D-Link has joined the growing number of smart-home suppliers integrating their products with Amazon’s Echo, Tap and Dot, and Fire TV, enabling voice control via Amazon’s Cloud-based Alexa personal digital assistant.
Last week, Lutron hooked up Alexa with its wireless Caseta in-wall dimmers and plug-in lamp dimmers. Other companies that have enabled Alexa control of their products include Nest, Honeywell, Insteon, Home Seer, Smart Things, TP-Link, Belkin WeMo, Philips Hue, Wink and EcoBee. Other companies, including Sonos, also plan to tap Alexa to control their products.
In the D-Link lineup, Alexa controls only the company’s Wi-Fi Smart Plugs, not other D-Link smart home products such as water and motion sensors, a siren or Wi-Fi cameras.
With the help of Alexa, users can turn on or off any electrical device plugged into one of the plugs. Users can say, “Alexa, ask Mydlink to turn on the hallway light,” or “Alexa, ask Mydlink to turn off the coffee machine.”
Voice control supplements control by D-Link’s Mydlink Home app, which also controls the company’s Wi-Fi sensors, siren and cameras. The free app also creates scenes and links actions, such as turning on a light if motion is detected.
The app also supports Cloud-based IFTTT (If This Then That) recipes that integrate multiple brands of smart-home products.
