What was the Matter at CES?

  • January 12, 2022
  • Steve Rogerson

The smart-home standard Matter was one of the stars of last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with major announcements by a number of players, including Amazon, which now seems to be taking it to heart.

Matter is a connectivity standard built around a belief that smart home devices should be seamlessly interoperable, secure and reliable.

Amazon wants to make it easier for developers and partners to build across multiple device standards and protocols including Matter, and integrate deeply with Amazon’s Alexa-enabled products.

Last year, it announced that Matter was coming to most Echo devices. This includes most Echo, Echo Dots, Echo Plus, Echo Studio and Echo Show devices.

“We wanted to make sure that we are ready when you are, to enable your customers to control your Matter devices with their voice from their Echos,” said Manisha Talwar, senior product marketing manager at Amazon.

European chip makers Infineon and NXP were also showing their Matter credentials.

German electronics company Infineon launched the Airoc Bluetooth LE and 802.15.4 family to help companies bring low-power, high-performing Matter products to market.

The CYW30739 system on chip (SoC) is a secure and scalable device to connect low-power devices in a smart home. The combination of Bluetooth LE and 802.15.4 protocols can enhance the performance of smart home products with seamless interoperability, while enabling end-to-end encrypted communication between individual devices in a Matter network.

Sonal Chandrasekharan, vice president at Infineon, said: “Infineon is excited to enter this market with Matter-ready products across our wireless portfolio.”

Dutch electronics company NXP Semiconductors announced what is claimed to be the industry’s first secure tri-radio device to support the Wifi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and 802.15.4 protocols. The IW612 enables seamless, secure connectivity for smart home, automotive and industrial use cases, and supports the Matter connectivity protocol.

Larry Olivas, vice president of NXP Semiconductors, said: “From door locks and smart speakers to in-vehicle entertainment and telematics, products can now benefit from our tri-radio that addresses multiple technologies and ecosystems, including Matter.”

Wemo, the home automation and IoT brand from California-based Belkin, announced a smart video doorbell and redesigned smart plugs and lighting with support for Matter over Thread. This, it said, was part of its commitment to creating a seamless smart home future with fortified security, and without third-party apps. The doorbell is available to order now with the suite of products built to support Matter over Thread coming in the summer.

“We are thrilled to have members like Belkin adopting Matter and are excited at the prospect of seeing Matter-enabled products under the Wemo brand come to market with the launch of our specification and certification programmes,” said Jon Harros, director of certification at the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which oversees Matter.

Smart home security brand Arlo Technologies announced its support for Matter by participating in the development of the open-source standard, enhancing its ability to provide an integrated smart home security experience.

“We’re thrilled to affirm our partnership with Matter and be at the forefront of guiding the specification as it takes shape,” said Tejas Shah, chief information officer at California-based Arlo. “Innovation is at the core of Arlo’s DNA. Collaboration with Matter members to advance the integration between IoT devices – ultimately delivering home security that is highly intuitive, secure and simple to use – is the driving force behind our commitment.”