The IOT or home automation market has been desperate for a common standard for more than a decade, now there is one and it’s called Matter and it is set to make life difficult for brands such as Control 4 and their Snap AV business while allowing Amazon devices to be activated via the Google Home network.
Matter is an emerging smart home interoperability protocol that is being supported by the three big voice activation brands Google Amazon Alexa and Apple with their Siri speakers.
Already big brands such as Philips, Samsung via their SmartThings connectivity capability LG and even Facebook have got behind the new connectivity standard.
One example of the strength of Matter is that Amazon’s Echo smart speakers are about to get a lot smarter. An upgrade to Matter – an open-source standard platform will allow Alexa to also work with Google and several other voice assistants.
Matter is the new name for Project Connected Home over IP (or CHIP for short), and it’s set to become a key player in the home automation market eliminating the need for expensive and often proprietary systems such as Control 4.
One only has to look at the board make up to see that this standard has some fire power behind them with representatives from the likes of Amazon, Apple, ASSA ABLOY, Comcast, Google, Huawei, IKEA, Legrand, Lutron Electronics, NXP Semiconductors, Resideo, Schneider Electric, Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), Silicon Labs, SmartThings, Somfy, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, Tuya, and Wulian now on the new management team.
The big loser could be brands such as Control 4 whose products are expensive, proprietary and need a Control 4 driver to attach home automation gear such as TV’s air conditioning and lighting control to their network.
A Control 4 system also needs custom installer and recently the business has established Snap AV as a means to try and lock people into their network.
In 2019 Snap AV a supplier of A/V, surveillance, networking and remote management products for professionals, and Control4 Corporation merged.
The only problem is that when a Snap AV product such as an Onkyo receiver or a premium TV is integrated into their proprietary network they need a propriety Control 4 driver and upgrades are expensive.
This creates other problems especially when a brand upgrades their OS as in the case of a Samsung or Sony TV, Control 4 who started their business writing drivers is suddenly pushing the responsibility back to the brands to write new drivers to connect to their proprietary network and this is not only costly for Control 4 system users, but also for brands whose products operate on a Control 4 network.
With Matter this all goes away as there is no need for a costly control system.
supported by Apple, Google, Amazon and other major smart home players in the Connectivity Standards Alliance. These companies are now collaborating on the new platform with the goal of making all the best smart home devices work better together.
As a unifying connectivity certification, Matter will allow smart home devices from all different manufacturers to thrive in a singular ecosystem eliminating the need for a proprietary home automation network.
Many smart home devices can already cooperate with each other through Alexa, Google Assistant and other providers of multi-device smart home routines. But most users still require several apps to achieve their ideal settings and controls — and still, not all products will cooperate.
Matter will change this with thousands of devices able to talk to each other across a seamless home or business network.
You will start seeing Matter compliant products hit the market later this year they will include smart lights, smart locks, security cameras and IoT devices.
Smart home devices made by Apple, Google and Amazon will all work natively with Matter’s protocol.
That means speakers like the Apple HomePod Mini, Google Nest Audio and Amazon Echo (4th Gen) will be popular products for hands-free smart home control in a Matter system.
Already there are over 100 different companies committed to Matter support and more are being added to the list every day.
New smart home devices from these companies will feature a label touting Matter compatibility, the same way they might for Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant support.
Many existing smart home devices will be able to support Matter eliminating the need to replace a lot of the current products in homes today.
Google recently confirmed a number of the best Nest devices with Thread are ready to become “connection points for Matter devices” at Google I/O.
Matter eliminates the need to shop for compatible devices for the likes of Alexa or Google Home because they will in the future all be able to talk to each other.
compatible devices or any other assistant-specific product. Instead, any devices you purchase from a reputable smart home brand should simply be prepared to work together.
ChannelNews understands that there will be one Matter app to control all Matter devices.
