ubisys Strengthens Smart Home Service Platform
Smart Home by ubisys now features push notifications, advanced peer-to-peer
remote access and a local JavaScript engine
Düsseldorf/Las Vegas, January 8, 2016. On the fourth day of CES 2016,
ubisys presents the latest additions to its Smart Home service platform.
The upgraded platform comprises the ZigBee/Ethernet Gateway G1, smart phone apps
for iOS and Android, and new optional cloud services.
“From day one, our smart home solution did not rely on internet connectivity
or even cloud services at all. This was very important to us, as it guarantees that
homeowners keep control of what happens in their homes at any time. Robust local
control is inevitable if you are controlling heating, closures, entry, etc. This
approach not only safeguards user privacy, it also avoids unnecessary roundtrip
delays and allows us to provide a premium user experience. Building on this rock-solid
foundation, we’re excited to augment our platform with optional cloud services
including push notifications and zero-configuration remote-access while on the road”,
Dr.-Ing. Arasch Honarbacht, lead R&D, founder and co-owner of ubisys outlined.
Zero-Configuration, Peer-to-Peer Remote Access
Manually configuring remote access has always been possible using static IP
addresses or third-party dynamic DNS services and these options remain as alternative
or redundant ways to connect. Whether you were at home or on the road, the connection
between your phone and the gateway at home was always direct - without relays in between.
While this gives the best possible performance in terms of latency and throughput,
one drawback is that the installer needs basic network administration skills to setup
port-forwarding and dynamic DNS in the internet router. It also requires a public IP
address, which is not always available. For example, remote access was not easily
possible behind carrier-grade NATs, which mobile data provides often employ in their
cellular networks. There are also ways around these limitations, like VPN tunnels, but
they are often tedious and cumbersome to configure and maintain.
The new ubisys peer-to-peer (P2P) service allows users to establish a direct
connection in most cases — without any configuration. It assists in connecting
the two peers (mobile phone and gateway) but thereafter it is no longer involved in
communications. Only in rare cases with certain NAT typologies the P2P service will
also serve as a relay, i.e. be part of the data flow. This service uses authentication
to make sure attackers cannot connect to arbitrary gateways.
This is similar to how services like Apple's FaceTime work and gives users an
optimal blend: Like with a cloud-based dispatching queue service there is no requirement
to configure anything. At the same time, the connection being immediate means it is
super-fast and contributes to the protection of customer's privacy, too. There being
no single point of attack, it does not pay off for attackers to spend their time hacking
this service: Unlike centralized databases, they will not get access to a vast number
of user accounts and sensitive data by breaking into a single system. The distributed
architecture poses an inherent barrier by itself.
Push Notification Service
A further ubisys cloud service delivers push notifications via Apple and Google
infrastructure. These notifications can be sent by the Gateway G1 in reaction to
triggering events like motion being detected, doors or windows being opened, water
leaks being detected, lights being turned on or off, electrical appliances starting
or stopping to draw electrical power from a smart mains power outlet like the ubisys
S1 etc. The possibilities are almost endless. In addition, the gateway can notify
users of new firmware updates being available and also use this communications channel
to reach out to the active customer base when it has to spread important information.
Advanced local processing with built-in JavaScript Engine
Setting up timers and scenes via app has always been intuitively easy and covers
many basic automation scenarios, like having your window blinds open and close
automatically near sunset and sunrise or at specific times of the day. Yet, there are
certain cases where advanced users require more control. For example, combining weather
and lighting conditions with presence information, time of day, and power consumption
reports to determine whether a certain action should occur can be very difficult to
achieve with a purely graphical configuration scheme, whereas the same can be achieved
in a couple lines of JavaScript.
“When we decided to enhance our Gateway G1 with a scripting language,
JavaScript was a pretty natural choice. It is concise, powerful and flexible. Chances
are that users are already familiar with it; for first-time users it is also easy to
learn, given loads of resources available on the web. We’re proud of the lightweight,
responsive implementation of this scripting engine on G1”, Honarbacht explained
the choice.
About ubisys
Promoting the ubiquitous deployment of smart wireless systems, ubisys technologies
GmbH is a leading Smart Home and Internet-of-Things company based in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Its broad portfolio includes core technologies like certified ZigBee Golden Unit stacks,
cloud services, advanced products including roller shade controllers, dimmers, smart
power outlets and heating regulators as well as complete, consumer-facing solutions
with gateways and apps for iOS and Android.
Contact
Marcel Apfel
ubisys technologies GmbH
Meet ubisys at the ZigBee Alliance CES Booth
To experience what’s next in smart connectivity, mark your calendars to visit the
ZigBee Pavilion at CES, January 6-9, 2016, in Booth #71344 within the Smart Home
section of the Tech West emerging technology zone, located in the Sands Expo and
Convention Center.
ZigBee: Control Your World
The ZigBee Alliance creates, maintains and delivers open, global wireless standards
that enable everyday objects to work together and control your world in the Internet
of Things (IoT). An open, non-profit ecosystem of 425 companies, the Alliance is
developing and promoting the world’s leading IoT standards across a wide range of
consumer, commercial and industrial monitoring and control applications. For more
information, visit www.zigbee.org.
Contacts
Mark Walters
ZigBee Alliance
Heather Chesterman (for the ZigBee Alliance)
Magnet PR Group
ubisys technologies GmbH
Am Wehrhahn 45
40211 Düsseldorf
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T: +49. 211. 54 21 55 – 00
F: +49. 211. 54 21 55 – 99
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