The Zigbee Alliance has announced its organisational rebrand to the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), as well as launching a second brand called Matter, formerly known as the Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP), building on the future of reliable connectivity.
The Alliance will continue developing Zigbee technology and will retain the Zigbee technology brand. The newly developed Matter brand will assure that any object built on this standard is reliable by nature, secure by design, and compatible at scale.
For the past 20 years, the Alliance has been operating as a global, open standards organisation, expanding in scale, scope and impact to simplify and harmonise the IoT, from its founding technology, Zigbee, to its most recent IP-based standard, Matter.
Connected objects enables us to experience multiple environments in cohesive, interactive ways, whether it be the home, office, factory or hospital. But, for too long, disconnected platforms and disparate development paths have caused confusion for consumers and complicated processes for developers and innovators. Smart objects should be reliable, secure, and work together – this is the shared vision behind the new standard, Matter.
Formed in 2019, Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Google, SmartThings, and the Connectivity Standards Alliance came together to develop and promote this new standard, joined by fellow Alliance board member companies, IKEA, Legrand, NXP Semiconductors, Resideo, Schneider Electric, Signify, Silicon Labs, Somfy, and Wulian. This has now developed even further with more than 180 member organisations of all sizes, across a range of business categories, and over 1,700 member individuals participating in bringing the Matter specification, reference implementation, testing tools and certification programmes to life.
Matter joins the Alliance’s growing portfolio of connectivity standards, including specialised protocols like Smart Energy, Green Power, rf4ce, and others. The Alliance’s technologies are built around openness principles, a common data model, and the expertise of member companies from across the industry. With this, the Alliance is elevating its brand identity to better align with this role in shaping the future of the IoT by creating worldwide standard that impact the market.
Last year was a record-breaking year for the Alliance, with over 560 Zigbee technology devices certified, an increase of more than 30% from the previous year. So far, over half a billion Zigbee chipsets have been sold and nearly four billion are expected to ship by 2023. Consumer and commercial expectations for connected experiences and solutions continue to grow and has reflected in Q1 2021 certifications which exceeded Q1 2020 by more than 50%. With the ongoing evolution of the Zigbee standard and device certifications further increasing with the addition of Matter devices later this year, this growing trend is expected to continue.
“This year is historic for the Alliance as our growth and efforts flourish with the demand for smart home and building connectivity,” said Tobin Richardson, president and CEO of the CSA. “It’s the perfect time to both unveil our new brand, positioning the Alliance as the home for collaboration and development of IoT standards with our members, and launch these trusted marks recognisable by the market we collectively serve.”