For real this time (maybe): HomeKit/Zwave hub coming in late 2017?

Devices & Integrations Connected Things
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OK, this would sound like all the usual wishful thinking nonsense you see in Kickstarter campaign’s except for one thing: the source of the comments. Official zwave alliance comments to a reputable news source, FastCompany.

They’re saying that the new security 2 framework for zwave is there in part to allow an eventual zwave/HomeKit hub for use by professional installers.

Also note the really interesting comments from Fibaro about how the Z wave and homekit versions of their sensors vary technically.

Additional comments from Yianni at Philips regarding zigbee.

Hmmmm…

@Tyler @Duncan @tpmanley @slagle @jody.albritton

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S2 is a huge jump forward in security (as well as protocol design), and it appears that HomeKit requirements were a major driver of that. I’ve been really impressed so far, though it’s just been theoretical – we’ll have to wait to see how everything works in practice.

ZigBee is going to have some catching up to do, I think.

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Goosebumps… I hope this really starts to happen. I’m an Apple guy and although their thoughts were noble, the reality of the world is different than what they could actually change.

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@duncan will smarthings get software update for S2? or we need to buy new hub for S2? asking because new August smart lock supports S2 and i am wondering if i should buy smartthings now or wait until end of the year when hubs with S2 hit martket.

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Yes, the current hub and other “works as a smartthings hub” devices will be updated to S2, but probably not before the end of the year.

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Am I correct that “S2” is a new Z-wave security specification that would allow the Smartthings hub to satisfy Apple’s HomeKit security requirements and function as a proxy/delegated authority? What does that mean for existing Z-wave devices?

Thanks for humoring a noob.

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The security level of Z-Wave and Zigbee door locks was one of the reasons that SmartThings couldn’t meet HomeKit’s requirements for integration but there were others as well, so I don’t know if S2 will be enough to make a SmartThings-HomeKit integration possible.

However, Z-Wave networks can have multiple controllers, so it’s possible that a HomeKit-enabled Z-Wave bridge could be added to the SmartThings Z-Wave network, which would allow you to use both HomeKit and SmartThings independently to control your S2 Z-Wave devices.

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