Control4 OS 2.3 release delivers new lighting experience and commercial applications – and optimizes performance and interoperability for residential and commercial installations.
Indianapolis, IN – CEDIA Expo Booth 4949 – September 6, 2012, 2012 at 8:00AM ET – Control4, a leading innovator in residential and light-commercial automation systems, unveiled today the next major update to its award-winning automation operating system. Control4A® OS 2.3, set for release in Q4 2012, will deliver a host of enhancements including a new lighting user experience, new applications for light commercial installations, and feature enhancements to boost performance and interoperability.
“Control4 continues to enhance the consumer and dealer experience through the advancement of our automation platform,” said Martin Plaehn, Control4 CEO. “With the addition of new lighting, commercial and interoperability functionality, we continue to deliver solid, high-performance solutions to serve the needs of our dealers and our customers.”
Elegant, Sophisticated Lighting Experience
One of the key attributes of the new Control4 OS release is the introduction of a new, elegant user-experience for lighting. The clean, intuitive UI is available across all control interfaces, making it easy for consumers to control lighting throughout a residence or business from any on-screen device — TVs, Control4A® touch screens, smart phones, and tablet devices. In addition to the visual design refinements, consumers will benefit from new personalization and editing capabilities, including the ability to easily edit and toggle between scenes and specific lighting, eliminating on-site dealer presence just to adjust settings when homeowners would like simple changes. Additionally, the new Preference Default function remembers what homeowners like and sets on-screen default values to those preferences delivering the personalized experience.
Control4’s new Advanced Lighting Scenes Agent will roll out with Control4 OS 2.3 and will help dealers program sophisticated lighting effects. The Lighting Scene Agent streamlines dealer programming with single-button on/off toggles for scenes, tracking and display of lighting scene states, and configuration of advanced scene ramping/fading with support of complex scene sequencing including delays between ramps/fades of different lighting zones — all from within the Control4A® Composer system design software.
Supporting Commercial Installations
For authorized dealers with light commercial clients, OS 2.3 also adds a number of new capabilities:
• The enhanced Themes SDK enables user interface customization by dealers to thematically brand screens on Control4 displays (TV, touchscreens).
• The new Access Agent, which limits unauthorized access through password protection and hiding selective functions, provides business owners more controlled access to automated capability.
• The new FieldServer driver provides support for commercial HVAC systems through the FieldServer Technologies’ QuickServer Gateway enabling automation access to Delta Controls, GE, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Mitsubishi, Rockwell and other thermostats over device networks including BACnet, Lonworks, Modbus, and more via serial, bus or TCP/IP.
• The new Tandberg driver extends Control4’s support for teleconference systems − supplementing existing support for Polycom and ClearOne.
Control4’s Commitment to Driving Interoperability
Control4 leads the industry in device discovery and interoperability and with OS 2.3 new tools have been added to simplify installation and programming for dealers. The new Control4A® Driver Editor enables dealers and developers to create and test new drivers without requiring a full, onsite Control4 system up and running, making it much easier and more efficient to quickly design and develop drivers for third-party products.
OS 2.3 also includes support for Control4A® Simple Device Discovery Protocol (SDDP), a groundbreaking new capability which will automatically identify and load the correct driver for Control4 devices, as well as an expanding roster of third-party devices. SDDP compatible devices will be automatically identified and configure themselves within Control4 installations and will remain connected with the Control4 system regardless of IP address changes.
“One of the unique capabilities and benefits Control4 introduced to the industry was the ability to easily and uniquely identify Control4 devices during a system installation by simply pressing a button on any Control4 device. Now, we are extending those benefits and simplicity to 3rd party products by providing them with open access to our SDDP software technology so they can embed it within their products to enable device discovery, model identification, and proper software driver association during Control4 installations — saving time and reducing the potential for errors” said Plaehn.
Control4 OS 2.3 will be available in Q4 2012.
For more information visit
.
