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The article talks about how Matter will save everything. What the heck? Don't we already have zigbee and Z-wave that work fine? Why do we need another communica

The article talks about how Matter will save everything. What the heck? Don't we already have zigbee and Z-wave that work fine? Why do we need another communications protocol?

bluGill 4y ago
https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/
neilalexander 4y ago
Matter isn't special for any other reason other than that it's the first time so many manufacturers of smart home products have actually decided to talk to each other when designing a protocol.
tristanperry 4y ago
It is 'yet another' standard yes, but it's worth pointing out that Matter was jointly launched by the ZigBee Alliance (who now call themselves the Connectivity Standards Alliance). So it's not exactly a rival to ZigBee at least. Z-Wave are going a different direction though, and I wouldn't be surprised if Z-Wave slips into obscurity over the next decade.
- Terretta 4y ago
  Agree, this purports to not be “yet another”, but the one that converges. Oversimplified, Thread is already an IP mesh on Zigbee hardware, and Matter is a device/app protocol on top of IP. “To simplify adoption, Matter will start as an application layer on top of existing IP technologies, including ethernet, Wi-Fi, Thread, and Bluetooth (for device provisioning). This means Matter is not reinventing the wheel; it’s adding better technology to the highways our smart homes are driving on.” https://www.theverge.com/22787729/matter-smart-home-standard-apple-amazon-google https://www.theverge.com/22787729/matter-smart-home-standard... I like that article as a casual overview, which also references “What matters about Matter”, an ‘explainer’ and a ‘living FAQ’: https://www.theverge.com/22832127/matter-smart-home-products-thread-wifi-explainer https://www.theverge.com/22832127/matter-smart-home-products...
kkfx 4y ago
> Why do we need another communications protocol? Because we need reliable devices, so wired protocols... We have ModBus and MQTT witch works enough BUT we also have very few devices able to talk them. We have almost nothing well done "intelligence side" so to really create a smart home, the sole FLOSS alive is Home Assistant witch work but it's far from deserve a good award and most IoT stuff are just classic stuff with some bolted pre-made-by-third-parties "smartness" that in the end result in too limited flexibility to be of real use.

The article talks about how Matter will save everything. What the heck? Don't we already have zigbee and Z-wave that work fine? Why do we need another communications protocol?

bluGill 4y ago

https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/

neilalexander 4y ago

Matter isn't special for any other reason other than that it's the first time so many manufacturers of smart home products have actually decided to talk to each other when designing a protocol.

tristanperry 4y ago

It is 'yet another' standard yes, but it's worth pointing out that Matter was jointly launched by the ZigBee Alliance (who now call themselves the Connectivity Standards Alliance). So it's not exactly a rival to ZigBee at least. Z-Wave are going a different direction though, and I wouldn't be surprised if Z-Wave slips into obscurity over the next decade.

Terretta 4y ago
Agree, this purports to not be “yet another”, but the one that converges. Oversimplified, Thread is already an IP mesh on Zigbee hardware, and Matter is a device/app protocol on top of IP. “To simplify adoption, Matter will start as an application layer on top of existing IP technologies, including ethernet, Wi-Fi, Thread, and Bluetooth (for device provisioning). This means Matter is not reinventing the wheel; it’s adding better technology to the highways our smart homes are driving on.” https://www.theverge.com/22787729/matter-smart-home-standard-apple-amazon-google https://www.theverge.com/22787729/matter-smart-home-standard... I like that article as a casual overview, which also references “What matters about Matter”, an ‘explainer’ and a ‘living FAQ’: https://www.theverge.com/22832127/matter-smart-home-products-thread-wifi-explainer https://www.theverge.com/22832127/matter-smart-home-products...

kkfx 4y ago

> Why do we need another communications protocol? Because we need reliable devices, so wired protocols... We have ModBus and MQTT witch works enough BUT we also have very few devices able to talk them. We have almost nothing well done "intelligence side" so to really create a smart home, the sole FLOSS alive is Home Assistant witch work but it's far from deserve a good award and most IoT stuff are just classic stuff with some bolted pre-made-by-third-parties "smartness" that in the end result in too limited flexibility to be of real use.