Amazon releases Smart Home API for Alexa: Developers, get ready to add ‘skills’
Amazon is making a great effort to make Alexa – the smarts behind the Echo – a full platform. This effort includes enabling developers to add “skills” to the Echo, Tap, and Dot products. To aid developers in this process Amazon has released an API – the Smart Home Skill API – for the home automation segment.
I gotta tell you, all we need is an Echo with zWave and we have our future 
It looks like it is still only switches and thermostats. Not sure at this point if there is any benefit to SmartThings.
What’s your beef with ZigBee?
No beef with zigbee, I actually have some devices there as well Wouldn’t mind that as well.
I was excited for a second; hoping to see integration support for local devices (similar to SmartThings sendHubCommand). I know it is in there as the native Hue integration connects to the Hue Bridge over the LAN using the local API.
C’mon Amazon!!! Let me create skills that, after their round trip to/fro lambda, target an IP on my LAN.
At what point are will the API be opened up for developers to add “SKILLZ” with a Z?
Amen to that. 
It doesn’t even have to be built-in. All we’d need is a simple Z-Wave (and Zigbee) bridge that Alexa could control via local network.
And Zigbee
Amazon has really leaped over Nest/Google in a big way. They are the clear IoT platform leader at this point and it doesn’t seem like they intend to squander the lead.
Like this … Z-Net ? Apparently they can even work over the Internet with multiple Z-Nets creating one merged Z-Wave network…
http://store.homeseer.com/store/HomeSeer-Z-NET-Remote-Z-Wave-Plus-Interface-P1902.aspx
Yep. BTW, it looks like re-packaged RaZberry to me.
You can already in a round about way - Using the HA Bridge. It emulates a Hue Hub and so you add your automation devices into this hub and Alexa can then discover and control them . Alexa supports multiple Hue bridges. You could either fork and add your own helper code or use the ‘manual’ device config to support a simple TCP or UDP controlled device e.g REST.