What are the top two pain points threatening the adoption of smart home and energy management solutions? Those would be security and interoperability. While we want everything to just work together with little effort, and especially want our connected homes to remain uncompromised, it hasn’t been easy to achieve. Both security and interoperability have been major hurdles for the smart home to reach mass appeal. But that is now changing thanks to Z-Wave and Powerley.
Securing HEM and the Smart Home
The security of the smart homes remains the #1 concern among consumers. According to a recent survey by PwC, the biggest barrier to smart home adoption (next to price) is concern over device and data security. Consumers are afraid that their smart home devices could be hacked, putting their personal lives on display for the world to see. This is stifling the adoption of smart home and energy management technologies. By ensuring utility customers that their energy management technology is just as secure as the smart grid, we can remove these hurdles and deliver connectivity to the masses.
Z-Wave, the leader in smart home protocols, has raised the bar of IoT security by setting a new standard with the S2 framework – elevating interoperability and delivering the highest level of protection, along with faster connections and better battery life. Through Z-Wave for IP or Z/IP gateway, the Powerley Energy Bridge implements the S2 protocol to connect and control S2 devices, making Powerley the first home energy management solution worldwide to integrate this new standard. By incorporating the highest level of security in IoT, Powerley has extended the robustness of the grid across every device connection in the home. Now, energy providers and their customers can have greater peace of mind. And at the same time, they can gain a smart home and energy management experience that rivals leading smart home hubs.
From Smart Devices to a truly Connected Smart Home
Second to security, we want our smart homes to…well ”just work”. We don’t want to conduct research for ten hours to figure out which wireless protocol works for each and every bulb, switch and camera. We just want it to all work together in harmony and with the least amount of effort. The new Z-Wave Plus certification improves interoperability between smart home devices to create a more connected and integrated smart home. The result – Powerley can be compatible with over 1,000+ Z-Wave devices including thermostats, switches, sensors, bulbs, outlets and door locks. In addition, the Energy Bridge supports super-sized networks – handling as many as 232 devices in one home.
The Utility Driven Smart Home Just Got Better
The future of the smart home and HEM is here, as everything begins to work and performs better together. With the new Z-Wave standard, smart homes connect faster, allow for easier setup and save more power. And through an improved range of 67% and 250% more bandwidth, the Powerley Energy Bridge can now connect to devices faster and easier than ever before. Leveraging the S2 framework, customers can enjoy plug-n-play functionality and remove the friction of complicated device installations. And with the reduction of wireless data transfer, the new standard has deliver battery life improvements by 50%.
The next big wave of smart home adoption will only occur when we remove the hurdles that matter most to consumers. The new Z-Wave S2 framework opens this door to greater adoption by securing trust in our technology while eliminating friction from every interaction. As the only home energy management solution with this new standard, Powerley has helped utilities offer a superior energy management solution that extends the smart grid into the smart home.