On the heels of grand plans about smart home automation announced at CES, Comcast said it has added new voice commands to its X1 voice remote that enable customers to command and control several devices that work with the Xfinity Home service.

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In this phase of the program and next level of integration with IoT devices, Comcast has added a series of new voice commands that, for example, will enable customers to use their X1 voice remotes to access and control the cameras and lights that are integrated with the Xfinity Home service.  

“Starting today, customers can get specific about the camera they want to look at on the TV – just say ‘Xfinity Home, show me patio camera’,” Comcast’s Bryan Kissinger explained in this blog post. “You can also use the X1 voice remote to make a certain room brighter, or dim the lights and choose a certain hue if you have the Philips Hue connected lighting system.”

Customer can also say “Xfinity Home, I’m cold” to auto-adjust the thermostat a few degrees, or tell the system to set the thermostat to a specific temperature, or ask it if the home’s security alarm is active.

“If customers have the Nest thermostat, they can even say, ‘Xfinity Home, set Nest to Eco mode’ if they are trying to conserve energy,” Kissinger added.

Update:Comcast has deployed more than 20 million X1 voice remotes. The company confirmed that the voice commands for Xfinity Home work with its newly designed X1 voice remote as well as the previous model. Both X1 voice remote models are made by Universal Electronics.

For now, six Xfinity Home device partners have been integrated into the X1 voice commands database – the Zen thermostat, Caseta/Lutron lights, GE in-wall and plug-in switches and dimmers, the Nest thermostat, Philips Hue lights, and the Sengled Element Touch light bulb.

Earlier this month, Comcast announced that it had extended home automation services to more than 15 million customers as it works toward enabling that capability across multiple services, including X1 (TV and the X1 voice remote), xFi (WiFi), Xfinity Home and Xfinity Mobile.

Comcast’s push comes as consumers continue to buy and adopt smart home hubs, digital assistants and smart speakers.

While Comcast is taking aim at this from the service provider level, several others are taking the consumer retail angle. Some examples include Google (Google Home), Amazon (Alexa-powered devices like the Echo and Echo Dot), as well as Apple, which announced this week that its HomePod would arrive in stores on Feb. 9, with online orders opening up Friday (Jan. 26) in the U.S., UK and Australia, with sales in France and Germany slated for this spring.

As part of a plan to enable customers to save energy and manage “greener” homes, Comcast’s Xfinity Home service has struck a partnership and integration agreement with Zen Ecosystems, maker of a new connected thermostat.

Zen’s thermostat is now a “core” device in the Xfinity Home ecosystem and represents another step toward the relaunch of an “EcoSaver” technology/platform that aims to reduce energy usage by optimizing home heating and cooling using real-time weather analytics.

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 “At Xfinity Home, we are always looking for new ways to delight our customers and add value to our services,” Daniel Herscovici, senior vice president and general manager of Xfinity Home, said in a statement. “We are eager to unveil a new home energy management service soon, fully integrated with Zen Ecosystems, that will redefine what customers expect from their smart home services. When we relaunch EcoSaver in the spring, our customers will be able to transform their smart homes into greener homes, while continuing to help them save money on their monthly energy bills.”

Zen Ecosystems joins a growing list of third-party companies to integrate products with Xfinity Home, a security and home automation service that has more than 500,000 subscribers. Other announced partners include August (smart locks), Chamberlain (garage controllers), Lutron (wireless controllers and dimmers), Nest (thermostats) and Sengled and Jasco (lighting). Comcast also builds its own products for Xfinity Home, including the recently introduced “xCam,” a WiFi-connected, HD indoor/outdoor camera.

RELATED: Comcast’s Xfinity Home Lights Up More Device Partners

Comcast, which expects to announce more partnership this year ,has also relaunched its Works With Xfinity Home portal as the MSO looks to drive more visibility and scale into the program.

Comcast is also in the process of buying a big piece of Icontrol, and has discussed how that acquisition might enable the operator to pursue an additional wholesale/white-label business. Icontrol's customers include Cox Communications, Rogers and Charter Communications. Fierce Cable reported that Comcast is holding meetings at CES this week with Charter and other operators to discuss potential licensing opportunities. 

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