Hybrid Technology

Our Home Control System is a 'hybrid technology' implementation, that uses a mix of wired and wireless home automation technologies. This means we are free to choose and use the best technology available, to creating a powerful, coherent smart home. The best technology (in terms of cost, performance, reliability, etc.) is selected for each particular function or feature and we are not tied to any particular manufacturer or vendor. This is made much simpler by our adoption of technology abstraction.

It means we can easily and seamlessly integrate many different technologies and products into our smart home. We can also use 'best of breed' products and services if we want to. Our Home Control System is currently using wired sensors, USB I/O, Ethernet I/O, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, ZigBee, 1-Wire, etc. It means we can add new technologies and features quickly and also replace old ones. One of the biggest advantages of this approach is that it is significantly cheaper, whilst also being more reliable and protecting our privacy.

Example: In the early days we used X10 for a lot of appliance control. As this became obsolete, it was easily swapped out with Z-Wave technology.

Example: We use many brands and types of Passive Infra-Red (PIR) sensors in our contextual smart home. Most of them are low-cost wired devices, eliminating many batteries, providing much better performance and minimal latency.