In the world of consumer electronics, where everyday people with little to no technical expertise routinely select, install and use connected devices, there are three words that consumers and developers both want to hear: “It just works.”
For consumers, “it just works” means there are fewer technical issues to consider before making a purchase. They know it’s easier to start enjoying the features promised on the box and that the device will work seamlessly over the life of its use thanks to OTA updates. Consumers can expect the initial install to be simple and straightforward, and there won’t be a series of surprises or complications when they add the new device to their home network or into the future.
For developers, “it just works” adds another layer of importance, since it means they don’t have to spend so much time resolving issues of interoperability, and can focus on differentiation. It also means fewer calls for their colleagues in customer service to deal with, since people have an easier time installing and using their new device.
Getting to “it just works” is what Matter , the standard for smart home interoperability from the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), is all about. Faced with a smart home market limited by the widespread number of proprietary or standard protocols, the founders of Matter took a different approach. In creating a unified connectivity standard, they used widely deployed standards for networks, protocols, security and device-communication semantics to address the market use cases.
The resulting Matter specification is a new approach that makes it easier for developers to create consumer-electronic (CE) devices that “just work,” so everyone — even people who aren’t “techies” — can enjoy the benefits of having smart, connected devices in their homes.
New to Matter? Read Bill Curtis' foundational paper, Matter - Making Smart Homes Smarter .
Matter has caught on quickly. Beyond the new standard’s ability to enable devices that “just work,” CE manufacturers are drawn to Matter because it lets them leverage what’s already in place, since Matter devices are interoperable with the Wi-Fi and Thread ecosystems already present in hundreds of millions of homes. By helping to eliminate the question of connectivity and whether a device will work with the in-place network or not, Matter lets CE manufacturers focus on new areas, beyond simple connectivity.
A long list of CE manufacturers have already embraced the new standard, working with remarkable speed to introduce Matter-certified products. To date, just over a year after the new specification’s introduction, there are already more than 1200 Matter-certified products.
At the same time, Matter is growing in popularity when artificial intelligence is making its way into more and more consumer devices. The combination of Matter and AI is an exciting combination. Developers can use Matter to simplify installation and configuration and be part of an interoperable smart home network and can use AI to add more meaningful options for controlling and monitoring the living environment.
Devices that build on Matter and AI at the edge are more autonomous, able to perform substantially more complex tasks with substantially reduced human intervention and higher security protections. Instead of managing and controlling individual domains, like lighting, HVAC, security or entertainment, autonomous devices built using Matter and AI can be configured to manage and control the home as a whole.
As more and more developers deploy AI on Matter-certified systems, consumers will be able to experience more dynamic, more responsive home environments. Living spaces will begin working behind the scenes to learn individual patterns, anticipate individual needs and make day-to-day activities more convenient, safer and more energy efficient.
To help the developers of CE devices use Matter to enter the autonomy era, we enlisted the help of Bill Curtis, an analyst specializing in Industrial IoT and IoT technology at Moor Insights & Strategy. Bill has been following the evolution of Matter since its earliest days and, as a tech evangelist, provides a unique perspective on what Matter means for developers.
Bill has already published two developer-centric papers for Matter, titled “Matter – Making Smart Homes Smarter,” and “Matter – Making Smart Home Smarter.” His latest paper, titled “Matter for CE Product Manufacturers” gives CE developers specific advice on how to use Matter to make practical, profitable smart home products that leverage new capabilities, including AI, to enable autonomous operation.
We think Bill’s latest paper is a valuable read for anyone in the smart home segment, especially developers, since it’s one of the first – if not the only – paper to look specifically at Matter from a CE perspective and to provide such a clear roadmap for CE development
Bill begins with a detailed look at the Matter architecture, from the top down, and highlights how CE manufacturers can add value as connectivity becomes standardized. Then he looks at the transformative effects Matter can be expected to have on the smart home marketplace and recommends appropriate CE product strategies for moving toward autonomy.
Bill also suggests specific development platforms, so CE manufacturers can save time when developing standards-based products with differentiated features. He lists best practices for manufacturing Matter products, shows how platform suppliers can streamline the consumer-product supply chain and ends by addressing commonly asked questions about transitioning to a Matter-based product strategy.
In his previous papers, Bill has written that NXP has “all the right ingredients” for Matter. He points to the fact that we not only helped define the Matter specification but are also “one of the first semiconductor companies to offer Matter-certified platforms with all the silicon, software, reference designs and services customers need to build and deploy secure products.”
In this current paper , written with CE manufacturers in mind, Bill highlights the specific platforms and development solutions in NXP’s Matter portfolio that can help CE developers save time when delivering differentiated products. He discusses the platforms that enable infrastructure devices, including controllers, bridges and routers, and those that enable a full range of end nodes, from small, battery-powered devices for monitoring to MCU/MPU-based devices for more advanced functionality and higher demands for connectivity and bandwidth.
We agree with Bill that Matter is essential for the next generation of smart home use cases and think he is right to say that Matter will help add customer value by making it easier to create smarter, AI-enabled and increasingly autonomous applications. We’re also pleased that Bill recognizes NXP’s deep commitment to Matter and the work we’re doing to create off-the-shelf Matter platforms that make the development of advanced AI-enabled edge applications more practical.
As mentioned above, this latest paper from Bill on Matter for CE Manufacturers is the third in a continuing series on Matter, and joins the two papers he wrote last year, focusing on security and autonomy:
We anticipate more from Bill in 2024 and will alert you when he’s published more about Matter. In the meantime, we recommend all three of his published papers and invite you to discover more about how NXP supports Matter by visiting Matter Research.
Sujata Neidig has over 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry and is currently Director of Marketing for Wireless Connectivity where she drives product marketing and standards efforts for IoT connectivity. She also represents NXP on the Thread Group and Connectivity Standards Alliance’s Board of Directors as well as serving as Thread Group’s VP of Marketing. She is based in Austin, TX.