Stefan Mileschin

ASRock has started sales of their new smart connected home router, the X10. The new device supports not only 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet like any modern networking router, but also supports ZigBee and IR to control various smart and home electronics as a connected home central hub.

The X10 and devices like it comes at an interesting inflection point for the consumer networking gear industry; nowadays, Wi-Fi is ubiquitous and basic routers are cheap, if not outright free from an ISP, pushing the overall market towards being highly commoditized. However farther at the edge of the market and consumer adoption, there are new technologies knocking the door, such as ZigBee and Z-Wave for smart home appliances as well as 802.11ad for wireless docking of laptops. While hubs for these devices can already be purchased seperately, standalone ZigBee and Z-Wave hubs/dongles cost about $100, slightly lowering attractiveness of home automation in general. As a result, demand for routers with ZigBee and Z-Wave is growing as a means of centralizing all of these network-related functions, and ASRock wants to capitalize on this with its new X10 product that supports ZigBee in addition to 802.11ac MU-MIMO.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/11767/...ifi-and-zigbee