Telldus next generation. A new chapter begins

For the last two years we have been working hard on the next generation of TellStick and accessories. It is time for us to present our next step.

One of Telldus main philosophies is that we don't want to lock our users into a one company closed down solution, limiting what products to use and how to extend it further. This thought is the foundation of the TellStick family. We want the user to be able to reuse the products in their home and freely choose what products to purchase to extend the smart home. When we started to work on the TellStick over eight years ago the (Swedish) market consisted nearly exclusively of 433 MHz products. Therefore the choice for communcation in the first TellStick was easy.

Some years have since then passed and the market has evolved. The needs are no longer the same as it where. We have thoroughly followed the development of the "Smart Home" and "Internet of things" areas to find out what the best next step is for Telldus. We still strongly believe that interopability is the key. We will never be able to solve everybodys needs ourselves. Instead we want you to freely choose between different vendors and products.

Therefore, we believe, the next step for us is Z-Wave.

Let us first explain what Z-Wave is and what it can do for you.

Z-Wave is a communication standard developed by the company Sigma Designs. Sigma Designs does not develop nor sell any own products. Instead they focus on the communication technology and let other companies use this standard for their products. In order for a company, like us, to be able to use this standard we must also guarantee compatibilty with all other producs on the market also using Z-Wave.

Different companies specialize in different areas. Z-Wave allows all these to talk the same language and communicate each other. Each company can focus on their area of expertise and what they do best, thermostats, garage port openers, or water leakage detectors.

This is one reason why we strongly believe in Z-Wave.

Another benefit is that Z-Wave has two way communication. Any command sent will be acknowledged by the receiver, ensuring the command actually was received by the receiver and resend the signal when needed. The receivers themselves can also act as a repeater and repeat the signal and extending the range even further.

Since about a year Telldus has been a member in Z-Wave Alliance. Z-Wave Alliance is a cooperation between the companies developing Z-Wave products. It aims to help companies ensure the interoperability between all the products using the Z-Wave logo.

What about the 433 MHz products, you may wonder?

We still believe in 433 as well. The 433 products are more affordable and easier to find in the market. For a lot of applications there is no need for Z-Wave. We will continue to support 433 and we are working on products with both 433 and Z-Wave. This way you will be able to mix and match what products fits you the most. And you will be able to use 433 and Z-Wave together in your home.

We have been developing both next generation TellStick as well as new accessories. We are now ready for testing and we will soon start looking for anyone wanting to help us test our new system and new products. Please keep an eye on this blog for beta-announcements in the near future.

Comments

1. Daniel Malmgren -- 10 years ago

That's certainly the right way to go. In Homeautomation we've already got support for both Tellstick and Z-Wave, but having it all in one controller would make life a whole lot easier...

Quite many questions arises, I hope you'll release more info about this soon :-)

Sign me up!!!

3. Christian Magnusson -- 10 years ago

Looking forward to get support for Z-wave products as well! There are so many more products built around Z-wave, so you will definitely expand your business as well.

If you would have your business in Gothenburg I would apply for a job at Telldus at once. I have worked with Embedded systems, Sunshading control-systems, and been a developer in OWFS(Dallas 1-wire filesystem) for many years. Your potential for even better products are huge. I will follow your work in the future.

4. Kicken Svensson -- 10 years ago

Good move! Would love to try it out!

5. Pavlin Mitev -- 10 years ago

Great news and very timely. I was just looking for Z-Wave upgrade. I would love to participate as well. I hope you plan something that will work and port to Linux - Duo flavor ;-). Greetings!

6. Bill Croan -- 10 years ago

Love Telldus, love 433mhz . . many devices available, and home grown like my devices using Arduino and RaspB PI . . so lights, doorbells, garage, InfraRed even "convertors" e.g. non supported 433mhz products having an "interpreter built with Arduino" so Telldus control . . all capable now . . even my alarm and heating have home grown systems built around 433mhz and all controlled from Telldus Live. I welcome more equipment availability but at what cost . . is the Telldus.net dead? will z Wave be an updated firmware / or buy a new system that your controllers and sensors work with? Sceptical? Yes . . .as I believe 433mhz is still strong for both hobbyists and professional installs.

7. Niko Lutener -- 10 years ago

Perfect timing. I have just started to introduce a few z-wave devices and looking to have a joined up system with the old 433mhz devices. Would be more than happy to help test!

8. David Robertsen -- 10 years ago

I'm also in for testing. I already have the tellstick net/proove start package. I also have a Osram Lightify kit. Would love to blend those :) Any possibility to upgrade my TellStick Net v17?

9. Ola Lundström -- 10 years ago

Extremely interesting!! I would be more than glad to help out with testing etc!

10. Johan Söderström -- 10 years ago

Interesting. 2-way communication is what has been missing! Supporting the old protocol is a great idea as well, especially since the z-wave hardware I have seen is quite a lot more expensive than the 433 MHz ones. Have you been considering collaborating with some major player who wants to "break ground" in the field?

Best of luck! Johan

11. Mathias Heller -- 10 years ago

This sounds awsome! I would gladly help out in the beta testing. Mathias

12. Simon Bové-Christensen -- 10 years ago

Two way communication is definitely the way to go.. I'm ready to test the unit. I have been thinking about going the z-wave way for a while, but would love to be able to keep my existing switches etc.. Sign me up as a tester! :-)

13. Torulf Danielsson -- 10 years ago

Great news. This will be fun to follow or participate in. Family is using my tellstick.net but i have set up an RPi with RFXtrx433E and domoticz as I am planing to implement z-wave with my 433MHz. Currently testing a Zstick (AeonLabs S2) on my other RPi. Would be fun to continue to use telldus gear.

14. Sven Lundblad -- 10 years ago

Great news, I can't wait to buy and test your z-wave products! Please hurry up! ;)

15. Johan Flacke -- 10 years ago

I would also be very interested in testing the next generation equipment!

17. Richard Stamvik -- 9 years ago

Have you considered Thread (http://threadgroup.org/) as well? Having worked in the IoT business for quite a while I can safely say that this is probably the best horizontal solution so far (kind of WiFi for small constrained devices with IP to the endpoint etc) and Thread occupies only the lower stack layers, allowing for Zigbee (and possibly Z-Wave?) to add semantics etc on top. I'd be happy to discuss more if required (and I and my employer would be very interested in cooperation around this)!

Rich