Fibaro Home Intelligence in Canada

By Katherine Mascarin – Editor

Sonic Automation, Toronto & Vancouver, is excited to announce its new partnership with Fibaro in Canada. We welcome them and are pleased to be involved with their growth in North America. We’ve had our eye on them for quite some time, and as of April 2018 have officially become one of only two Canadian distributors of Fibaro smart home and automation products.

We approached Fibaro to become a distributor for a variety of reasons. When initially introduced to their products we noticed their appealing aesthetic – clean, simple, and advanced in design. We immediately knew they would have mass appeal in the growing consumer automation category, which was evident with their rapid European growth and global reach. However, as we began to use Fibaro’s products we also started to appreciate their ultimate flexibility, intuitive product lineup, sophistication, originality, and ease of use. We envisioned integrating Fibaro into some of our current systems, but also expanding our offerings. Fibaro products allow us to create more user-friendly systems for our clients, more sophisticated integrated solutions with other automation products, and pushes our creativity to ultimately provide more home solutions to solve automation problems and serve our clients better. Fibaro brings much value to the automation industry.

Simply put, Fibaro is a brand to pay attention to – and we wanted in! They are one of the most appealing and user-friendly smart home and automation Companies on the market and we want the opportunity to grow with them in Canada.

Fibaro: A Unique Brand and Company

Fibaro is a Polish company operating in the Internet of Things product category, this includes home automation, security, sensors and safety control, lighting and climate control, remote monitoring solutions and more.

Fibaro’s rapid global expansion has made them a leading player in the evolving smart home and automation market. Founded in 2010 by CEO Maciej Fiedler in Poznan, Poland, Fibaro quickly expanded to several countries across Europe, followed by the UK and the US by 2014. Today, they have 5 distribution channels with over 10,000 distributors, resellers and retailers worldwide. Fibaro is available in 100 countries, spanning 6 continents, with Canada recently joining them.

Rather than simply following other recent automation companies, Fibaro has made their own mark by creating a user-friendly ecosystem of consumer-level products that can be used individually and as part of a complete Fibaro system. Fibaro differentiates itself by creating products that are not only modular but can be seamlessly programmed into their controllers or more sophisticated controllers, systems and professional-grade products. Standalone devices can be used on their own, integrated with other consumer and professional product brands, or completed in a Fibaro system.

Fibaro’s flexibility is extensive. Its compatibility with other brands and global standards is comprehensive and continues to grow. From a user experience perspective, Fibaro provides an intuitive and easy-to-use system that can be used by almost anyone. Furthermore, unlike many other automation brands, consumers with a moderate technical aptitude can take a single product or a suite of Fibaro products home and begin integrating them immediately. Many consumers or automation hobbyists could essentially piece together a Fibaro system right off the shelf. However, like other comprehensive automation systems, for advanced control, functioning, and integration, professional installation and program is required.

“8 years ago I decided- I will create the best system of a friendly home in the world. A home that gives residents comfort and a sense of security. A home that is everywhere with you. Thanks to the application you have on your phone, you always know what is happening in it. What’s more, you can control it!” –Maciej Fiedler, CEO of Fibar

Fibaro’s mission is to make people’s lives easier and better by creating comfortable, friendly, and safe homes to enjoy. Together with Fibaro’s four key values – courage, complementarity, friendliness and creativity – Fibaro is committed to continually evolve its products and company through innovation, creativity, and drive.

Fibaro employs roughly 400 people with 150 at their factory alone. And, despite their rapid expansion, has managed to keep all their manufacturing in Poznan, Poland. Priding themselves on delivering the best quality at the highest standard by keeping manufacturing in house, Fibaro does not outsource manufacturing. The company’s head office and manufacturing facility are both stationed in Poznan, so they always have their eye on the production and quality control.

Fibaro’s vision is to become the number one leading international supplier of automation systems.

The Fibaro System

Fibaro’s goal is to be friendly through installation, integration, and use, leading them to create with the end-user in mind. A testament to this is their easy-to-use controllers that can be activated by the touch of a button, the use of a gesture, a keyfob, or simple words and phrases. Their products are designed for user-exploration – installation and use are intuitive and friendly – meaning users can explore Fibaro’s possibilities by experimenting with different setups, installations and uses. The system allows users to adjust, update, remove, or add Fibaro products relatively easily. This affords the user creativity to program their systems in personal, flexible and manageable ways to find seemingly unlimited scenes and uses.

Fibaro’s complementary ecosystem of products includes their Home Center Lite and Home Center 2 control systems, various switches, RGBW controllers, dimmer, motion, flood, door & window sensors, controlled plugs, a keyfob controller, tablet, and more. Combined or on their own, Fibaro’s products allow for lighting, blind, air conditioning and HVAC control, safety, security, audio-video, multimedia solutions, and more.

Fibaro products can be controlled either through mobile applications, remote control devices like “The Button,”or voice-controlled assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. Fibaro allows for integration with Apple HomePod, Google Home products, Amazon Echo, and other voice activators from Bose, Sonos, and Yamaha to name a few. Fibaro utilizes Z-Wave and Bluetooth technologies for connectivity. The Fibaro Z-Wave products can communicate with each other and through the control unit. The components act as transmitters and receivers to provide the ability to create complex and extensive networks of products and controllers.

Fibaro’s Future

Fibaro’s vision is to continually develop their system, improve the user experience, and integrate their products comprehensively with other brands and technologies as industry standards evolve and mature. This includes expanding with systems they already have compatibility with while also adding to their catalogue. Fibaro has also started to work with automotive systems that will allow users to remotely control their smart homes safely even while driving.

Additionally, Fibaro has made the move to integrate with smart home appliances including Samsung, Bosch and Siemens brands. Currently Fibaro assists users with cooking or recipes, however they plan to provide more substantial automations. Ideally, FIbaro would like to create ordering and payment systems that can notify users directly when foods are low, order them, and receive the deliveries automatically purchased through shopping networks. Furthermore, Fibaro would also like to allow their systems to monitor and maintain machines and devices by notifying homeowners when there are problems and providing lists of local maintenance companies when required.

Sonic Automation and Fibaro

Sonic Automation is excited to carry Fibaro products. They are appealing on their own but at the same time provide users with the ability to play with and enjoy them. They can be used for simple operations or integrated into sophisticated and complex systems. Fibaro products have unique features – like motion, light, and temperature sensors in one – that you can’t find from other smart home automation companies. This allows for greater variety of uses, more complex operations, and overall greater creativity when designing automation systems. Fibaro’s creativity and ingenuity allow us to be more creative, therefore allowing us to provide better solutions for our customers. Fibaro finds a way to keep their products simple but also have the complexity of more professional products. We can integrate them into any of our systems, consumers like them, and they are aesthetic and easy for the end-user.

For more information on Fibaro, contact us today and check out their website and social media including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Youtube.

* This article’s purpose is to provide you with a general introduction into Fibaro and their recent entry into Canada with Sonic Automation, as well as to provide you with the basics of what they are about and maybe even help to interest you in some of their products!