Is C-Bus in Maintenance Mode

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on the future of C-Bus.

The integrators on here would have gone to the conference last year where we were fed the line "C-Bus is not dead, it's not going anywhere". Well I guess they are right in a sense, it's not going anywhere, including forward.
Very rarely do we get new product, or even software releases (PICED Feb 2015). There are still bugs in the eDLT firmware that haven't been fixed!
Everytime you asked a Clipsal rep at the conference, they were very vague on the roadmap for the product.
It's all very wishy washy to me.

 

Hey Nobes,

I tend to agree however when i have made these comments to those in the know often i get met with a response similar to 'well what other products would you like to see in the portfolio?' That nearly always stumps me.. Haha

As for the slow bugs fixes this is a big bug bear of mine, pardon the pun.. ;-)

I feel that the poor CIS guys are probably doing the best they can under the Schneider regime..

There has been quite a lot of development and new products on the dali control side of things..
Plus i believe the CIS guys were also involved in development of the SILC product offering which may have sapped resources away from the CBUS side of things..

Cheers..

 

Similar feelings here as well.

As for what we would like, maybe we need a thread here asking that exact question so that the word can get out and then we can put the pressure on the reps.

For me, I want to see a bridge over TCP/IP-Ethernet. That has been discussed here a couple of times. A link between two systems can be made using the internet, WiFi, or any other medium that can work with Ethernet.

I would like to see the price come down significantly so that more people are open to installing it. Halve the price, triple the installs.

 

I can understand that divulging the road-map may not what the company wants, but to be honest, knowing the road-map, to me at least, just keeps me more interested.

The caveat that it is a road map and not all products are guaranteed obviously exists, but some do not understand that often and think its gospel.

 

CBus in the USA?

I am glad to hear from the ?official? channel that CBus product enhancement and development continues for the targeted Australian/NZ market. CBus is a great product line, and I hope it continues for many years into the future. Unfortunately, I am not located in the Australian/NZ market, but in the USA. The USA is where Schneider recently decided to abandon its efforts to sell CBus products in the future. Thus, CBus is no longer sold or supported throughout the USA. Distribution channels have already evaporated. Schneider sales reps can?t even spell ?CBus? any more.

My hope is that if Schneider is, indeed, continuing the development of CBus products for the Australian/NZ market ? which was stated in this thread ? then possibly Schneider will rethink its position on the USA market. The USA must be the largest single market in the world for these automated lighting products, so why not sell here? Schneider already has the full set of the needed 120-volt versions of the CBus products ? those were sold by SquareD in the USA for many years ? so why not manufacture and sell these 120-volt products also? The incremental margins on these products must be a large financial opportunity.

My hope is that someone reading this thread can reveal some glint of information about what Schneider plans to do with this USA market in the future. Do they plan to re-enter this market at some point? Is this even a possibility? I know first-hand that the CBus product designs and technology are great (I have a large installation), so possibly the sales strategy in the USA was not well executed and that is why Schneider decided to pull out of the USA? Can't a better sales strategy be devised and implemented in the USA? Can't Schneider tap this large and profitable USA market and make a success of it?

I have talked with many other CBus users in the USA, and virtually all are longing for the return of CBus to our market, for the renewed availability of both old and new CBus products via USA distribution channels, and for the expansion of the installed base and enhancement of the installation and maintenance expertise here.

 

I heard the same report 5years ago. Then they announced the wiser2 and there was high hopes it was going to meet market technology advances. Then released a long 3years later, still no leap into the 21century. Where is the HomeKit, voice control and IFTTT integration to add door locks etc

 

Can you please spend some time fixing existing bugs

If it is not dead could you please spend some time fixing the existing bugs Like the C-Bus Audio Door Bell .. Please we were told it was being worked on but still years later still not fixed.

Charles