Will it Matter ?
In the past we have noted the excitement behind what is expected to be a way for the smart home industry to lose the shackles of interoperability issues with a new industry standard known as ‘Matter’, essentially a communication layer that acts as an interface between smart devices, systems, and users. For years the smart home industry has been ripe with dedicated systems and devices that required the user to perform relatively difficult procedures to attach devices to networks and to maintain separate applications to control the devices of each manufacturer. Not only did this make it burdensome and expensive for the consumer, but is also expensive for the manufacturer who was tasked with designing, adapting, maintaining and improving their hardware and software, along with developing interfaces, if any, with other branded products.
The Connectivity Standards Alliance that maintains ‘Matter’ has over 400 member that support the project, with ‘Promoter’ level members Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Huawei (pvt), Infineon (INTC), LG (066570.KS), Texas Instruments (TXN), and a variety of other silicon, CE brands, and retailers, and that list expands across a list of ‘participants’ and adopters that pretty much covers the CE world’s gamut. The idea is to allow all of these smart home devices to interoperate, giving the consumer the choice as to which branded device they wish to use to control all of the various branded devices they have in their homes. Not only will this make the consumer happy but it will allow brands to focus on developing higher quality and more useful products without having to maintain proprietary network silicon or interfaces that don’t relate to current products.
Of course this sounds great and if successful would be a significant boost to the ‘smart’ device world, which includes IoT as the standard can be applied down to the individual sensor level. And would enhance the development of a variety of wireless protocols that could be chosen to provide the best connectivity in different situations, all with the common ‘Matter’ overlay, making the type of connectivity essentially transparent to the user. Chip producers have already begun developing silicon for Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Thread, and Bluetooth Low Energy networks with the idea that they can combine these wireless types on a single chip, with ‘Matter’ being the standard that allows them all to interoperate and (in theory) be ‘paired’ with any other device with the push of a button.
There is still much to be done to develop ‘Matter’ as it will take the full participation of an entire industry made up of many companies in many countries, all of whom assume that they will benefit from the upheaval we expect will occur when the standard gains device traction. There will certainly be winners and losers, but at the least ‘Matter’ will allow each company to focus on the areas in which they have expertise, rather than have to develop or maintain ancillary products. A company that has developed a sensor that can measure the amount of visible and UV light entering a window would not have to develop interfaces to all the systems (lighting, automated shades, etc.) that might use its sensors and can concentrate resources on improving the sensors, while those that might have expertise in user interfaces would now be able to create more useful controlling devices rather than developing interfaces to all of the most popular smart home products.
‘Matter’’s official launch will come this fall and there will be many announcements regarding products and applications that will take advantage of the new standard, but the effects will develop over time as these new products are put into circulation and consumers begin to understand that the smart home world has changed and is no longer forcing them to buy dedicated hardware for each application. It will take time but if the industry supports the standard it will matter.
The Connectivity Standards Alliance that maintains ‘Matter’ has over 400 member that support the project, with ‘Promoter’ level members Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Huawei (pvt), Infineon (INTC), LG (066570.KS), Texas Instruments (TXN), and a variety of other silicon, CE brands, and retailers, and that list expands across a list of ‘participants’ and adopters that pretty much covers the CE world’s gamut. The idea is to allow all of these smart home devices to interoperate, giving the consumer the choice as to which branded device they wish to use to control all of the various branded devices they have in their homes. Not only will this make the consumer happy but it will allow brands to focus on developing higher quality and more useful products without having to maintain proprietary network silicon or interfaces that don’t relate to current products.
Of course this sounds great and if successful would be a significant boost to the ‘smart’ device world, which includes IoT as the standard can be applied down to the individual sensor level. And would enhance the development of a variety of wireless protocols that could be chosen to provide the best connectivity in different situations, all with the common ‘Matter’ overlay, making the type of connectivity essentially transparent to the user. Chip producers have already begun developing silicon for Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Thread, and Bluetooth Low Energy networks with the idea that they can combine these wireless types on a single chip, with ‘Matter’ being the standard that allows them all to interoperate and (in theory) be ‘paired’ with any other device with the push of a button.
There is still much to be done to develop ‘Matter’ as it will take the full participation of an entire industry made up of many companies in many countries, all of whom assume that they will benefit from the upheaval we expect will occur when the standard gains device traction. There will certainly be winners and losers, but at the least ‘Matter’ will allow each company to focus on the areas in which they have expertise, rather than have to develop or maintain ancillary products. A company that has developed a sensor that can measure the amount of visible and UV light entering a window would not have to develop interfaces to all the systems (lighting, automated shades, etc.) that might use its sensors and can concentrate resources on improving the sensors, while those that might have expertise in user interfaces would now be able to create more useful controlling devices rather than developing interfaces to all of the most popular smart home products.
‘Matter’’s official launch will come this fall and there will be many announcements regarding products and applications that will take advantage of the new standard, but the effects will develop over time as these new products are put into circulation and consumers begin to understand that the smart home world has changed and is no longer forcing them to buy dedicated hardware for each application. It will take time but if the industry supports the standard it will matter.
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