What is the 'Matter Standard' and what does it mean for integrators and the automated home.

For those of us carefully attuned to what's happening in the smart home world, a new connectivity standard is getting a lot of attention in the industry. It's called the Matter standard and promises to help manufacturers and households make various smart home appliances and devices work well together.

What Is the Matter Standard?

The Matter standard is a unifying standard for digital and wireless devices. It was developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance and formerly promoted under the name Project Connected Home over IP or CHIP.

Older standards like Zigbee were instrumental in fostering the vision of connected home appliances. The Matter standard has the potential to get everyone around the same table and help manufacturers create consistent standards, which will be great for sellers and buyers.

How does the Matter Standard Work?

Project documentation shows that the Matter standard is IP-based. That means it can work over a system of mapping where devices and appliances have their own IP addresses. However, project engineers also specify that right now, Matter works over low-energy Bluetooth connections. Insiders point out that that might change in the future.

Where Are We with the Matter Standard?

As of October 4 of this year, the Matter standard for home automation is officially active. Devices and appliances can be built this way, with the standard in place, and manufacturers can look to retool their assembly lines accordingly.

Big Tech On Board

One of the most significant examples of the potential for the Matter standard has to do with the technology group known in the American stock market as FAANG: or in other words, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google.

At least three of these manufacturers are suggesting that they will make their product lines consistent with the Matter standard. That means that home automation Apple and Google devices will talk with each other seamlessly, and Amazon's diverse product line will also be consistently connected through the Matter standard.

Beyond the ‘big tech’ players, the concept of the ‘Matter Standard’ has also spurred  mainstays in the home automation industry to participate. Companies like Crestron, Control4 and Lutron have made the concerted effort to play a supporting role in it’s development.

How Do I Find Matter Standard Products?

The Matter standard will be a certification for smart home devices and appliances. Look for it in product documentation and specs. You'll see it quickly become more popular as makers sign on.

What It Means for Smart Home People

Innovators and smart home fans are excited about using the Matter standard. It means that as you plan your design with the functionality you want, you'll know that you will have a consistent device standard. You won't need as many different adaptive techniques and methods of fitting devices together because they will all be based on one universal connectivity standard. That's a big part of moving the ball forward in smart home design in this decade.

‍

‍

‍