Hubitat Pitches Solution for Lowe's Smart Home Users as Iris Platform Nears End

Four days before Version 1 Zigbee devices from Lowe’s doomed Iris smart home and security platform were set to go dark (see 1902010055), Hubitat announced local control and communication with Iris devices via its Elevation platform. Lowe’s said last month it was shutting down the cloud-based Iris platform Sunday in a planned exit of the Iris business announced last year. Hubitat engineers devised a way for Elevation to control Iris Version 1 devices locally, and the capability is included in a software update released Wednesday, the company said. Patrick Stuart, Hubitat vice president-product and business development, said Elevation is supporting Iris Zigbee sensors “on a platform that doesn't require the cloud or an internet connection to work.” Hubitat encouraged Iris owners with early Zigbee sensors that couldn’t be moved to other platforms to use the prepaid Visa cards Lowe’s offered them as compensation to buy the $99 Elevation hub on its website.