Zones allow you to group a set of devices according to their location (room, floor, etc.), functionality (Lightening, HVAC, security), etc.

A zone supports common executable operations, such as set a property or launch an operation on all devices in the zone that have a particular device class. For example all lamps in the house can be put in one zone, which will then allow you to turn then on with a single turnOn command.

The Home Device Manager implements the Home Zone Admin service which allows changing the list of devices in a zone and executing common operations, as well as adding to and removing zones from the Home Device Manager.

A zone can contain other (child) zones. One device can participate in several zones. There is a zone called SYSTEM which contains all devices that aren't part of any other zone.