Universal Devices (UDI) continues to pave the way for Home Automation

Home Automation (HA) is a complex subject and an even more complex thing to accomplish. In many people's mind, HA is simply advanced remote control --> "Alex turn on the light". True HA though is where for example, the lights come on as you walk in your bathroom at the right lighting level for the time of day; bright in the morning, and very dim at 3am and much much more. 

However, achieving this through the years has been complicated.

Universal Devices, many years ago, developed one of, if not, the MOST robust hardware and software packages that has ever been available, the ISY. It is dependable, solid, extremely powerful and has very few real life limits. It originally worked primarily with Insteon based products, Zwave products and Zigbee products. Add- on modules allowed for an ELK security system to be natively integrated as well. 

But again, it was complicated, and there were limits in terms of what products / technologies could be accessed and managed from one controller. 

Then Alexa (and Google Home) came along. UDI was quick to develop a 2-way integration such that Alexa could now control devices and programs in ISY, and the ISY could control other devices that only integrated with Alexa. The world of HA began to explode to where it is today; infinite devices available using wifi, bluetooth, z-wave and zigbee. 

Integration of these proliferating devices again became the weakspot of the industry. Users need a new app for each new company's devices: Ecobee, TP-Link/ Kasa, Honeywell, Tesla, Phillips Hues, Roomba, Sonos, Russound, MyQ garage, etc etc etc. But again, this mostly lead to "remote control" vs HA. Some of these apps, now allow for very basic routines or programs to be developed. Nothing though compared to what the ISY is capable of and has been doing for years.

UDI to the rescue again!. With their foresight and great skills, they developed, something called the Polisy and Polyglots or node servers. These third party written programs, allow these other companies products to become natively installed into the ISY architecture for control and programming. WOW. The HA world just got that much simpler, but it still isn't for the faint of heart, just yet.

But that is where UDI is again is at the forefront. With the impending emergence of a new universal technology platform called Matter, UDI has developed a new piece of hardware called the Eisy, for Easy ISY. Matter has been developed in conjunction with most all major home automation device manufacturers such that the ability to integrate and talk together will be simplified and unified. 

By developing Eisy, UDI has brought their many many years of rock solid products in a combination offering that allows for the ISY to work with Insteon, Zigbee, Z-wave, the multitude of Node Servers, Alexa, Google Home and now Matter compliant devices! 

If you are wondering where to go with HA, you should look no farther than the Eisy. 

Is it brand new? Yes. does it have some growing pains yet to resolve? A few. Are matter devices available yet? No not really. So by the time they are available, UDI, at the forefront, will have another rock solid offering to provide the maximum control of your Smart Home with both computer interfaces as well as a very powerful phone app.

UDI's expertise, along with their responsiveness to customer care, combined with this forum, where there are many many experts willing to help and pitch in, provides, in my opinion, the BEST OVERALL HOME AUTOMATION experience possible, for now and the future. 

As user for 15+ years, I can truly attest @Michel Kohanim and his team are simply the BEST.  Good luck!

(if you are a new user or potential user, feel free to reach out to me via DM if you would like to discuss further)