Smart home company Control4 announces an integration with Alexa, Amazon's voice assistant that is bundled with the retailer's smart device offerings such as the Echo and Echo Dot smart speakers, Amazon Fire TV and Amazon Tap.
Amazon's partnership with the smart home company gives birth to the Control4 Smart Home Skill for Alexa, which homeowners can now command to activate and control supported smart home devices from Control4. The current integration is in line with Amazon's reported plans of bringing Alexa over to other platforms and devices besides its own offerings.
Control4 has developed a number of products for smart home automation.
"Controlling smart home devices using voice is one of the most popular features of Alexa, which is why we're especially pleased to be working with Control4," says Amazon Alexa Smart Home director Charlie Kindel in a press release dated Sept. 14, Wednesday.
Smart Home Preset Scenes And Whole-Home Automation
Connected smart home devices work in unison in accordance with preset scenes that set the mood and create the appropriate ambience, as well as make things more convenient for the task associated with the preset scene. For instance, with the help of the new Control 4 Skill, Alexa can be instructed for the "Cooking" scene. Following the scene settings, the shades will be lowered, kitchen lights will get turned on and the television will start displaying a food channel.
With whole-home automation in mind, Control4's Alexa integration allows for a single command to shut down a smart home. The command "Alex, turn off the house," will turn off the lights, lower the thermostat, lock the doors and arm the security system.
Of course, devices can also be controlled and activated individually. Control4 claims that the integration with Alexa supports more than 10,000 devices. The smart home company's portfolio includes products for lighting, security, audio, video and what it calls as "comfort products." Control4 reveals that, on average, its customers own over 40 connected devices.
"This integration combines Control4's automation power and extensive support for connected devices with the intuitive voice control from Amazon Alexa, reinforcing our shared vision to make life in a connected home ever-more personalized, comfortable, and hassle-free," says Control4 CEO Martin Plaehn.
Connecting Devices And 4Sight
All that's really needed is to have the Control4 Smart Home Skill enabled inside of the Alexa app and it will do the rest — connect with the Control 4 whole-home automation system and detect the scenes and devices. The new Alexa skill comes bundled with the Control 4Sight subscription for $99 per year.
