Onics: Develco devices, frient products and connected-home services

Onics unites Develco Products and Datek Smart Home, supplying white-label devices, gateways and software, including products available under the frient brand.

Summary

Best for
Service providers combining home-energy measurement, wireless devices and branded applications.
Less suited to
Assuming a P1 reader fits any meter port or treating a branded sensor as a complete monitoring service without a compatible gateway.
Deployment
White-label or frient devices with gateways and optional Onics software and services.
Data in
Model-specific Zigbee devices and meter interfaces, with multi-protocol support determined by the selected gateway.
Pricing
Hardware, branding, software and managed-service terms depend on the selected scope.

Overview

The name on older device documentation may be Develco Products, while the current supplier is Onics. Its official history records the 2024 merger with Datek Smart Home and the 2025 launch of the Onics brand. The connection is useful when tracing support information for an existing installation rather than assuming the product range has disappeared.

The branding options also distinguish white-label products from devices sold as frient or Eva. These names describe different routes to market within the same documented business. A device's actual model and firmware still matter: the corporate relationship does not establish that every branded product is identical or interchangeable.

Offering

Onics' meter-interface range addresses several ways of obtaining readings from an existing meter. An optical LED reader, a P1 interface and a Norwegian HAN interface are different acquisition paths. The meter's available and enabled output determines which one can be used; the presence of a connector alone is not enough to identify the protocol.

Its smart plugs provide another measurement boundary, monitoring and switching an attached appliance. They are useful when the question concerns an individual load rather than the whole premises. Choosing between these products starts with the required measurement point and physical interface, then the gateway and application that will receive the readings.

Products and platforms

  1. Electricity meter interfaces

    Meter data interfaces

    Distinct optical LED, P1 and HAN acquisition options for compatible meters.3

  2. Smart Plug Mini

    Appliance measurement

    Wireless appliance monitoring and switching in compatible regional formats.4

  3. Squid.link

    IoT gateway

    Configurable gateway platform with model-specific wireless interfaces.5

Technology

The Squid.link gateway range provides a configurable platform for connecting wireless devices and running gateway software. Onics separately documents wireless protocol support, which should be checked against the chosen gateway configuration. A platform supporting several protocols does not mean a battery sensor itself implements all of them.

For an existing Develco or frient installation, preserve the model identifier when moving between supplier literature and software integration. Pairing, reporting intervals and the exact exposed measurements need to be checked for that device. A company-level relationship helps locate documentation; it is not a substitute for the model-level contract that a reliable device template requires.

Markets

Onics' energy offering combines measurement with connected-home control and services for energy providers. This can suit a provider that needs to give households visibility of consumption and coordinate compatible equipment through its own service. The hardware and the customer-facing application are separate parts of that delivery.

The branding options make that distinction explicit: a solution provider can use its own branding or select established consumer brands. Buyers comparing a standalone device with a managed service should therefore ask which parts they need to operate themselves, including the gateway, customer app, fleet support and data integration. A sensor purchase does not automatically supply those operational functions.

Company

The Onics timeline identifies Develco Products as a 2007 spin-off focused on smart-grid products, followed by the frient brand in 2020. It records the merger with Datek Smart Home in 2024 and the unified Onics brand in 2025. The founding field preserves the Develco Products origin with those later milestones made explicit.

The contact page identifies the Danish company in Aarhus alongside the Norwegian operation. This profile connects the historical Develco catalogue label and the frient consumer brand to that current business, while retaining the original device names in the Device Directory. That makes it possible to find current company context without rewriting the identity printed on an installed device.

Alternatives in IoT and data platforms

What to look for in iot and data platforms

References

  1. Onics company history (opens in a new tab)
  2. Onics contact locations (opens in a new tab)
  3. Meter interfaces (opens in a new tab)
  4. Smart plugs (opens in a new tab)
  5. Squid.link gateways (opens in a new tab)
  6. Wireless protocols (opens in a new tab)
  7. Branding options: frient and Eva (opens in a new tab)
  8. Onics energy solutions (opens in a new tab)

This profile does not imply a commercial relationship with Onics and may contain inaccuracies.