Z-Wave Lock Support

[jay (support)]

[MODERATOR NOTE] Indigo 7 now natively supports Z-Wave locks. Feel free to ignore the rest of this post.

We've been getting some requests for Z-Wave Lock support and we'd like to let everyone know what's happening in this area.

In order to fully support every Z-Wave device type/class, developers need to license the Z-Wave Software SDK for a fee from Sigma Designs. The security classes and beaming technology that enable communication with locks is only documented in this SDK. Licensing the SDK also requires a couple of other things: first, you have to sign an NDA that prohibits you from revealing any information contained in the SDK. Secondly, you have to sign a document stating that you'll have your product certified to be Z-Wave compliant (they require software to be certified even though the interface hardware being used is already certified).

The cost of licensing the SDK, while not trivial, is something we would be willing to do. Signing the NDA is also not a problem since that's a pretty standard practice. The problem comes in with the terms of the certification and the certification process itself. First, you pay another fee to submit your product for certification. Next, you pay (an undisclosed amount) for a 3rd party certifier to certify your product. This process requires iteration between the licensee, the certifying organization, and we assume Sigma Designs. Given that there are no current Mac-based licensees it's very likely that any certification organization will have to build out the certification environment which is likely to increase the amount owed to the certifier. Once you've got your product certified, you are required to recertify your product annually OR when there are "major" changes (which, unfortunately, is also not clearly documented).

This process, unfortunately, is just not sustainable for a micro company such as Indigo Domotics. Not only are we making an ongoing, recurring financial commitment (we know the minimum amount but there are costs that we apparently can't know until we're well into the process), but perhaps even more important we commit to administrative, development, and testing time to accomplish this certification process. The process isn't documented very clearly which makes the risk even higher. So just to reiterate - it's not just the direct financial commitment, but also the ongoing financial and resource commitment that make the existing licensing process unsustainable for us.

We understand that Sigma Designs is just protecting their IP and the Z-Wave brand by attempting to ensure that all products meet standards. Unfortunately, the process they've set up is geared towards hardware manufacturers and isn't really suited to independent software vendors (ISVs) like us. This most likely explains why most of the other home automation software on the market also doesn't support Z-Wave locks via the standard usb/serial interfaces.

For those wishing to use Z-Wave locks, we include the Vera Bridge plugin which allows you to control Z-Wave locks via the Vera networked hardware controllers. It's not an inexpensive proposition, but it is a solution that seems to be working for those that really need Z-Wave lock support. We'll also be actively evaluating locks using the various alternative technologies, such as ZigBee and WiFi, to get more lock support in Indigo.

[jay (support)]

[Update]: With Indigo 7 - well, let's just say we wouldn't suggest you spend any time/effort/money trying various workarounds mentioned above...