CommScope’s PKIWorks IoT security platform has been integrated with the ST Microelectronics STM32WB microcontroller unit (MCU) to offer device manufacturers a turnkey way to develop IoT devices that meet the Matter standard for security.

The combination simplifies secure Matter-device-credentials development and provisioning, in addition to reducing costs and time for IoT device manufacturers. With this integration, devices can be commissioned at the MCU level without developer intervention.

This collaboration harnesses 35 years of experience from the CommScope Sentry team securely integrating cryptographic keys and digital certificates into high-volume manufacturing production with STM’s expertise in microcontrollers and development ecosystem.

“STM is committed to making Matter development seamless for all device makers,” said Nathalie Vallespin, product line manager at Swiss firm ST Microelectronics (www.st.com). “Our number-one ranking for general-purpose microcontrollers and expertise in secure elements positions us to combine our deep understanding of device-makers’ challenges and strong knowledge of Matter to create unique collaborations like this one with CommScope. This will accelerate the adoption of Matter development through an easy and secure process for credential provisioning.”

Bart Giordano, president of networking at North Carolina-based CommScope (www.commscope.com), added: “By integrating the CommScope Sentry PKIWorks platform with STM’s popular MCU platform, we’re offering our customers a turnkey option to alleviate the challenges of Matter adoption, while handling the complexity, scale and cost. CommScope and STM have a long-standing collaborative relationship, making it easy to meet growing demand for new Matter IoT devices with the expertise of two industry leaders with decades of experience at the forefront of digital security, semiconductors and device manufacturing.”

PKIWorks is a secure and flexible credential provisioning and management platform, refined over decades of experience and billions of device credentials. It is now optimised for creating and delivering Matter device credentials, providing a fast track for manufacturers of all IoT devices to provide security and interoperability with the burgeoning Matter ecosystem.

The PKIWorks platform leverages CommScope’s expertise in provisioning clients for device credential installation, particularly on resource-constrained IoT devices. These clients enable the support of a range of STM32 MCUs and STSafe-A. CommScope recently integrated this lightweight provisioning client with the STM32WB55, an MCU for IoT device development and STM’s microcontroller of choice for Matter devices.

Announced in October 2022, the Matter specifications and certification programmes are the result of a collaboration involving more than 600 technology companies under the auspices of the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). Matter makes smart home devices interoperable while improving and standardising security across suppliers and IoT ecosystems.

PKIWorks can generate over 30 billion device credentials annually and is designed to scale to even greater capacity, providing a solid foundation for future expansion. The platform generates Matter device credentials for a wide spectrum of IoT manufacturers and service providers, using the CSA-approved root of trust and the CommScope Product Attestation Authority (PAA).

The PKIWorks provisioning client can install various types of device credentials to STM32 and STSafe-A, including the STM32WB55 microcontroller designed specifically for Matter devices. The STM32WB55 Matter SDK integration enables Matter commissioning without the need for additional integration effort from device makers.