Connectivity Standards Alliance Unveils ‘Matter’ for Smart Homes

The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), formerly known as the Zigbee Alliance, announced the ‘Matter’ formerly known as project CHIP – an interoperable, secure connectivity standard for the future of the smart home.

CSA is an organization of hundreds of companies creating, maintaining, and delivering open, global standards for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Smart objects should be reliable, secure, and work together – this is the shared vision behind Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP).

Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Google, SmartThings, and the Connectivity Standards Alliance came together in 2019 to develop and promote this new standard, joined by fellow Alliance board member companies.

Now, there are more than 180 Member organizations of all sizes, across a range of business categories, and over 1,700 Member individuals participating in bringing the Matter specification, reference implementations, testing tools and certification programs to life.

Matter is the unified IP-based connectivity protocol built on proven technologies, helping connect and build reliable, secure IoT ecosystems. This new technology and royalty-free connectivity standard enables communications among a wide range of smart devices. Matter is also a seal of approval, assuring that any object built on this standard is reliable by nature, secure by design, and compatible at scale.

Commenting on the launch, Tobin Richardson, President and CEO of the Connectivity Standards Alliance, said “we create marks of trust, and Matter is an important milestone for users in our long history of delivering unifying, secure, reliable and trustworthy standards for the IoT.”

“I’m very excited to unveil Matter as a foundational element in delivering a truly connected world,” Richardson added.

In early May, the feature-complete base specification was approved by the Matter Working Group. Reaching this milestone gives Members a definition of the major features to build out the open-source implementation and test the specification.

With this, the project is currently on track to see first devices through certification in late 2021, depending on manufacturer go-to-market plans. Devices targeted for launch include lighting and electrical, HVAC controls etc.