Actiontec's zControl home automation gateways get official

Seeking to "change the way people manage their household electronics," Actiontec is getting set to unleash an outpouring of zControl products. We'd briefly heard about the firm's standalone unit that connects to the home router a few months back, but here at CES even more details are starting to flow. Apparently, Actiontec will be pushing out an entire series of Z-Wave-based wares "designed to centrally manage household electronics such as lights, security cameras, thermostats, motion detectors, garage door openers, motorized shades and automatic sprinklers through the home network." Furthermore, zControl will give owners the ability to dictate connected items remotely, and while we've no room to mention every piece of the forthcoming lineup, you should know that the zControl Starter Kit -- which includes a zControl unit, one indoor camera with motion detector, one lighting control module, and a remote control -- will be available next month for $399. Hit the read link for lots, lots more.

[Via eHomeUpgrade]

[Sander de Regt @ Jan 10th 2008 9:16AM]

I've always had trouble understanding how Home Automation is supposed to work.
My personal favorite is the ability to 'turn on the microwave' when you leave work so your dinner will be done by the time you get back. Hmmm...cool idea. But...All microwave dishes I have seen are either frozen or at least refridgerated, and should only be removed from the freezer shortly before preparation. So unless they will build refridgerated microwave ovens in the future, this isn't going to work, since you can't leave your dish to be prepared in the microwave all day.

[Kamal @ Jan 10th 2008 11:02AM]

There are ovens (not microwave) that double as a freezer (don't think they can be operated remotely just yet).

I want to know if this this thing works with WHS.

[malone @ Jan 10th 2008 11:15AM]

I have to wait an hour for my cold living room to fully heat up after arriving home. It'd be great to remotely turn on the fireplace (thermostat). That's the biggest selling point for me.

Automation of lawn sprinklers is a nice idea as well, although there are cheap timers you can use and leave on 24/7 (e.g. set to sprinkle for an hour every other day).. turn off the sprinkler system completely in Winter. An exception is if you live in a rainy area where you'd want to turn off the sprinklers to save water.

I don't care for fancy garage openers, and lights or TVs, which are already easy to flick on/off. How long does it actually take to open the garage door via a mobile phone, considering Internet latency? I'd hate to have to pull into my driveway and wait for minutes before I can drive in.. what if the Internet box disconnects?

I will look into building a small 60 watt MiniITX server running Smoothwall or lightweight Linux, and hook it up to my thermostat for remote heat operation. Send an e-mail (from any Internet station or phone) to the server box containing a command, time to execute(optional), and password. A motion sensor may be included to automatically turn off the thermostat if there's no movement in a few hours since remote operation. The tricky part is communicating with these devices in a Linux box.

[John Laur @ Jan 10th 2008 11:16AM]

After seeing ActionTec's junky DSL gear in action I wouldn't touch any of their other products with a 10 foot pole.

[RD @ Jan 10th 2008 6:17PM]

two words:

Verizon Router

[Xeelee @ Jan 10th 2008 7:27PM]

Just like he said... a warning to all would be buyers of Actiontec equipment... would you really trust a manufacturer who is mostly renowned — renounced, more like it — for making some of the crappiest DSL modems available in the market? I would not, and I work for Verizon DSL tech support