News, stories and opinions for the business innovators of the world.

Comcast’s Xfinity Home and Zen Ecosystems Announce New Partnership to make Smart Homes Greener Homes

Michael JoffeGM - Australia, Zen Ecosystems

Best-in-class Zen Thermostat to join Xfinity Home’s family of core devices.

Last week, at the Smart Home Marketplace at CES 2017, Comcast announced a partnership with Xfinity Home and Zen Ecosystems (a PI business), the manufacturer of a new simple, beautiful and connected thermostat that is fully integrated with the Xfinity Home ecosystem and part of its family of core devices.

This integration is another step towards the relaunch of the new EcoSaver technology that will help Comcast’s Xfinity Home customers automatically reduce energy usage with real-time weather analytics that help optimize a home’s heating and cooling efficiency.  According to the National Academy of Sciences, heating and cooling accounts for about 39% of total energy use in a typical home.

“At Xfinity Home, we are always looking for new ways to delight our customers and add value to our services,” said Daniel Herscovici, senior vice president and general manager of Xfinity Home. “We are eager to unveil a new home energy management service soon, fully integrated with Zen Ecosystems, that will redefine what customers expect from their smart home services.  When we relaunch EcoSaver in the spring, our customers will be able to transform their smart homes into greener homes, while continuing to help them save money on their monthly energy bills.”

Market research firm Parks Associates estimates that 50 percent of North American broadband households will have a smart home device by 2020. Xfinity Home offers its customers a new generation of home security and connected devices, letting customers manage and control connected devices on its one easy to use smart home platform.

James McPhail, Zen Ecosystems CEO, said: “Comcast has laid the foundation for the smart home by delivering world-class connectivity to tens of millions of people across the nation. Together, Comcast’s Xfinity Home and Zen Ecosystems make ideal partners on the journey to help consumers easily turn their homes with connected devices into smart homes all manageable on one platform – the Xfinity Home platform.  The Zen thermostat is connected and intuitive and will help Xfinity Home customers better manage their heating and cooling system at home through Comcast’s EcoSaver technology.”

Comcast continuously expands its Xfinity Home business by integrating best-in-class third-party devices such as August Smart Locks, Chamberlain MyQ garage controllers, Lutron Caséta wireless controllers and dimmers, and thermostats, to give customers a single experience that connects and manages their home security and automation needs.  Comcast also recently announced new lighting partnerships with Sengled and Jasco and more partnership announcements are expected in 2017.

Xfinity Home functions are managed with the Xfinity Home mobile app, online portal, and in-home Touchscreen Controller.  In addition, X1 customers with Xfinity Home service can use their X1 voice remote to say things like “Xfinity Home Cameras” to see their camera feeds; “Xfinity Home Arm,” “Xfinity Home Arm Night,” “and Xfinity Home Disarm” to arm and disarm their security system; and “Xfinity Home” to easily and quickly pull up the main menu of commands.

Check out Comcast’s Xfinity Home video here:

smart-house-video

SHARE THIS ARTICLE:
Michael Joffe GM - Australia, Zen Ecosystems
Michael Joffe

Michael is General Manager – Australia for Zen Ecosystems. He is passionate about applying innovation and design-thinking to take new products and business models to market, with a focus on smart energy and cleantech sectors.

Michael Joffe
Topics.

Sign up for the Perspectives newsletter:

A roundup of the latest news and opinions from PI.

Related Articles.

Telstra selects Zen Thermostat for its Smart Home Platform

News

Zen Thermostat, a PI venture, has been selected by Telstra to be sold as part of its soon to be released Smart Home Platform.

Zen Thermostat: PI launches connected device business on oversubscribed crowdfunding campaign

News

Zen is a smart thermostat launched by Planet Innovation with a successful crowd funding campaign.

Fast Company names Zen Ecosystems in Top 10 Most Innovative Energy Companies

News

Fast Company, a leading publisher in technology, business, and design, has recognized Zen Ecosystems, a Planet Innovation business, as one of its Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Energy for 2018.

Zen Ecosystems to help Australia manage peak energy demand

Zen Ecosystems to help Australia manage peak energy demand

News

Zen Ecosystems has received a major grant by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to help secure Australia’s energy supplies during times of peak demand.