It's dead, Jim

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/04 ... art-homes/

IMO, the key sentence in the entire article is:

In 2017, Smartlabs Inc. was acquired by Richmond Capital Partners, a private investment firm founded by Rob Lilleness, and Lilleness was installed as CEO.

It's not uncommon for private equity firms to buy companies and sell them for parts. In doing that there's often not a lot of consideration paid to the acquired company's customers. That's not necessarily what's happened here, but that's my guess.

Capitalism at its best... I mean worst.

I've got a lot of Insteon stuff but started to transition to Z-wave, but still have a long way to go. I will utterly miss the KeypadLinc, as they were incredibly versatile and easy to setup and use. But, I have been following the news for awhile now, so this isn't such a total shock.

My hopes would be someone would buy the IP, start a new company, re-engineer new devices to be better, and still maintain some backward compatibility.... but.... I'm not waiting to exhale.

My hopes would be someone would buy the IP, start a new company, re-engineer new devices to be better, and still maintain some backward compatibility.... but.... I'm not waiting to exhale.

I would think this is unlikely in the current environment. Apart from the quality of the devices, I think there are some fundamental weaknesses of the Insteon protocol especially for larger installations. Plus, I think the target audience for this kind of automation approach is not very large. A lot of people just want to buy a cheap box, couple devices, give it some passwords and see the lights flicker. Professional installers wouldn't touch Insteon with a 10' pole. So that leaves hobbyists like a lot of Indigo users who love to tinker with their systems and can put in the time and effort to make it work.

I have been moving stuff from Insteon to Z-Wave and KASA for some time as switches and sensors die... the only thing that I CAN'T find a replacement for are the 8 button controllers that fit in a single switch box. Does anyone build some kind of equivalent in any other protocol that I have missed?

the only thing that I CAN'T find a replacement for are the 8 button controllers that fit in a single switch box. Does anyone build some kind of equivalent in any other protocol that I have missed?

Same here. I'm still looking for a replacement for this. Any suggestions welcome.

[jay (support)]

There is the Zooz ZEN32 - it's 5 buttons, not 8, but it seems to have some nice features. I don't have it in the wall yet, but it works nicely in my test environment.

Wow, thank God I just ordered 20 zwave switches; That could have been devastating.

What z wave switches do people recommend?

I use mostly HomeSeer WS200+, WD200+, and will be ordering HomeSeer WX300 when they are in stock.
I have 17 so far and like them a lot.

FYI
https://cases.creditorinfo.com/viewer/w ... 0546350189

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/04 ... -shutdown/

At least they finally said something. IMO, it changes nothing.

From the Article:

When more widely compatible technologies like Zigbee, Z-Wave, and the upcoming Matter are licensable, it's not clear what anyone would want to buy from Insteon. Certainly, Insteon's brand value must be at near zero after this reputation-destroying stunt.

I'm not surprised nobody wanted to buy it.

Looks like Homeseer is making a push to capture the wandering users: Homeseer FAQ