Zigbee Alliance, Thread Group Announce Dotdot Over Thread Certification

The Zigbee Alliance and Thread Group announced Dotdot over Thread certification, after completion of the Dotdot 1.0 specification. The integration of Dotdot over Thread “moves the industry forward by providing interoperability across different home networks through the Dotdot application framework,” said Parks Associates analyst Tom Kerber in a statement. Smart devices today “can struggle to deliver a seamless experience” when they speak different languages using different application layers, said the organizations. Dotdot over Thread is an open, common application layer that connects products from many different vendors and powers smart home products including Comcast Xfinity Home Security, Amazon's Echo Plus and the Echo Show, they said. Dotdot takes the universal device language and enables it to work over Thread’s low-power IP network -- extending it to applications that benefit from IP. With Dotdot, smart home vendors can “ensure the reliable user experiences needed to drive growth," while IP networking allows vendors to "maintain a direct connection to their device and an ongoing relationship with their customers,” they said. To accelerate time to market, the Zigbee Alliance leveraged the existing Thread commissioning mobile application and extended it to include application-level configuration of devices on a Thread network, which, along with an automated test harness, will help member companies speed Dotdot over Thread product development and facilitate preparation for the certification process.