Matter, the home automation industry, implements the growth of its collaborations in the smart home sector. One of the most important is the one with Amazon, which has announced a massive update for the lineup of proprietary devices.
Matter and Amazon Alexa, the collaboration
The collaboration between Matter and Amazon Alexa has been announced. There are seventeen Amazon Echo devices that support the Matter standard and can be used as controllers, as announced by the company itself.
These include Echo Dot (5th generation), Echo Dot (5th generation) with clock, Echo (4th generation), Echo Dot (3rd generation, 2018 release), Echo Studio, Echo Show 8 (2nd generation, 2021 release), Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen), Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen, 2021 release), Echo Show 15, Echo Dot (Gen 3 with clock), Echo Dot (Gen 4 with clock), Echo Show 5, Echo (v3), Echo Dot Gen 4, Echo Input, Echo Flex and Echo Show 8.
The current limits of the use of devices
At the moment this collaboration is still partial and has limits, because for now the launch is limited only to those controlled with Android phones and smart sockets, light bulbs and switches. Apparently Thread and iOS support should be available next year along with support for the full range of Eero devices.
Matter, what is it
Matter, the new standard for home automation, aims to make all the connected devices already present in the house “cooperate”. In this way it allows the unification of all protocols.
Matterunlike the previous ones, is an open-source standard created by more than 200 companies which exploits existing technologies (Thread, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and ethernet) to allow our devices to communicate with each other locally, without presenting the need for a cloud.
What makes Matter unique is the fact that it is organized by the CSA (Connectivity Standards Alliance) which was previously called the Zigbee Alliance. Its board of directors includes the executives of Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Google, Huawei, IKEA, Lutron Electronics, Signify (in precedenza Philips Lighting), Silicon Labs, SmartThings and many other leading brands in the home automation sector.