Hey Alexa, turn on the light!

Everyone is talking about it. And to it. Amazon Echo. The voice-powered assistant is increasingly making connections with different household gadgets – including OSRAM LIGHTIFY. Find out more about how this new partnership – and a number of others – could revolutionize your home and your lighting.

Put this idea out there a couple of decades ago and people may have laughed at you: in disbelief. The thought of talking to your household gadgets may have seemed far-fetched or too futuristic to take seriously. However, today such an idea is a reality – and increasingly popular.

Introducing Amazon Alexa

Amazon Echo is a smart speaker. A smart device that responds to the name “Alexa”. Upon request, Alexa can (among other things) tell you the time, update you on the weather, play music, set alarms, create shopping lists and respond to questions regarding your calendar. First released for Amazon Prime members or by invitation in 2014, it became widely available in the United States in June 2015. In autumn 2016, Echo arrived in Germany and the UK.

So what is the connection to OSRAM LIGHTIFY? Simple. Amazon Echo can be integrated with other smart devices – including lighting.

Echo meets LIGHTIFY

Amazon Echo can be incorporated into existing LIGHTIFY systems. To get set up, all you need is the speaker, the LIGHTIFY Gateway (the related intelligent wireless light control) and LIGHTIFY lamps and luminaires. Next, you need to start talking. Say: “Alexa, turn on the lights in the living room” – and the living room lights turn on. Say: “Alexa, dim the lights” – and there you have it. Thanks to Alexa, you may never again have to get off the sofa or out of your warm bed to adjust the lighting. Sounds like a great roommate to us!

And it doesn’t end there. Soon you will be able to do even more. Alexa developers have announced that they plan to add a number of extra functions.

Other smart partners

In many cases you can connect the LIGHTIFY lamps and luminaires directly into other well-known Smart Home systems like Magenta by Deutsch Telekom (member of the Qivicon Alliance), Smart Things by Samsung,… By this you can skip the LIGHTIFY gateway completely and control the LIGHTIFY lamps and luminaires directly with the partner systems app. In this configuration you can connect your LIGHTIFY Lamps and Luminaires to all products integrated in the partners’ system, and make out of your home a real Smart Home!

When connected to the LIGHTIFY Gateway, other scenarios are possible. For example you can connect your LIGHTIFY Gateway to the offering of HomeMatic, Logitech, Nest, .. And let your LIGHTIFY Lamps and Luminaires interact with these systems.