The Z-Wave Alliance, a global consortium of more than 325 member companies supporting the Z-Wave wireless IoT standard, announced that home improvement company Lowe’s joined its membership with the Iris by Lowe’s smart home solution. A retail destination for a variety Z-Wave smart home devices, Lowe’s joins a diverse and growing membership of companies committed to the Z-Wave brand.

“As the awareness of the smart home concept becomes more prevalent among consumers with big players entering the market, the demand for DIY smart home solutions grows,” said Mitchell Klein, executive director for the Z-Wave Alliance. “As with construction and home repair, we need retailers like Lowe’s to offer a combination model of do-it-yourself with knowledgeable staff and education to help consumers get started.”

Launched in July 2012, Iris by Lowe’s is a smart home solution created to monitor and control virtually everything in the home anytime, anywhere from a computer, smart phone or tablet. Lowe’s was among the first companies to target the mass consumer market with a broad home automation solution and to introduce a truly open platform. Lowe’s had fiscal year 2014 sales of $56.2 billion, and it operates more than 1,840 home improvement and hardware stores with 265,000 employees.

“Partnering with the Z-Wave Alliance is an important next step in offering an even more expansive array of smart home products and further advancing technology in and around the home,” said Mick Koster, vice president and general manager of Iris Home Systems. “Together, Iris, the Alliance and its diverse ecosystem of members have a larger opportunity to propel home automation forward, delivering innovative and smarter devices to consumers.”

Z-Wave Alliance membership grew 20 percent in the first half of 2015, adding more than 60 new members. Z-Wave claimed it has led the market in interoperable smart devices for the home since the first Z-Wave product was certified in 2004.

Visit http://z-wavealliance.orgfor information.