It goes without saying that American consumers have embraced home automation. Sales of smart home devices continue going up while big tech giants like Google, Amazon, Samsung, and Apple compete for market share. But what if you want home automation without the privacy and vendor lock-in concerns the big names are known for?
Introducing locally hosted home automation. It is identified by that name in order to contrast it against big tech home automation hosted in the cloud. That’s how I will refer to the two types of systems for the remainder of this post: locally hosted and cloud.
It Has to Be Hosted Somewhere
Home animation devices are not independent machines, like cars. You can operate a car independently of any external influence. Long before computers made their way into automobiles, cars were purely mechanical devices that were operated completely independently. Home automation doesn’t work that way.
A smart light switch is simply a switch with an embedded Wi-Fi transceiver and a small microchip for executing instructions. The switch itself doesn’t know how to respond to programming or commands. So you need software to handle that portion of it. Here’s the thing: the software needs to be hosted somewhere.
If you were to install a Vivint home automation system complete with security features, the software that actually powers your devices would not be in your home. That software is hosted on Vivint’s remote servers. Their servers process all commands. Their servers interact with the remote monitoring center that allows Vivint personnel to keep an eye on your security system.
How Locally Hosted Home Automation Works
Vivint isn’t alone in how it does things. The cloud is the basis for all brand-name home automation systems. Google, Apple, etc., they all do things the same way. Their home automation systems live in the cloud. Locally hosted home automation is completely different.
You can check out this article posted on the PCWorld website if you’re interested in some of the finer details of locally hosted home automation. In the meantime, I can tell you what I know. I have built my own independent system hosted on an old laptop.
I installed a popular open-source home automation platform that supports dozens of brands and literally hundreds of smart home devices. The laptop I put the software on is so old I could not even run a modern operating system on it. But my home automation platform runs just fine because it doesn’t need a fancy user interface (UI), or all the other resource-hungry tools modern OS’s have.
Everything Stays on My Network
Hosting home automation locally means everything stays on my network. My devices never call out to the cloud for help. All the processing required for my system to work takes place on the laptop. Best of all, my system runs on a separate network with a separate Wi-Fi router. It never crosses paths with my main network. It also does not need to go out to the internet.
The one disadvantage to this setup is the difficulty of remote access. But by connecting my dedicated home automation router to my broadband modem and linking it to a free DNS service, I’m still able to access my system remotely without it having to run in the cloud.
At any point I can cut off access to the outside world. So if I am ever concerned that my home automation system is at risk of being compromised, a simple swipe of my phone screen or verbal command will disconnect it from the internet. It will stay disconnected – but fully functional – until I forcibly reconnect.
Not for the Faint of Heart
Full disclosure requires explaining that building an independent, locally hosted home automation system is not for the faint of heart. It does require at least a basic understanding of computers, networks, and operating systems. There is also a steep learning curve involved. I have been at this for nearly two years and I’m still learning things every time I tinker with my system.
Anyone who lacks the knowledge, skill, or patience for a big project should probably not try to build his own system. That’s why companies like Vivint exist. The advantage of a Vivint system is having access to a technology provider that isn’t trying to force its way into other areas of your life.
Home Security and Automation, That’s It
Vivint got its start as a home security provider. Their main competition, ADT, tells a similar story. These are companies committed to providing home security and automation – nothing more and nothing less. They are also very good at what they do.
That’s not the way things are with Google, Amazon, Apple, and Samsung. These tech giants have their hands in a lot of different things. More importantly, they want to intrude into more and more areas of our daily lives. Just look at Google.
Google began as a search engine. It succeeded in that world because its engineers cracked the code, so to speak. They figured out how to return accurate search results faster than anyone else. And because of that, they gained users in droves. Yet they didn’t stop there.
Google now dominates online search, online advertising, email, video content, smartphones, and so much more. They are also competing for their slice of the home automation pie. How much more Google does the average consumer want in his life?
The Choice Is Ultimately Yours
Now that you know the difference between locally hosted and cloud home automation, you can rest in the knowledge that the choice is ultimately yours. If you have the skill, knowledge, and willingness to put in the work, building a locally hosted system is worthwhile. Otherwise, you’ll have to choose one of the cloud providers.
My choice for cloud home automation would be a company like Vivint or ADT. But that’s just me. There are tons of options including big tech and lesser-known brands. Whatever floats your boat is up to you.
About the Author
