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Presumably they'll still function like a normal smoke detector if Nest's servers go down.

Right? RIGHT?!

Of course. Interesting also is that the Nest Protects form a mesh network to set off the alarm across all of them, even if the wifi is down.

I believe that's a recent requirement in California for new or updated dwellings. See R314.5: http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/firelifesafety/pdf/Smoke%20Alarm%20T...

Also interesting is that quite a few municipalities forbid connecting the fire alarm system to any external system, unless the external system is UL listed. Could be some regulatory hurdles in Nest's future.

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