Amazon has announced a number of significant updates to its support for smart home standard Matter.
The company says it has now switched on Matter in over 100 million Echo smart speakers, the Alexa iOS app now works with the standard, and, most notably, Thread support has arrived.
Matter is a new smart home standard that was developed by a consortium of companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung. It is designed to make it easier for smart home devices from different manufacturers to work together.
Matter devices will use a common set of protocols, which will make them easier to set up and use. Thread is one such protocol that allows devices within a small area to communicate using a low-power mesh network.
The smart home has been held back by competing standards meaning not all devices work seamlessly with one another. It’s not uncommon for current smart homes to have several smart hubs to support various devices across differing standards.
Matter aims to finally break down the barriers between ecosystems and is supported by most of the major smart home device manufacturers.
Amazon is one of the largest manufacturers of smart home devices with its Echo line. The addition of Thread support to those devices, and the ability to control Matter devices using the Alexa app, is a big step forward to unlocking the smart home’s full potential.
The Matter standard is still under development but it is expected to be finalised later this year.
Once the standard is finalised, we’ll likely see a wave of new Matter devices from a variety of manufacturers. These devices will make it easier and more affordable to create a smart home.
Amazon updated its Works With Alexa (WWA) program last year to reflect its support for Matter. Devices that are WWA certified are more discoverable on Amazon and let customers identify devices that work seamlessly with Alexa and the wider Matter ecosystem
Jerome Gackel, CEO of Eve Systems, said: ”One of our biggest challenges being at the forefront of bringing the first Matter over Thread devices to customers’ homes is to ensure they have the right infrastructure at home to connect to our devices.
“With Alexa’s WWA badge and Thread support on millions of Echos already in customers’ homes, creating this seamless customer journey will be vastly accelerated.”
Manufacturers interested in achieving WWA certification can find the requirements here.
(Image Credit: Amazon)
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