even any pros installing OMNIs anymore? It can't be because of any of those other options, I don't imagine, since they aren't stuff that would be that appealing to pros and hence not something that would have caused pros to move away from the OMNI. Is the lower-mid part of the pro market totally collapsing or something and they are just getting out before it goes down. 

 

[sjht]

Won’t there reasoning for getting out of the business also suggest Elk might do the same at some point? I would rather not convert to Elk (which is suggested in this video) and end up in the same place a few years from now? Not saying it will happen, but the landscape for these systems is changing dramatically....SJ

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W0qLL1qs124&feature=youtu.be

 

[upstatemike]

A good question might be "what market niche was Leviton trying to compete in?
 
Were they trying to mainly provide electricians with a way to compete against system integrators for entry level automation business? If they see Lutron and Legrand as their main competition maybe they feel the combination of Wi-Fi and Z-Wave products as providing everything the electrician market is really interested in.
 
Did they see themselves as competing in the system integrator space against Control4 and Savant level systems? If so why aren't those companies also struggling with the same issues Leviton claims to be facing?
 
Did they see themselves catering to alarm system dealers selling Elk, Honeywell, etc who also venture into basic automation and distributed audio? If so what prevented them from succeeding?
 
Or do they really feel their core customer base was intended to be people who are putting together systems with Amazon or Google assistants plus a hub or two? 
 
It's hard to speculate on why they failed with Omni when it isn't completely clear what they were trying to do in the first place.

 

[pete_c]

Personally do not think that Leviton knew what to do or even cared relating to the Omni Line from the get go. 
 
Leviton didn't really do much at all with the Omni Line after purchase. 
 
Most young folks today or new home buyes today do not really consider ever wiring their home for anything relating to the network or security and choose the easy button way these days relating to security, automation and or networking.  (wireless is easy and becoming cheaper these days).
 
Newbie home owners don't really mind paying a monthly fee for the ISP solution to internet/phone/television/automation (all wireless). 

 
That is just the way it is today.

 

[upstatemike]

Personally do not think that Leviton knew what to do or even cared relating to the Omni Line from the get go. 
 
Leviton didn't really do much at all with the Omni Line after purchase. 
 
Most young folks today or new home buyes today do not really consider ever wiring their home for anything relating to the network or security and choose the easy button way these days relating to security, automation and or networking.  (wireless is easy and becoming cheaper these days).
 
Newbie home owners don't really mind paying a monthly fee for the ISP solution to internet/phone/television/automation (all wireless). 

 
That is just the way it is today.

I agree that is the way things are going but what I struggle with is the current trend sustainable and if not which way will things turn from here? In other words where do you place your bets so your HA investment does not become obsolete in a few years? Some concerns I have:
 
There is a rapidly widening disparity between urban and rural Internet bandwidth. As HA technologies become more dependent on cloud services and the assumption of high speed, high reliability broadband being available what happens when it reaches a point where mainstream HA products can function reliably in rural communities effectively making HA unavailable or at least impractical?
 
HA density is rapidly reaching saturation for existing technologies. As HA gets more granular we see automated switches and outlets giving way to automated bulbs. A room that used to have 1 or 2 addressable devices might now have 10 or 12 as each fixture bulb or wall sconce has its own address. A room with 8 windows might previously been on a single alarm panel loop but nowadays would use 8 separate addressable wireless contacts. Add to that the explosion of new devices like leak sensors, light sensors, power use monitors, wireless audio, tablets etc. and you start to wonder about address space, hop counts and bandwidth contention. Wi-Fi only gives you 252  usable addresses to share among all of you voice assistants (rapidly moving to one in every room) Wi-Fi switches and bulbs, Sonos or similar networked music players (2 per room if you want stereo), Thermostats, TVs, set top media streamers, tablet controllers and so on. You only have 3 viable Wi-Fo channels to share between wireless access points, dedicated Sonosnet, Zigbee, etc. Flipping devices to Zigbee relieves addressing issues but doesn't help with 2.4GHz bandwidth contention. Z-Wave relieves 2.4 GHz contention but with the low hop count and limited usable address space (typically recommended to stay under 150 devices) is also detined to max out soon as things keep expanding.Where is the required scalability breakthrough going to come from?
 
Instead of open standards big companies are trying to dominate the market by creating proprietary ecosystems. Apple tried to redefine HA to suit their iPhone centric view of the world and created a super niche HA environment that does not appeal to anyone not already invested in Apple. Nest is closing down its Works With Nest API. And devices using supposedly open standards like Z-Wave and Zigbee often do not work unless support for each individual device is added to a hub or controller.How is any of this sustainable as the number of new devices and vendors keeps growing exponentially?
 
Maybe Leviton looked at all of these factors and decided to quit throwing money into this mess and just pause awhile until things sort themselves out.

 

[pete_c]

where do you place your bets so your HA investment does not become obsolete in a few years?
 
I do not bet. 
 
That said it is all about "easy button" automation for the yut today.  Cheap and easy.  The yut today could care less about the grey areas of automation whether at home or in the cloud.
 
If it works with an app or Alexa / GH on their smartphones that is all they care about.
 
Really do not care as my home automation sandbox is a personal hobby and for me only.  WAF is good because it keeps me busy only.
 
 

My current X10, UPB, ZWave and Zigbee will continue to work fine for the next 10  - 20 years.  Not sure the longitivity of the cheapo Wifi Switches but they are so cheap it doesn't matter.
 
I am trying hard not to depend on the cloud for my automation but am tinkering with a bunch of stuff here for fun only but not for hard automation.
 
 
 
Children just purchased their first homes and automation and security are last on the list of updates to their homes.

IE:  I automated a house (rented during school) back in the 1970's and first home purchased in the late 70's.

 

[jeditekunum]

Not surprising really. Thats what happens when you don't innovate or try to adjust to the market. You have to continually improve the value proposition. If you aren't going to add value through new features you have to reduce costs. Quality alone won't survive.
 
In my opinion, Elk isn't far behind. Stagnant features and high prices.
 
Omni integrators/dealers will likely move on to Loxone. Loxone is desperate for "partners" since they recently changed their business model to partners-only. Even so, they are in the same boat of stagnant software features, high prices, and weak quality.
 
Overall, this is an industry ripe for disruption. And by that I don't mean the isolated proprietary islands of wireless products.

 

[kurtmccaslin]

I wish the former owners of HAI would buy it back from Leviton.   They could probably pick it up by accepting the ongoing support liabilities.

 

[upstatemike]

Not surprising really. Thats what happens when you don't innovate or try to adjust to the market. You have to continually improve the value proposition. If you aren't going to add value through new features you have to reduce costs. Quality alone won't survive.
 
In my opinion, Elk isn't far behind. Stagnant features and high prices.
 
Omni integrators/dealers will likely move on to Loxone. Loxone is desperate for "partners" since they recently changed their business model to partners-only. Even so, they are in the same boat of stagnant software features, high prices, and weak quality.
 
Overall, this is an industry ripe for disruption. And by that I don't mean the isolated proprietary islands of wireless products.

I am starting to think that for a combination security and HA panel products like Abode are more in line with what new customers are looking for these days.

 

[pete_c]

Here looking to get rid of the XFininity security and automation stuff for a family member. 
 
That said I was going to just install a Lenova Google home touchscreen or Echo touchscreen if I can do security with it and install a wireless keypad for it.
 
Family member likes the XFinity touchscreen and alarm keypad.
 
Any suggestions for a like replacement?

 

[cobra]

Here looking to get rid of the XFininity security and automation stuff for a family member. 
 
That said I was going to just install a Lenova Google home touchscreen or Echo touchscreen if I can do security with it and install a wireless keypad for it.
 
Family member likes the XFinity touchscreen and alarm keypad.
 
Any suggestions for a like replacement?

 
I put in Omni/Lumina...  The previous owner here had the xfinity system, which looks nice and has some handy basic features.  But it comes with a pretty high cost, I thought, and at the time they wanted a 3 yr contract.  And people claimed exorbitant cancellation rates (in the thousand or more dollar range in year 2.)  And I wasn't a fan of Comcast in this area.  I still use the 2 camera's they left behind, was able to reconfigure them.  Keypad and door sensors had to be replaced.

 

[pete_c]

Thank you Cobra,
 
I am most familiar with doing an Omni which would make a switch over fast. 
 
Playing with a small sized touchscreen running a custom OmniPro touch and trying to do some weather stuff with it.

 

[cobra]

The xfinity security system doesn't look bad... but you need internet and paid security.  (Security is an add on separate from the internet/tv packages.)  As I recall they have tiers of service for security as well.  If you want full camera integration and remote access, it was pretty expensive here.

 

[pete_c]

Yeah user is used to the touchscreen and the keypad.  There are no other options configured and it is $40 month.
 
I want to configure something similiar.
 
I can do a custom Omnitouch screen and use a regular Omni Keypad.  I am learning the HAI designer program but it is a PITA to use.
 
Easier to run HSTouch with a custom single screen.
 
That said the Omnpro touch program works great on my custom tabletop touch screens.
 
I can just link a weather image to the HAI Omnitouch screen I guess.