08.26.2007 — CentraLite is launching a wireless, ZigBee-enabled lighting control system. If it sounds like old news -- the company's Starlite wireless system has been out for a couple of years -- in fact the new line is quite different.

With Starlite, you need a central controller. With the new Jetstream system, you don't. "From the user's standpoint, it's going to be very similar, but you don't have any requirement for having a controller," says chief technology officer Jimmy Busby. "That way you can start with a very small system and expand into a very large one."

Since the system employs ZigBee mesh-networking technology, adding to the system only makes it more robust.

Starlite's requirement for a central controller means that system starts at about $1,500. On the other hand, a Jetstream starter kit will cost $699 for three one-button dimmers, two three-button dimmers and a handheld remote control.

From there, the system is almost infinitely expandable. "Those are the same dimmers that can go into a 100-load system," Busby says.

Centralite will continue to offer Starlite, which makes more sense for larger systems because it offers such features as a real-time clock. Busby explains, "We have to satisfy both ends of the spectrum -- people who want to do 200 loads, and others in condos. … We can give people a taste by putting in five dimmers."

CentraLite plans to roll out additional peripherals for Jetstream, including a tabletop controller, lamp module, "and then other peripherals that we've never played with before," Busby says.