PRODUCTS
A GUDE DEAL Technological Innovations Group (TIG) is pleased to announce that it is now able to offer Power Distribution Units (PDU) from GUDE that integrate with Crestron Home systems. This means users can now remotely control and monitor smart space devices in residential settings. As an official partner of Crestron, GUDE has developed and now offers drivers that allow the company’s IP power strips to be integrated into Crestron Home, the advanced operating system for managing smart home systems. GUDE has worked with certified Crestron Master programmers at Ultamation Inc to develop the Crestron Home compatible drivers for their PDUs, which offer seamless and simple controls to manage one or multiple rooms, remotely or on the premises. In practice this means that the owner of a remote power switch from GUDE can use Crestron Home on their mobile device in order to switch on, switch off or reboot devices such as media players, satellite boxes or routers. Users can also easily see the current status of the connected devices, receive automatic alerts in case of irregularities and check and control energy consumption. Once in operation, the advantages of Crestron Home in conjunction with a GUDE remote power switch are multiple, including fail-safe power cycling
of connected devices that helps applications to get back on their feet when they have hung up. This is either automatic via watchdog monitoring or by remote access via Crestron Home. Additionally, it’s possible to add sensors to the PDU to monitor temperature, humidity and air pressure. This allows critical conditions to be avoided in advance, through preventive measures. Integrated energy meters in the IP power switches also allow for precise measurement of power consumption and enable energy saving strategies to be included in the integration. TIG is supplying the GUDE PDUs to integrators throughout the EMEA region and can offer them alongside a full range of compatible Crestron Home products. TIG tig.eu A new option from TIG and Gude
SWITCH TO SMARTSWITCH LITE? Smart home solution from Violet
Violet has announced SmartSwitch Lite , a new touch screen light switch for convenient Philips Hue and Sonos control. SmartSwitch Lite is the size of a standard UK light switch and offers a new way for Philips Hue and Sonos owners to conveniently and quickly control their lights and audio. “The light switch location as a control point is completely ingrained in us socially, so it makes sense that we smarten it up a bit,” says Ryan Ovens, Founder & CEO at Violet. “Using your phone for basic adjustments as you move around your home is just simply inconvenient: finding it, unlocking it; finding the app etc. Sure, there’s voice control, but it’s not a silver bullet and there are many situations it is not suitable. With SmartSwitch, all the family
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members and visitors can intuitively control what they need to from the location they are used to with just a touch or two.” Violet SmartSwitch Lite features include QuickTap – when the screen is in standby, simply tap the screen to toggle the lights without waking it, Wake the screen with a longer press to access Hue scenes if you want a quick adjustment and Swipe up to access Sonos control to quickly play/pause/skip/ adjust volume. SmartSwitch Lite is available to pre-order now and is expected to ship in March, at a discounted price point of £127 (usually £159). For more information on SmartSwitch Lite visit the company’s website. Violet was founded in 2020 by Ryan who has a decade of experience delivering luxury smart homes. Violet was formed to bridge the gap between luxury systems and consumer IoT smart homes and SmartSwitch is an attempt to do just that, says Ryan. Violet violet-ultra.co.uk
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