Reset Button

For the third year in a row we are investing in bringing the ultimate home automation solution to the market. There are a number of threads this project executes in parallel, but there is one feature I consider the most important. The software and hardware responsible for ruling and running all the control tasks in a smart home have to be unbreakable and unstoppable.

I have to admit I am very happy with the current results. Generation 2 of our product / solution will hit the shelves in Poland in September. Up till now it has been evaluated and implemented by more than 800 professional installers, we've trained over the last 12 months.

And myself, I do eat my own dog food. My house fully depends on my product. Yesterday I upgraded my home server to the new beta release, we are now stabilizing. The previous version of the software was installed 289 days ago. And it was running non stop till last Friday, when I stopped it for what is called a "scheduled maintenance".

It is a fairly complex software. Linux OS with multiple services (including a web server). Plus our server applications on top. And a custom hardware (radio modules) communicating via USB. 289 days is a good score, especially as there have been periods (winter vacations) when the house was shut down, meaning the temperature was far from stable and reached way below freezing point.

As the Gen 2 is heading for the broad market, Gen 3 is in the works (not surprising, is it?). The Gen 3 is all custom hardware (for Gen 2 we've used a generic ARM-based motherboard). And when designing the Gen 3, we've had the freedom to define every detail. One of the most remarkable decisions was the removal of the reset button. Especially as the device will have a backup battery built-in, so unplugging the power cord won't work as a workaround either.

This is the confidence level we have in our solution. And the confidence I am sure will be shared by our present and future customers. We want to break free from the software / computer industry - wide disease. The disease where the symptom is a reset button. Meaning there is always something that can go wrong. This is not an option for us. We're aiming at 24/7, non-stop Saying good bye to the reset button.