Re: Insteon/X10

[Marc_F_Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:59:57 -0400, "Robert L Bass"
<no-sales-spam@bassburglaralarms> wrote in message
<_qOdnfkFL9ZerJnbnZ2dnUVZ_tSunZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>:

>> 2) So far, the RF component of INSTEON
>> with the exception of the coupler that you
>> cite, is vapor. SmartLabs was criticized by
>> the development community for what was
>> considered an flawed/inadequate RF
>> development kit.  ABIK, even those
>> companies shipping INSTEON PLC products
>> have so far not shipped any INSTEON RF...
>
>Marc,
>
>Do I understand correctly?  Are you saying that
>the much-touted redundant signaling capability
>of Insteon (RF + PLC) is not even available?
>IIRC, some folks raved about how much
>better Insteon is than Z-Wave because it sent
>signals both via RF and PLC.  Was that toal
>or partial nonsense?

"Vapor" is the best vernacular descriptor I could come up with.

As is often the case, this is not-necessarily a permanent condition.
That's about all I should say in part because it is not possible to
know what folks might have nearly ready but have issues including
patent to resolve. Lutron, Leviton and others have been in legal
squabbles over RF 2-way comms and other issues for nigh onto 15 years.

Here's the latest suit over four allegedly pertinent patents (March 2,
2007):

http://www.lutron.com/news/press_release.aspx?ArticleId=349

Here's a recap from the March 4th 2007 issue of CE PRO describing
Lutron lawsuit again Leviton and speculating on the impact of all the
other actors in the HA RF arena including Zigbee Z-wave and INSTEON.

http://www.cepro.com/news/editorial/17862.html

It cites the patent numbers and provides "twenty-seven 8 by 10 colored
glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back
of each one".

It states/speculates:

		"It could also hurt SmartLabs, whose Insteon RF
		technology is similar to both Z-Wave and Zigbee,
		and which also has lighting control as a linchpin
		of its strategy"

... Marc
Marc__F_Hult
www.ECOntrol.org