GreenPeak Technologies, supplier of the ZigBee chip inside Comcast-issued set-top...

a low-cost solution for next-generation ZigBee set-top boxes, CEO Cees Links told us. It’s rolling out in set-tops from Comcast in select markets, according to a schedule the cable provider announced at CES earlier this year. Comcast uses GreenPeak chips in all its set-top boxes, Links said. Comcast’s Xfinity home control system allows consumers to monitor lights, thermostats, security cameras and alarm systems remotely from a computer or smartphone. The GreenPeak-enabled set-tops serve as the hub for wirelessly connected ZigBee devices and a sensor network in the Comcast home control system, Links said. AT&T’s Digital Life platform, in contrast, uses the competing Z-Wave wireless standard. Links cited the growth of sensor-based control and Wi-Fi networks in homes and said momentum was building around ZigBee as the standard for data communication for sensor control networks. Future set-tops will have Wi-Fi for content and ZigBee for sensor control for temperature, lighting, appliances and security, Links said. A connected water heater could send a signal via the cloud by email or text that it has malfunctioned, according to the Xfinity website, or a tripped window sensor could trigger a video camera to record. Links predicts that in 10 years “everyone will be used to Zigbee in the same way people are used to Wi-Fi” today. It “takes a few years before a standard settles in and harmonizes with everything around it,” he said, which is happening with ZigBee now. His view of the environmentally aware smart home of the future takes consumers “in a completely new direction.” When sensors and devices are connected over the same standard they can communicate in a transparent way, he said. In the environmentally aware smart home of the future, when a window is opened it can trigger a security breach if the homeowner is away and the alarm is on. If the alarm isn’t on, the home knows it’s occupied and the sensor triggers the heat to go off to save energy, he said. “We think there’s a place for a second network in the home,” Links said, envisioning homes with both Wi-Fi and ZigBee-based networks. Cost has been a major barrier to home automation at the mainstream level but cost is “going down significantly,” he said. There’s been a “breakthrough in the thinking of cable operators” who want to offer more in a competitive market than just entertainment content and Internet service, he said, and an emerging market needs a major player like Comcast to “shake up the market like Apple did for Wi-Fi” with AirPlay, he said. When Apple adopted Wi-Fi, “everybody else was standing in line” wondering why they needed Wi-Fi, he said. “We see Comcast as somewhat equivalent to Apple in playing this role because of their clout and reach,” he said.