ChrisWalker said:
The other thing to remember about Zigbee is that, unfortunately, it's not an interoperable standard today. Control4 and Eaton should really be listed as their own items and not as part of "Zigbee" since, of course, you can't mix devices from different manufacturers together.
The theory is that eventually there will be interoperable Zigbee devices, but I can't even imagine the marketing confusion of "Zigbee devices that work with Zigbee devices from other manufacturers" and "Zigbee devices that _don't_ work with Zigbee devices from other manfuacturers" will be.
Chris
Chris,
Now I really believe you when you told me how much you were working at CES...
You missed a bunch of interesting stuff outside the Z-Wave world while shuttling between your booth and the Microsoft booth.
My real point above is that there are very few ZigBee products for Home Control on the US market today and that Control4 and Eaton can be said to be shipping about 100% of those. Control4 gets beat up here for their unwillingness to sell to the DIY market. I think I understand why they are going that way and even if I don't agree with them it is not my company so I don't get a vote.
Control4 is starting to open up their system so that the end customer can do more of the programming. This is not entirely DIY friendly although it is a start. BTW, Control4 is offering a service very much like the one from iControl and others for a much more attractive price.
The story that ZigBee does not provide an interoperable standard today is one that is growing a little thin. The market has evolved and this statement is no longer strictly true.
Specifically regarding Control4 and Eaton
Control4 is the tail that is waving the ZigBee dog these days. If there is a feature that is HA friendly in the ZigBee spec these days it is due to Control4 pushing it. BACNet in ZigBee? - pushed by Control4 and Johnson Controls.
Control4 also chose Ember as the long term provider of their ZigBee chips. They also use the Ember stack in their products. They are also driving the pricing for ZigBee chips very hard.
Any guesses about Eaton's chip supplier? Ember.
Eaton was showing in the Control4 partner pavillion in addition to having their own booth and more than one person told me that Control4 can use the Eaton devices.
The other company showing in the Control4 pavillion was Johnson Controls. They are using a repurposed (some software changes plus support for BACNet) controller from Control4 to go after the small scale commercial industrial/building control market.
Yes, we're still waiting for the ZigBee Alliance to get the Home Automation application profile "Just right" (Quote from CES 2006 BTW) In the mean time, the individual ZigBee Alliance members are doing something about what one person characterized as the ZigBee Alliance being the biggest inhibitor to ZigBee adoption.
George West
www.wtrs.net