Matter Protocol Will Reduce Smart Home Fragmentation, Says CSA

The Matter protocol opens a door to new devices, controllers and platforms that will be compatible “out of the box” with an ecosystem of existing devices, blogged the Connectivity Standards Alliance Wednesday. Before Matter, building a smart home platform, controller or smart device required building interoperability with other devices and protocols, and the burden was on consumers to figure out which ones worked with each other. Matter will change that, CSA said. The core "multi-admin" feature will help reduce smart home fragmentation and limitations by allowing consumers to connect to multiple platforms, apps, or other control points, “so they can control them where and how they choose,” CSA said. Consumers own and use many apps and devices, and Matter devices can work with any of them at the same time without requiring users to choose a single controller, platform or app, it said. Matter doesn’t replace existing platforms but instead gives platform providers and device manufacturers a new, common language for communicating between devices locally and securely, it said. Matter’s “broad, unprecedented industry support” means smart home products with the Matter logo will work seamlessly with apps, assistants and platforms that support Matter -- alongside devices consumers already own, it said.