IKEA Ditches Zigbee For Thread Going All In On Matter Smart Homes (theverge.com) 19
IKEA is relaunching its smart home line with over 20 new Matter-over-Thread devices that will work across ecosystems such as Apple Home and Amazon Alexa, with or without IKEA's own hub. This marks a major shift toward openness, affordability, and interoperability, and positions IKEA as one of the first major retailers to bring Matter to the mainstream while maintaining backward compatibility with Zigbee products. The Verge reports: We don't have a lot of details on the over 20 new devices coming next year, but [David Granath of IKEA of Sweden] confirmed that they are replacing existing functions. So, new smart bulbs, plugs, sensors, remotes, buttons, and air-quality devices, including temperature and humidity monitors. They will also come with a new design. Although "not necessarily what's been leaked," says Granath, referring to images of the Bilresa Dual Button that appeared earlier this year. He did confirm that some new product categories will arrive in January, with more to follow in April and beyond, including potentially Matter-over-Wi-Fi products. Pricing will be comparable to or lower than that of previous products, which start under $10. "Affordability remains a key priority for us."
"The premium to make a product smart is not that high anymore, so you can expect new product types and form factors coming," he says. "Matter unlocks interoperability, ease of use, and affordability for us. The standardization process means more companies are sharing the workload of developing for this." Despite the move away from Zigbee, IKEA is keeping Zigbee's Touchlink functionality. This point-to-point protocol allows devices to be paired directly to each other and work together out of the box, without an app or hub -- such as the bulb and remote bundles IKEA sells. This means older Zigbee remotes can control the newer Thread bulbs and vice versa, retaining backward compatibility with its Tradfri line. "Touchlink and Matter will coexist in new products," says Granath. "It's still very important for IKEA -- not everyone wants an app or hub."
Interestingly, IKEA's new Matter-over-Thread products will also work without the IKEA hub or app, as they can be set up directly in any compatible Matter smart home ecosystem, such as Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, Home Assistant, and others.
"The premium to make a product smart is not that high anymore, so you can expect new product types and form factors coming," he says. "Matter unlocks interoperability, ease of use, and affordability for us. The standardization process means more companies are sharing the workload of developing for this." Despite the move away from Zigbee, IKEA is keeping Zigbee's Touchlink functionality. This point-to-point protocol allows devices to be paired directly to each other and work together out of the box, without an app or hub -- such as the bulb and remote bundles IKEA sells. This means older Zigbee remotes can control the newer Thread bulbs and vice versa, retaining backward compatibility with its Tradfri line. "Touchlink and Matter will coexist in new products," says Granath. "It's still very important for IKEA -- not everyone wants an app or hub."
Interestingly, IKEA's new Matter-over-Thread products will also work without the IKEA hub or app, as they can be set up directly in any compatible Matter smart home ecosystem, such as Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, Home Assistant, and others.
No (Score:2)
The answer is still - *no*
Cheap furniture but quality IOT? (Score:1)
...Unlikely. I don't want Putin controlling my massage chair, Thank You.
Re: (Score:2)
Putin is not the ruler of Sweden
Yet.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
...Unlikely. I don't want Putin controlling my massage chair, Thank You.
So don't connect it to the internet! It is right above in the summary - these things can talk directly to one another.
You can even run a server at home, making it easy to add smarts, all isolated from the internet if you like.
Unlike wifi devices such as Tuya which generally require an internet connection and remote server to work.
Perhaps we need to rename in LANoT for you?
Thread good (Score:5, Interesting)
Sounds good. Thread is available for anyone and is a mesh, so the more you deploy, the healthier the network becomes. Matter gives actual security, not "you can't easily get to the network so we assume it's safe". And it all works locally, without needing to talk outside your house. Plus, matter + thread controllers/routers are available in all Amazon/Apple/Google controllers, so you don't need Yet More Random Devices to make things work.
If you don't want smart devices in your house, no worries. Please stop moaning and whining every time they are mentioned; we know. And the world has so many real problems that we don't have the bandwidth to listen to problems solved by "well, I won't install any and I'll shut the fuck up." But if you do want convenient control over your house, and are willing to trade off some security for some functionality, this is an improvement.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Apparently you don't because they are the largest threat on the internet and yet people like you keep buying them.
Zigbee and Thread are local-only networking protocols. There is no mechanism for Zigbee or Thread devices to communicate to the internet. They can talk locally to a device that's connected to the internet, but they can't directly connect to the internet any more than your USB keyboard can. Actually less than that, since USB networking is a thing, although unlikely to be supported by any keyboard.
Re: (Score:3)
they are the largest threat on the internet
Tell us you don't know about Matter and Threads without telling us. Hint: The internet has nothing to do with it. These devices don't connect to the internet. You need a specific and completely optional bridging device for that, and then that bridging device is the only threat.
Zigbee sucks... (Score:2)
I have mixed reviews of Zigbee. It sorta works, but doesn't like stucco walls. But at least it's not Internet addressable. Once you've moved to something running IPv6, you might as well just throw things on WiFi.
T
Re: (Score:2)
I know it doesn't taste the same as the wall candy from your childhood, but maybe you should have gone with the lead-free stucco.
Re: (Score:2)
Addressable does not mean accessible.
IPv6 has link-local addresses which are unroutable outside of the local segment. Plus firewalls and VLANs exist so you can limit access however you want.
This is a _LOT_ better than the typical device that connects to someone else's hosted server that you have absolutely no control over.
Huh Apple already there? (Score:2)
Do not do it (Score:1)
All this "smart home" tech has nowhere even remotely the lifetime of an average house.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Do not do it (Score:4)
Who cares. Nothing in the house has the lifetime of a house. People are constantly renovating and rebuilding, repainting, replacing lightbulbs, changing fittings, replacing entire bathrooms and kitchens every decade or two.
No one is expecting any of this stuff to last the lifetime of the structure. The only part of a house that is expected to last the lifetime of an average house is the external walls and supporting internal walls. Yes I didn't mention the roof for a reason, that also has a limited lifetime compared to the average house.
Stop being unreasonable.
"Interestingly" (Score:3)
What the heck is "interestingly" about the devices not requiring an IKEA hub. That was THE WHOLE POINT OF MATTER AND THREADS! Being device and vendor agnostic is the whole purpose Matter and Threads exists. This isn't an interesting feature, it's an essential minimum requirement for adopting the standard.