What Is a Z Wave Bridge

The new Nexia Home Intelligence Bridge is a Z-Wave smart home bridge that connects to the Internet, giving you remote control over your Z-Wave devices from anywhere with your smartphone, tablet, or PC (monthly subscription required).

What is the purpose of Z-Wave?

Z-Wave is a wireless protocol harnessing low-energy radio waves to help smart devices or appliances communicate successfully with one another. Zensys from Denmark developed Z-Wave in 2001. The stated goal was to create a cost-effective Zigbee alternative enabling devices from different brands to communicate in harmony.

Is Z-Wave any good?

Described as “the safest, most secure ecosystem of smart devices on the global market”, Z-Wave uses the same AES-128 symmetric encryption as Zigbee. It’s not totally hack-proof (what is?) but most smart home vulnerabilities are down to login procedures on a device’s software, not their connectivity.