HA (Home Automation) That's Gone But Not Forgotten

[macromark]

Kind of a weird thread to start but I was thinking there's been a number of home automation companies and products that have left the scene since I've been with HomeSeer. So, I wanted to chronicle these before I forget them. I know I've already forgotten a bunch! Perhaps you can think of a few too? Anyway, here's a start:

Companies still in operation but no longer making HA products

• Intermatic (Z-Wave products)
• Wayne Dalton (Z-Wave products)
• Wink (no products available and footer date stamp still "2019" as of 1/14/2020)

Companies no longer in operation

• ACT (manufacturer of the first Z-Wave wall switches)
• AutomatedOutlet (website offline as of July 2018)
• BeON Smart Bulbs (CEPro Story)
• Bright Switch (Touchscreen Z-Wave switches - last archive.org scan 5/2019)
• BSR (Original manufacturer of X10)
• CastleOS
• Colorado VNET
• ControlThink (purchased by Leviton, then shut down. Z-Wave products)
• Cortexa (HA controllers, 2013 website still on line with no links to buy)
• Evolve Controls - website offline 2020
• Embedded Automation (MControl HA Software)
• Halo Smart Labs (CNET Article)
• Heath (X10 line)
• Homemanageables (Z-Wave products)
• Imperihome (dashboard app for smart home systems)
• Insteon (web servers shut down on 4/14 WITHOUT WARNING)
• Lagotek (Z-Wave controllers and touchscreens)
• LiteTouch (Purchased by Savant and Discontinued)
• Oomi ($1,790,000 Indiegogo startup)
• Proximis (makers of Girder Software)
• Revolv (HA hub purchased by Nest and shelved)
• Simply Automated (makers of UPB devices) | phone doesn't connect to the company, Where to Buy links don't work
• SmartLabs (makers of Insteon, owners of smarthome.com) | company is looking for a buyer as of 10/18/21) | Servers and forum offline as of 4-15-22
• Square Connect (IR controller)
• Superna (HA controllers)
• WGL Designs (makers of Rain8 irrigation controllers and W800 wireless X10 receivers)
• Zipato (Smart home controllers and products)
• Zonoff IoT Company (makers of Somfy Tahoma and Staples Connect hubs)

Products no longer available or no longer being developed

• 3COM Audrey (HA touchscreen)
• ActiveHome Software
• Bright Switch
• CamStat (first 1-piece Z-Wave thermosat)
• CastleOS Hub (clicking it from website returns server error now)
• Cinemar (MainLobby) Software
• ControlThink ThinkEssentials (HA software)
• CQC (Charmed Quark) HA software now open sourced
• Current Cost EnviR (energy monitor)
• Cyberhouse (HA Software)
• Elve (HA software)
• Evolve Z-Wave products
• Girder Software (Proximis)
• Greenwave Reality
• Harmony Remotes and Hubs
• Harmony Link Hub (Engadget)
• HomAtion 2000 Software
• Home Control Assistant (HCA) 8/1/21 announcement
• HomeVision Software
• HomeVoice Software
• Imperihome app
• Insignia Connect Platform from Best Buy - TheVerge
• Insteon | no official announcement, just server outages
• JDS Stargate (HA panel)
• Leviton (HAI) OmniPro (security/automation panel)
• Life|Ware (HA software based on Windows Media Center)
• Lowes Iris (How-to Geek)
• Oomi
• Piper (smart camera)
• Premise (HA software)
• MControl (HA Software)
• Nevo Remote (Remote with Z-Wave)
• Nest "Works with Nest" API (Ends 8/31/19)
• Ninja Blocks
• Nirvis Slink-e
• Phillips Pronto (HA Remote)
• Plato HouseLinc
• Rain8 Irrigation Controllers
• Revolv Hub (Z-Wave, WiFi hub)
• Simply Automated (UPB devices)
• SmartThings V1 Hub (original 2013 model) as of 6/30/2021
• Somfy Tahoma (Z-Wave hub)
• Spectrum Security System - TheVerge
• Staples (and D-Link) Smart Home Hub ZatsNotFunny Story
• Stringify (Cloud-based automation service, similar to IFTTT)
• Sylvania plug-in modules (early Z-Wave lamp and appliance modules)
• W800 wireless X10 receivers
• Wink Hub

Websites no longer updated or shut down

• ADI (Applied Digital - makers of the Ocelot)
• Cinemar
• Greenwave Reality
• Home Automated Living (makers of HAL 2000)
• Piper (no way to buy product)
• Wink (no products available and footer date stamp still "2019" as of 1/14/2020)

[Pete]

Checked out ACT's website ...interesting...

After 30 years of operation, Advanced Control Technologies is reorganizing its business to focus on the product lines that have the most potential
going forward. Therefore, ACT is splitting up into several companies and will not operate as ACT after the end of this year. Below is a list of the
products that ACT has left at this time from our controls operations

There are folks on CT still supporting and using Elve and Premise today.

[macromark]

There are folks on CT still supporting and using Elve and Premise today.

They fall into the category of "no longer being developed". Motorola ended development of Premise many years ago and John Hughes stopped development of Elve more than a year ago.

Pete... surely you can think of some more to add to the list!!!

[Pete]

@Mark,

I have played with a bunch of stuff as I like to tinker.

That said I primarily have used HomeSeer for software automation now since the beginning an have no plans to change. I am too old now to change.

BTW there are a few Homeseer users here and there today that are somewhere between 75-90 or so still using it.

[macromark]

@Mark,

I have played with a bunch of stuff as I like to tinker.

That said I primarily have used HomeSeer for software automation now since the beginning an have no plans to change. I am too old now to change.

BTW there are a few Homeseer users here and there today that are somewhere between 75-90 or so still using it.

no no... you misunderstand. I'm asking if you can remember other products that have also been discontinued. That's all!

[S-F]

What about HAL? Are they still around? Mr. House?

[mwaite]

What about HAL? ...

Hey! That's my HS3's name, he's alive and kicking

[randy]

no no... you misunderstand. I'm asking if you can remember other products that have also been discontinued. That's all!

I got started with GE low voltage in the 60s. I ended up installing, repairing and rewiring them all the way through High School. Calling it "home automation" might be a stretch, but it could control any light or group of lights locally or from one of many central controls. We put a rotary switch at the bedside in many homes. This would be a standard wall switch sized plate with a 9 position rotary control and an on-off toggle. It could control zones or individual lights, depending on how it was wired. The primary component was the 24 volt relay, which simply would change states by applying 24VAC to one or the other actuator wire.





These relays could be in central panels or in individual fixture boxes. The company I worked for preferred to put the relays in the ceiling box and run the low voltage wiring to wall switches. The wall switches were on-off momentary contact devices so there was no limit to the number of different locations that could control the relay. The local switches looked like this:



I couldn't find any pictures, but there were timers, sequential controllers and all sorts of accessories. There were also master switches that could be put at entry points, the master bedroom, etc.




The limits of the "automation" was by timer control, driveway pressure switches (the same air filled hose gas stations used for bells). Some customers had us put switches on doors that would actuate the relays. We had a couple of people with different approaches to pressure switches in the flooring. It was actually a fairly reliable system, except that a lot of installers were very careless with the low voltage wiring, since it wasn't bound by code.

There is one house that belonged to a neighbor in Dallas that is still using the system as far as I know. It was built as a "contemporary" home around 1960.

[Pete]

In the late 1980's I had a combo alarm panel with text to speech and X10 control. The company / alarm name was Excalibur. I cannot find any info on it and I left it in the old house.

Not sure how many were sold at the time. I found the device being advertised in Popular Electronics back then.

I kept here a mini box (86' Intel CPU - Seiko?) with Windows 3.1 and automation software (X10). I will look to see if it still boots up. I kept it cuz it was very small and did have a network connection.

[ewkearns]

Kind of a weird thread to start but I was thinking there's been a number of home automation companies and products that have left the scene since I've been with HomeSeer.

Well, since you *did* start the thread, here are some heavy questions:

What did those defunct companies do wrong? and

What is Homeseer planning to do right (generally, of course), to stay ahead of the (existing) pack?

[jlrichar]

Not sure if these qualify since they never made it to market, but both Google and Microsoft have created HA projects that have had very quiet deaths. The flip side of this question is what is new, and what is successful. Apple with homeKit, and Samsung with smartthings are good examples of new and successful respectively, IMHO. Also, you might include IFTTT as the most successful web/home automation platform out there.

[randy]

In the late 1980's I had a combo alarm panel with text to speech and X10 control. The company / alarm name was Excalibur. I cannot find any info on it and I left it in the old house.

Not sure how many were sold at the time. I found the device being advertised in Popular Electronics back then.

I kept here a mini box (86' Intel CPU - Seiko?) with Windows 3.1 and automation software (X10). I will look to see if it still boots up. I kept it cuz it was very small and did have a network connection.

I remember X-10 as a BSR product in the mid-1970s, with a dedicated controller and a total of 16 channels initially. The first X-10 computer interface I saw was on an Apple II. About a year later I saw it on MS-DOS.

[Pete]

Actually before the Apple IIe or around the same time I had X10 software for the Commodore C64. Thinking too there was X10 software for the TRS-80 and Atari PCs at the time. (well too the Sinclair PCs too? and IBM Peanut when it came out). Also played with an Apple Lisa for a bit...didn't like it. Had a portable CPM machine and just did bookeeping with it...(spreadsheets stuff).

Somewhere here have IBM labelled X-10 switches (think though they are Leviton?)

Late 1970's managed the lighting in a rental home in a 3rd world country with X10 timer / keypad thing. The controller was small and I do not recall who made it at the time.

The electric was bad and I was replacing light switches all the time.

Attached is a picture of an Intel computer I purchased around 1998. It was never sold in the United States. It was kind of ugly looking compared to the iMAC. I did mod it a touch but it was difficult to take apart. Next to it is the iMAC circa 1998.

[macromark]

What about HAL? Are they still around? Mr. House?

Both still have websites.. apart from that, I don't know. We never get inquiries about either.

Well, since you *did* start the thread, here are some heavy questions:

What did those defunct companies do wrong? and

What is Homeseer planning to do right (generally, of course), to stay ahead of the (existing) pack?

I have my theories but I'm interested in yours. Why do you think they went away and why do you think we're still around?

[lhfarm]

What about the Nirvis Slink-e? It was around a few years before Microsoft purchased it and it disappeared in 2004. I used it and HS to have an impressive whole house audio system until HS3.

I still have/use a couple of IBM branded models too.

Barry