SmartThings will join the board of directors for the Z-Wave Alliance, an open consortium of leading global companies deploying Z-Wave.
The addition of SmartThings to the Z-Wave Alliance board bulks an already impressive list of industry leading board members, including ADT, Evolve Guest Controls, FAKRO, Ingersoll-Rand, Jasco Products, LG Uplus, Nortek Security & Control, and Sigma Designs.
SmartThings is an open platform that offers users the easiest way to turn their home into a smart home via a central hub that can communicate with over 150 devices on a mobile app. Since the company was acquired by Samsung in August 2014, the number of devices and apps created for the platform has doubled, with more than 10,000 developers and over 1 million installed SmartApps.
“SmartThings is a welcome addition to the Z-Wave Alliance Board of Directors,” said Alliance Chairman Mark Walters. “The incredible growth they’ve experienced in just over two years — culminating in their purchase by Samsung — is a testament to their understanding of the smart home market and a validation of their platform. This kind of market insight and technical expertise will prove instrumental in helping the Z-Wave Alliance guide the future of our industry-leading technology.”
Mary Miller, Senior Director of Corporate Marketing for Sigma Designs, another Principal and Board member of the Alliance, was enthusiastic about the Board’s newest constituent. “The SmartThings home control platform, which works with Z-Wave, is at the forefront of connected home systems that are bringing this technology to a rapidly growing audience and making homes more intelligent,” she said. “With SmartThings now on the Alliance Board, we have another powerful Z-Wave advocate working to ensure that Z-Wave continues to grow and expand its leadership role in the Internet of Things (IoT) for smart home industry.”
“It’s an exciting time for SmartThings to join the Z-Wave Alliance Board of Directors,” said Dan Lieberman, Head of Research & Standards at SmartThings. “Support for Z-Wave has been central to SmartThings’ open platform ecosystem, and we look forward to working with the Z-Wave Alliance to continue to improve device interoperability to make it easier for consumers to turn their homes into smart homes.”
Since its introduction to the market in 2003, Z-Wave has been the wireless technology of choice for the residential and commercial security markets. Z-Wave is the technology used by all major home security providers for lighting, locks and thermostats. Z-Wave technology has also been the wireless connectivity solution selected by a number of other major service providers, including: AT&T, Orange, Verizon, Bell Aliant, and Century Link. Z-Wave products are also available direct to consumers through major retailer and e-tailers in the US and Europe. Adopted by over 300 worldwide market leaders, Z-Wave is fully interoperable between all brands and is fully backward-compatible between versions.
