Matter information – Matterfan

Matter is an important smart home technology that was officially launched on the 4th of October 2022. Some smart hubs already got updates in 2022 to support the new Matter protocol. Many matter-enabled devices and software updates are expected to be released in the year 2023. If you are just as curious as this blog about Matter smart home technology. You have probably wondered who 'owns' Matter smart home technology. Matter smart home is not owned by one specific company, instead it is an alliance of companies that provides a proprietary standard for home automation that is royalty-free. Matter is now maintained by the Connectivity Standards Alliance. And was originally started by Amazon, Apple, Google, Comcast, Samsung SmartThings and the ZIgbee alliance. In this article we will look at the history of the Matter smart home protocol. But we will also look at the current status of Matter and it's versions. Matter smart home history The Matter smart home protocol was previously known as Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP), first announced by Google on 18 December 2019. The project aim was to build a new home automation standard that enabled IP based communication across smart home devices, mobile apps and cloud services. Other vendors that joined the alliance include: Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung SmartThings and the Zigbee Alliance. One of the very first architectural images of project CHIP. It took until 2022 to get the very first version of the Matter protocol released. Version 1.0 of the specification includes support for lighting products, doorlocks, thermostats and heating, ventilation and air conditioning, blinds and shades, home security sensors, televisions and streaming video players. There is a plan for a new version of the protocol (2.0) expected to be released March-April of 2024. It has new planned features such as support for robotic vacuum cleaners, ambient motion and presence sensing, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, environmental sensing and controls, closure sensors, energy manager, Wi-Fi access points, cameras and major appliances. Why is Matter not owned by one company? Now one may wonder why Matter is not owned by one specific company. This brings us to the traditional problem with the segmented world of home automation. Currently there are several home automation protocol, that all work with their own eco system. Think about technologies such as Z-wave, Zigbee, Philips Hue, Ikea Tradfri. All ecosystems on their that are not able to talk to each other. This is where Matter comes in, it provides a open protocol that allows vendors of several systems to community with each other. Matter is also royalty free, which means that any company can use Matter without paying a license. The only cost involved is paying for certification. What is the advantage of Matter not being owned by a single company? As we discussed before, Matter is not owned by one specific company but rather an Alliance of companies. This has a lot of advantages, especially for you as a consumer. Finally, with Matter, you virtually do not have to worry about the compatibility of smart home products, they can all be combined with each other. In which system you integrate them and with which voice assistant you want to control them, you can simply determine that yourself. So here are some curated advantages of Matter not being owned by a single company: Connects different connection types in one network without a bridge or hub Combines products from different smart home systems Choose your own smart home operating system Can continue to function without an internet connection Matter smart home protocol Now that we know who owns Matter and what the advantages are of not being owned by a single company. We have probably got your interest in the Matter protocol. Please feel free to look around on our website for more information on the protocol. We have a big article on the Matter protocol, which you can find here. For your convenience we will highlight the main features of the Matter protocol in this article. The new smart home protocol is essentially a network that connects different types of connections such as Bluetooth Low Energy, Thread, and Wi-Fi through IPv6 addresses. With Matter, all of these products that originally communicated in different ways can now all speak the same "language." And this can be done without the need for an additional bridge, hub, cloud service, or even internet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHsnjZPuqKM The Matter protocol aims to make it easy for users to connect and control all their smart home devices from one central location. It allows for the integration of different smart home systems and products, regardless of the protocol they use to communicate. This means that you can use products from different brands and manufacturers, and still be able to control them all with one app or voice assistant. Furthermore, Matter has built-in a certain standard of security (Security of Design), so that every message is encoded on the network and must be authenticated. This means that the communication between your smart home devices is secure and private, ensuring that only you have access to your device's data. Another important feature of Matter is that it uses the IPv6 protocol, which is future-proof and can handle a large number of devices. This means that as more and more devices are added to your smart home network, you won't have to worry about running out of IP addresses. In summary, Matter is a smart home protocol that aims to connect all your smart home devices, regardless of their brand or manufacturer, into one central network that can be controlled by one app or voice assistant. It is secure, private, future-proof, and does not require an internet connection. Matter is designed to make it easy for users to control their smart home devices and make them more efficient, secure and with a more satisfying user experience.