The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has announced the release of the Matter 1.0 specification and the opening of the Matter certification programme.
Formed in 2019, companies including Apple, Amazon, Google and Samsung joined the Zigbee Alliance – now known as the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) – to create the ‘Connected Home over IP’ project, also known as ‘Project CHIP’. This has now been rebranded as ‘Matter’ and over 280 companies are now involved and backing the new standard.
According to CSA, Matter is built around a shared belief that smart home devices should be secure, reliable and seamless to use. By building upon IP, Matter will enable communication across smart home devices, mobile apps, and cloud services, and define a specific set of IP-based networking technologies for device specification.
As part of the Matter 1.0 release, authorised test labs are open for product certification, the test harnesses and tools are available, and the open-source reference design software development kit (SDK) is complete – all to bring new, innovative products to market. Alliance members with devices already deployed and with plans to update their products to support Matter can now do so, once their products are certified.
“What started as a mission to unravel the complexities of connectivity has resulted in Matter, a single, global IP-based protocol that will fundamentally change the IoT,” said Tobin Richardson, president and CEO of the Connectivity Standards Alliance. “This release is the first step on a journey our community and the industry are taking to make the IoT more simple, secure, and valuable no matter who you are or where you live. With global support from companies large and small, today’s Matter 1.0 release is more than a milestone for our organisation and our members; it is a celebration of what is possible.”
Over 280 member companies have brought their technologies, experience, and innovation together to ensure Matter met the needs of all stakeholders including users, product makers, and platforms. Collectively, these companies led the way through requirements and specification development, reference design, multiple test events and final specification validation to reach this industry milestone.
More than just a specification, the Matter 1.0 standard launches with test cases and comprehensive test tools for Alliance members and a global certification programme, including eight authorised test labs who are primed to test not only Matter, but also Matter’s underlying network technologies, Wi-Fi and Thread.
Wi-Fi enables Matter devices to interact over a high-bandwidth local network and allows smart home devices to communicate with the cloud. Thread provides an energy efficient and highly reliable mesh network within the home. Both the Wi-Fi Alliance and Thread Group partnered with the CSA to help realise the complete vision of Matter.
The standard is also striking new ground with security policies and processes using distributed ledger technology and Public Key Infrastructure to validate device certification and provenance. This will help to ensure users are connecting authentic, certified, and up-to-date devices to their homes and networks.
This initial release of Matter, running over Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Thread and using Bluetooth Low Energy for device commissioning, will support various common smart home products, such as lighting and electrical, HVAC control, window coverings and shades, safety and security sensors, door locks, media devices including TVs, controllers as both devices and applications, and bridges.
To learn more about this specification, you can read our recent feature about why Matter matters here.