News

Exceptional Innovation Launches Lifeware 1.0.1 Software for Media Center Edition (12/4/2006)

Powerful home control solution created when Lifeware 1.0.1 is combined with HP digital entertainment products

Exceptional Innovation announces the introduction of their Lifeware(TM) home control software for seamless integration with Windows(R) XP Media Center Edition 2005. With this official release of version 1.0.1 of Lifeware-branded software, Exceptional Innovation can support MCE-based installations better than any other company in the industry.

Unlike other home automation solutions that tie the homeowner into a single-branded, proprietary solution, Lifeware by Exceptional Innovation is hardware-neutral giving you more choices and flexibility with seamless integration with Windows Media Center. Lifeware can be run on a Media Center PC, digital entertainment center, Media Center extender or Lifetouch(TM) all-digital high definition touch panel. Lifeware expands the power and flexibility of Media Center to include lighting, audio/video distribution, security, and HVAC all through the same easy-to-use interface and a single remote.

"At EHX attendees can experience Lifeware teamed with HP Digital Entertainment Centers, televisions, cameras and other digital products, highlighting the powerful combination of home control and digital entertainment," said Mike Seamons, Exceptional Innovation's Vice President of Marketing.

"Through the collaboration between HP and EI custom installers can achieve increased flexibility to better meet the needs of their customers, while offering the highest quality digital technologies," said Jan Luc Blakborn, director of digital entertainment at HP. "You create something truly compelling when you pair HP's advanced digital entertainment hardware with innovative home automation software like Lifeware."

Other vendor partners benefit from tight integration with Lifeware. Vantage Controls, an industry-leading lighting automation company, gives dealers the ability to embed Exceptional Innovation's LifeLink(TM) software on their Infusion controller to achieve instant recognition and communication between the two products with little-to-no programming required.

Thanks to Lifeware, Russound's CAV 6.6 audio distribution system can be seen at the show doing something it has never done before - controlling Media Center functions and displaying Media Center-provided metadata directly on a standard Russound keypad. "Companies like Vantage and Russound have really embraced the notion of well-wrought software extending and expanding the reach and functionality of their products to provide a truly tremendous user experience," said Seamons.

The key to Lifeware's flexibility is its use of Web Services for Devices (WSD) to communicate between different home systems. Instead of writing proprietary drivers, Exceptional Innovation's builds software bridges to all Lifeware Compatible partner products that make each subsystem fit the flexible, cross-platform Web Services for Devices standard.

The WSD approach enables rapid two-way communications that are reliable and robust. Seamons noted that the technology is currently used by enterprise information systems companies like eBay and Amazon.com. "Most other companies in this space use a basic Web server model where you bring up a Web page and it simply refreshes to reflect a change in status. From a software standpoint, that's slower and much less graceful than using Web Services."

By taking an open, standards-based approach to home automation, Exceptional Innovation not only created a system that is affordable and scale-able from one room applications to large, palatial estates, but also a system that can easily be expanded as new vendor partners are added.

Pricing for Lifeware 1.0.1, the Media Center Edition, will vary based on installation and scale. EI will also create custom and premium versions for custom installers.