The Smart Home Of The Future: Where is Matter, the Next Smart Home Standard? The specification still has the sense of a theory. It doesn’t help that another delay is on the horizon.
Even with Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung, and all the other smart home heavyweights behind Matter. It’s not easy to push through a new specification for an entire industry that’s already in motion. The standard was supposed to be released in late 2020. However, it was pushed back to mid-2021 when Project CHIP was renamed, Matter. The date was then pushed back to the middle of this year. According to the most recent development report, we won’t see any Matter devices until at least the fall of 2022.
CSA – Connectivity Standards Alliance
The Connectivity Standards Alliance, or CSA, explained the delay on its official blog. Following CES 2022. The CSA and its members “looked at what was left to do” and realized there were still a few wrinkles to iron out.
“We’re extending our testing and validation events to further improve code quality and stability while also accommodating the variety of Matter devices and platforms,” says the CSA. The extra time should assist Matter-capable device producers to improve their software development kit or SDK.
The CSA implies that a “greater pipeline of matter-enabled devices” will be ready at launch if the delay is beneficial. This extra time will enable the construction of a “strong supply chain” of development platforms for additional devices and device categories—the CSA specifically cites “more than 16 development platforms.” It also implies that gadget manufacturers will not have to hurry out software to support Matter.
This spring, a ninth test event will be held before the final Matter Specification Validation Event (SVE) scheduled for the summer. The validation event, in particular, will be the “most sophisticated and largest ever.” More than 130 gadgets, comprising 15 device categories and sensor types. Including smart lamps and TVs, are expected from more than 50 firms. Once the specification is finished and publicized, firms exhibiting in the first wave will be able to apply for Matter certification and begin distributing their products to consumers.
