Is a smartthings hub really needed?

[RBoy (www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)]

See the first post here which explains when/where you need a hub and how SmartThings works:

FAQ: How to migrate from Wink to SmartThings

This guide is a set of best practices, FAQ’s and getting started tips for folks who’re migrating from Wink to SmartThings. First of all, welcome to the SmartThings community. You can find a ton of resources on the community forum, the search is a powerful tool, tags and categories are generally well maintained. BEFORE GETTING STARTED If you have Z-Wave and ZigBee devices, you will need to exclude them from your Wink hub before you can pair with your SmartThings hub. While it’s possible to reset most devices or have the SmartThings hub exclude them for you, if any of the Z-Wave devices (especially locks) are using the Anti Theft command classes, you will not be able to use them unless the original controller (Wink) excludes them first. So just to be safe, exclude them from your Wink co…