KNX certified, KNX Australia member
One system for everything the building does
Integreat Electronics is KNX certified and a KNX Australia member. We design, program and support KNX in homes and commercial buildings: lighting, climate, shading, energy, security, access and AV, all on one open international standard that no single manufacturer owns.
- KNX certified
- KNX Australia member
- Open international standard
- Residential and commercial
Why KNX
Most smart building technology asks you to bet on a company. You buy a brand, you learn its app, and you find out in year six whether that company still exists, still supports the hardware, and still lets you use it without a subscription. KNX is a different kind of bet. It is a standard, not a product.
One system, not five
Lighting, climate, blinds, energy, security, access and AV all sit on the same bus. The blind knows the sun is on the glass, the air conditioning knows the room is empty, and the lights know it is a Sunday. That coordination is the point, and it is very hard to retrofit onto a stack of separate products.
Nobody owns it
KNX is an open international standard, published as ISO/IEC 14543-3 and EN 50090, and adopted here as SA/SNZ ISO/IEC TS 14543.3.1-6:2018. No manufacturer controls it, and no manufacturer can discontinue it.
Over 8,000 certified products
More than 500 manufacturers build KNX devices, and certification means every one of them is tested to work with the others. Devices get chosen on merit, budget and how they look on the wall, rather than on what a single brand happens to make.
It runs in the building, not in a data centre
Core functions run locally on the bus. The lights still work when the internet is down, and nothing critical depends on a manufacturer keeping a server online or keeping it free.
Nothing to rip out in five years
KNX has been a standard for over thirty years and certified devices stay compatible across generations. Systems get extended rather than replaced, which is the whole argument for spending properly at rough-in.
No central hub to fail
Each KNX device holds its own configuration and talks directly to the others. There is no single controller whose failure takes the building with it, and no annual licence keeping the brains alive.
The same system at any size
A three-bedroom renovation and a multi-storey commercial building use the same standard, the same software and the same skills. What changes is the number of devices, not the approach or the people who can maintain it.
Energy you can see and act on
Metering, solar and battery data, occupancy, daylight and temperature setpoints all live on one system. Energy management becomes a matter of configuration rather than yet another product with its own app.
One tool, and you own the file
Every KNX project is designed and programmed in ETS, the manufacturer-independent software. The resulting project file is a complete, portable record of your system, and it belongs to the building.
KNX is the world's only truly open protocol endorsed by worldwide standards.KNX Australia
What sits on the one system
KNX is often introduced as lighting control, which undersells it considerably. These all run on the same bus, are programmed in the same tool, and can act on each other.
- LightingSwitching, dimming, tunable white and colour, scenes, daylight linking and occupancy.
- ClimateHeating, cooling, ducted zoning, underfloor, ventilation and air quality, room by room.
- ShadingBlinds, curtains, louvres and external shading, with sun position and wind protection.
- EnergySub-metering, solar and battery data, load management and demand response.
- SecurityAlarm integration, presence simulation, leak and smoke detection acting on lighting and shading.
- Access and presenceDoor stations, entry, and after-hours access that brings lighting and climate up with it.
- AV and scenesMusic, screens and projection folded into the same keypad and the same scene as the lights.
- VisualisationWall panels, phones and tablets, plus dashboards for a facilities team on larger sites.
In a home, and in a commercial building
We use KNX for both. The standard does not change between them, which means the residential experience of a system is backed by commercial-grade engineering, and the commercial system is not painful to live with.
Residential
Where KNX earns its place in a house is the coordination, not the novelty.
- Scenes that suit the hour. Morning, evening, away and night, each setting lighting, blinds, heating and music in one press rather than a tour of the house.
- Blinds that follow the sun. Shading tracks sun position to keep glare off screens and heat out of west-facing glass, which quietly reduces the cooling load.
- Climate room by room. Underfloor heating, ducted zoning and ventilation controlled from the same wall switch as the lights, with setpoints per room.
- Solar and battery in the picture. Loads can shift to when the panels are producing, and consumption is visible instead of guessed at.
- Away and holiday behaviour. Presence simulation, alarm integration and a house that closes itself down properly when the last person leaves.
- Entry and door station. See who is at the gate from a wall panel or a phone, with lighting that responds when the door is answered.
Commercial
The same standard, sized up, and documented for the people who will operate it.
- Lighting by tenancy and occupancy. Zones that follow the actual layout, with daylight linking on the perimeter and occupancy hold-off in low-traffic areas.
- HVAC that knows the room is empty. Presence and window contacts interlock with heating and cooling, so conditioned air is not being spent on an empty meeting room.
- Facade shading. Glare and solar heat load managed automatically, which matters more to occupant complaints than most things on a services drawing.
- Sub-metering by tenancy. Consumption measured where it is incurred, which makes recovery and reporting a data question rather than an argument.
- After-hours behaviour. Access events bring lighting and climate up for the part of the floor in use, and the rest of the building stays down.
- Meeting and presentation spaces. Lighting, blinds, screen and AV on one scene, so the room works for whoever walks into it.
What it looks like on the wall
Because KNX is a standard, the thing your people touch every day is a design decision rather than a technical constraint. Our preferred partners are Ekinex, Basalte and Gira, and any KNX certified brand can be specified alongside them. Finishes shown are indicative, and all wall devices are supplied in Australian compliant configurations.
Basalte Home, the interface we standardise on
KNX is excellent at running a building and deliberately plain about how you interact with it. Something has to fill that gap, and on our KNX projects it is almost always Basalte Home, running on a Basalte Core server with a direct connection to the KNX bus.
- One home, however you reach it. The Basalte Home app, the touch displays, the keypads and the remote all present the same house. Lighting, shading, climate, music, cameras and the door station in one place, rather than one app per trade.
- The Core server does the joining. Core Plus and Core Mini connect directly to KNX and bring in what the bus does not do natively: streaming services, televisions, amplifiers, IP cameras and door stations.
- Music is built in rather than bolted on. Core Plus adds audio zones and infrared control, and works with Basalte's Asano multiroom system and Aalto speakers alongside Spotify, Sonos and Apple TV.
- Entry on the same screen. Integrations for Siedle, 2N, DoorBird, Gira, BPT and TCS, most IP cameras and the ekey fingerprint reader, so answering the door is part of the interface and not a separate handset.
- Scenes that read as moments. Dinner party, welcome home, goodnight. Each one pulling lighting, climate, shading and music together on a single touch.
- Logic lives in the server. Conditional behaviour and automation are configured by us in Basalte's integrator software, sitting on top of whatever the KNX bus is already doing on its own.
Standardising on one interface is a deliberate choice rather than a limitation. It means we know it thoroughly rather than passably, we can support it quickly when something needs attention, and your system behaves like the others we look after. Where a project genuinely calls for something else we will tell you, and we hold certifications in the alternatives.
The project file is the system
This is the part of KNX that most people only appreciate later, and it is the single strongest reason to choose it.
- Every KNX project is programmed in ETS, the manufacturer-independent software published by the KNX Association. There is no proprietary tool that only one company holds.
- The ETS project file describes your whole installation: every device, every address, every function and every parameter, in a format any KNX professional can open.
- You are not locked to us. If you ever want another integrator, they can take the project file and continue. That is a deliberately uncomfortable thing for an installer to advertise, and it is exactly why the standard is worth choosing.
- Changes stay cheap for the life of the building. Reconfiguring a room, adding a circuit or repurposing a space is a change to the project, not a call to a vendor to see whether it is supported.
- Diagnostics are built in. Bus monitoring in ETS shows what devices are actually saying to each other, so intermittent faults are traced rather than guessed at.
Our commitment on a KNX project
Integreat Electronics is KNX certified and a member of KNX Australia, and we work with Ekinex, Basalte and Gira as preferred partners. Certification and membership are the entry ticket. What we hold ourselves to is the standard of the work and the quality of what we leave behind.
- We program what we install. Design, addressing, group structure, logic and visualisation are done by the same team that specified and installed the job, not handed to an outside programmer who leaves at handover.
- We work to a documented design, not from memory. Functions are agreed against your floor plan before a device is programmed, so what gets built is what was specified and what you expected.
- You get the ETS project file. Along with the floor plans, the device schedule and the documented group addresses. Nothing about your system lives only on our laptop, and nothing about it is ours to withhold.
- Group addressing is structured, not improvised. A consistent, readable structure is the difference between a system another professional can pick up in an afternoon and one they quote to replace.
- Labelling and as-builts are part of the job. Switchboard devices, bus segments and wall devices are labelled to match the documentation.
- We stay available after handover. Renovations, tenancy changes, added rooms and scene adjustments are ongoing work we expect to do, not an inconvenience once the invoice is paid.
Common questions
Is KNX only worth it on large or expensive projects?
No. KNX scales down as well as it scales up. A sensible starting point is lighting and shading at rough-in, with climate, energy and security added later using the same bus and the same project file. What it does reward is planning early, because the cabling is far cheaper to install before the walls are closed.
Do we have to commit to one brand?
No, and that is the main reason to choose KNX. Over 8,000 certified products from more than 500 manufacturers are tested to work together, so the wall plates, the switchboard gear and the touch panels can come from whichever manufacturer suits the project.
If KNX is open, why do you standardise on Basalte Home?
Because the bus and the interface are two different decisions. The KNX layer stays open, multi-vendor and documented in ETS, exactly as the standard intends. The interface on top of it is where consistency pays, and choosing one platform means we know it properly, support it quickly and can hand you a system that behaves like every other one we maintain. If a project needs a different interface we will say so.
Does it need an internet connection or a subscription?
No. Core functions run locally on the bus inside the building. Remote access and app control can be added, but the lights, heating and blinds keep working without them, and there is no ongoing licence keeping the system alive.
What happens if we want to use a different company later?
You can. KNX is an open standard and your ETS project file is a complete description of the installation, so any KNX professional can take it on. We would rather earn the ongoing work than hold it through a proprietary system nobody else can open.
Can KNX be retrofitted into an existing building?
Sometimes. KNX runs over a dedicated twisted pair bus cable and over IP, so the honest answer depends on whether there is a path to run cable to the points you want to control. It is far easier during a renovation, a rewire or a fit-out, when the walls are already open. A site assessment is the only sensible way to answer it for your building.
Can it talk to our AV, alarm or building management system?
Yes, and this is familiar ground rather than a problem to solve. KNX interfaces to BACnet, Modbus and IP based systems, and to the AV control platforms we already work with every day. Bringing separate systems together is what we do across the rest of the business, so it is the ordinary case here, not the difficult one.
Building, renovating or fitting out?
Tell us a little about the project and we will come back to you with a view on whether KNX is the right fit, and what it would take. The earlier in the build the better, because the cabling decisions get made long before anyone thinks about the switches. We work by appointment and are happy to meet on site.
KNX is an open standard managed by the KNX Association, Brussels, and represented locally by KNX Australia. Product images courtesy of Basalte and Ekinex.
What we pair KNX with
KNX is the backbone. It runs the lighting, climate, shading and energy, and it will outlive several rounds of consumer electronics. What it is not built to be is the polished everyday interface for entertainment, which is why most of our KNX projects have a second platform sitting on top of it.