The Basics Solutions Comparison Products Awards Testimonials The Basics INSTEON is the best-selling, most-reliable home control and automation technology. Using both the existing wires (power line) in the home and radio-frequency communication, INSTEON adds remote control and automation to lighting, appliance and home control applications of all types. From lighting control to integrated security systems, the new home automation standard allows you to manage your home the way you want. Easy to install and setup, INSTEON offers the flexibility and dependability to make your life more convenient, safe and fun. Developed by SmartLabs, INSTEON is the most reliable and best selling wireless home-control networking technology that offers more flexibility than any other home management system on the market. With over five years of R&D and testing, INSTEON technology relies on its dual-mesh network to send signals both through the air (RF) and over the existing electrical wires (powerline) in the home. Reliable With every INSTEON-enabled device being a repeater (See how this works), the signal gets stronger the more devices you have in your home to give you unsurpassed reliability. In addition, each INSTEON message contains error detection, so lights turning on accidentally will virtually never happen. Fast Other home automation networks have a noticeable delay when turning on a light or activating an appliance. INSTEON messages get through in less than 0.05 seconds - faster than the human eye can detect, so there are no visible delays. Activate an INSTEON-enabled switch and the lights turn on instantaneously. X10 Ready If you've already started putting together a X10 home control network, INSTEON's backwards compatibility with X10 devices provides a painless upgrade path to an INSTEON network for the ultimate home automation system. Get the reliability and speed you need without scraping your existing X10 network. Affordable While other home automation systems extend into the thousands of dollars to install and implement, a complete INSTEON-enabled system costs a fraction of its competitors. INSTEON can be integrated into any number of products easily and at a very low cost, so it will impact your life a whole lot more that it will impact your wallet. Common Applications: Scene and remote control lighting Security alarm interfaces and sensors Home sensors (e.g. water, humidity, temperature) Access control (e.g. door locks) Heating and cooling (HVAC) control and management Audio-video control Appliance management Energy savings For more details about INSTEON technology, download the PDF file (1 MB). How It Works What makes INSTEON the most reliable home automation technology is its dual-mesh network. The "dual" part of the network refers to INSTEON devices using both radio frequency signals and the home's existing electrical wiring to talk to each other. Every message is confirmed as it is received, and if any errors are detected, the message is automatically resent. Unlike all other mesh networks, INSTEON's "mesh" network has EVERY INSTEON DEVICE acting as a repeater -- receiving and sending every message to all other devices on the network. So instead of stressing the network by adding more INSTEON devices, you actually strengthen it. (See how this works.) Other mesh networks use router tables, and only those products involved in routing the signal act as repeaters – creating a less reliable network. INSTEON Signal Propagation (Click Image To View Demo) With no central controller or networking setup required, setting up your INSTEON network is a simple plug and tap to link one INSTEON product to another. Best of all, every INSTEON device has its own unique ID, so neighbors and would-be hackers can't control your home. For a detailed description of what INSTEON is and how it works technically please visit www.insteon.net or check out this PDF document.