09.20.2007 — Exceptional Innovation is giving users more ways to control the company’s Lifeware home automation system. Last year, EI introduced an Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) interface for Lifeware. More recently, the company announced that an inexpensive audio keypad from NuVo could be used to operate the automation system.

At CEDIA, EI announced additional interfaces for its Media Center-based home control system.

First, NuVo competitor Russound has embedded Web Services for Devices (WSD) -- a protocol that is integral to Lifeware—into its new E-series multiroom audio system.

The technology enables Russound keypads to operate lights, appliances, scenes, and other Lifeware control functions, not to mention Russound’s own whole-house audio system. (As an aside, with WSD inside, Russound’s audio system should in theory be controllable via a Vista PC or other WSD-enabled system.)

Second, the brand new, incredibly elegant Philips SRM 7500 ZigBee-enabled remote can now interact with the Lifeware automation system. This incredible $199 two-way RF remote (also known as “Tino,” and currently only available in Europe) can trigger any scene that Lifeware can trigger. Through the remote’s LCD screen, for example, you can select the GOODNIGHT scene to turn off all of the home’s electronics and leave the lights on dim in the hallway.

Finally, EI has created its own WSD-enabled thermostat that doubles as a home controller. It’s all part of the company’s mission to enable “every end point to be a controller,” says Mike Seamons, vice president of marketing.

The unit does double duty, just like the NuVo and Russound keypads and the Philips remote. It serves as a traditional communicating thermostat, but when you press the Lifeware logo on its face, options come up for operating lights and appliances, and triggering automation scenes through the Lifeware control system.