Thread Releases Open-Source Version To Expand Smart Home Reach

The Thread Group released OpenThread Wednesday to make technology at the heart of Nest products more broadly available to smart home device and product developers. “As more silicon providers adopt Thread, manufacturers will have the option of using a proven networking technology rather than creating their own, and consumers will have a growing selection of secure and reliable connected products to choose from,” the company said. Thread connects products in and around the home into low-power, wireless mesh networks and “makes it possible for devices to simply, securely, and reliably connect to each other and to the cloud,” said Greg Hu, head of Nest Platform and Works with Nest. As an IPv6 networking protocol built on open standards, Thread allows existing 802.15.4 wireless devices on the market to be updated to run over the network, Hu said. NPD analyst Stephen Baker was cautious on the news, calling it “better than before” for the standardless smart home market but “still not tremendous.” It’s still early in the smart home industry and “the progression towards having everything work together will take a while,” he said. The relatively low cost of smart home products makes it easy for consumers to “replace things that don’t play nicely with whatever ends up being the premium linking technologies,” Baker said. A concern, though, is how the release of OpenThread will affect wireless technology issues that could “delay implementation and consumer sales pickup.” Thread is backed by 230 companies including ARM, Big Ass Solutions, Nest Labs, NXP Semiconductors, Osram, Qualcomm, Samsung, Schneider Electric, Silicon Labs, Somfy, Tyco and Yale Security. Thirty products have been submitted for Thread certification and, in addition to Nest products, several devices including Google’s OnHub router are shipping with Thread-ready radios, Thread said. Existing application protocols and IoT platforms including Nest Weave and ZigBee can run over Thread networks for interoperable, end-to-end connectivity, it said. The initial version of OpenThread is being distributed by Nest on GitHub. OpenThread will be demo'd in the Nest Sandbox at Google I/O May 18-20 in Mountain View, California.