Centralite Sensors Certified to Work With Zigbee-Based Amazon Echo Plus

Centralite's 3 Series Micro motion sensor ($35) and Micro door sensor ($30) were certified to work with Amazon's Echo Plus voice assistant, it said Wednesday. Amazon recently added support for motion and door sensors to the Zigbee-based Echo Plus, so no third-party hub is required to integrate the sensors in a smart home system, Centralite said. In an August blog post, Brian Crum, senior product manager-Amazon Alexa, said customers can view connected sensors in the Alexa app, query their status and use them to activate routines involving other smart home devices. For example, a motion sensor would turn on lights in a room and then shut them off 30 minutes later if no motion is detected, wrote Crum, or a motion sensor inside a Wi-Fi camera could turn on a light and send a notification to a smartphone. Centralite plans to include Alexa and Echo Plus integration and support in its product road map, said CEO Sean Bryant, saying the long-time white-label smart home device maker hopes to build its consumer brand via Alexa voice control.