It’s time to say goodbye to complicated installation issues with your smart devices and hello to a single service that does it all. Matter is born. It will developed in partnership with Apple, Google and Amazon.
In 2019, several manufacturers came together to create the ‘Project Connected Home over IP’ (CHIP) alliance so that their different products could work with each other without problems.
What is Project Matter?
Previously known as “Project Connected Home over IP,” Matter is an open source standard that aims to improve integration between IoT devices. By making sure devices under Matter work with each other, consumers are less likely to have trouble getting the hardware to communicate with other items in their existing smart home setup.
Being compatible with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant platforms, it allows device manufacturers to make their products easier to connect to these networks. The first proposal includes support for network technologies such as Wi-Fi, Thread and Bluetooth LE.
To get Matter’s certification, devices need to adopt a new royalty-free standard and be compatible with Amazon’s Alexa Smart Home, Apple’s HomeKit, and Google Weave protocols. Devices such as smart light bulbs, video doorbells, door locks will have the device certified so they can work with all these platforms
How BuildWithMatter will work?
The set up process should be simpler, with a code required to connect devices or smart home framework. Vendors can use a single SKU for all devices, and development costs are lower.
Tobin Richardson, President and CEO of the Connectivity Standards Alliance said that Matter is a “foundational element in delivering a connected world.”
“We create marks of trust, and Matter is an important milestone for users in our long history of delivering unifying, secure, reliable and trustworthy standards for the IoT,” said Tobin Richardson, President and CEO of the Connectivity Standards Alliance. “I’m very excited to unveil Matter as a foundational element in delivering a truly connected world.”
The first devices to complete certification with BuildWithMatter are expected to become available in late 2021.
In the interim, while Apple has a seat on the Connectivity Standards Alliance and executives who lead it, it isn’t listed as one of the companies set to be an early adopter of Matter. That list includes Amazon, Comcast, Eve, Google, Huawei, Nanoleaf, SmartThings, and Texas Instruments, among others.