Z-Wave Europe, the European distributor of the homee Smart Home System, announced that with the latest update of home automation system homee, many more devices can now be integrated into Apple’s HomeKit system. Thanks to a new update, devices running on Z-Wave, ZigBee and EnOcean wireless standards can now be integrated into HomeKit and be controlled via the voice assistant Siri, among other means.
Z-Wave Europe, the European distributor of the homee Smart Home System, announced that with the latest update of home automation system homee, many more devices can now be integrated into Apple’s HomeKit system. Thanks to a new update, devices running on Z-Wave, ZigBee and EnOcean wireless standards can now be integrated into HomeKit and be controlled via the voice assistant Siri, among other means.
With this development, homee is the world’s first smart home gateway to connect devices from various wireless systems (Z-Wave, ZigBee, EnOcean) to Apple’s HomeKit.
Until now, the selection of certified HomeKit devices has been limited to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth systems. Especially with Bluetooth, however, the low range is a major disadvantage in the connected home. With homee’s HomeKit integration, Z-Wave and Zigbee devices can now be used as HomeKit devices. Thanks to the so-called meshing functionality, both standards have a much higher range.
The HomeKit ecosystem has had a relatively small product portfolio, but with homee’s solution, the portfolio may be expanded with many more devices, which can then be controlled with Apple’s Siri.
The devices connected to homee can already be commanded via Amazon’s voice control “Alexa” and the Google Home assistant. Apple’s Siri would be the third language assistant that can be used.
Thanks to magnetic, colourful wireless cubes, the smart home gateway of the German company from Stuttgart can be assembled in a modular and individual way. Z-Wave, Zigbee and EnOcean devices can be connected to homee. In addition, the popular AVM FRITZ! devices as well as some Homematic devices – appropriate control centers FRITZ!Box and Homematic CCU provided – can be networked and controlled with homee.
It is not yet known when Apple will officially start the software certification of HomeKit devices. Codeatelier offers interested users the possibility to request a beta tester invitation to turn their homee into a HomeKit bridge.
Waldemar Wunder, CEO of Codeatelier, said, "We don't have to hide from these big players. Quite the contrary, here we see a lot of potential for making smart home… This makes it all the more important for us, true to our motto 'homee connects,' to be compatible with all three systems.”
Product Adopted:Wireless Transmission