Tech Titans join hands to make smart home devices speak to each other

According to a joint statement released recently, the technology giants Amazon, Apple, Google and Zigbee alliance, have decided to team up for a group called ‘Project Connected Home over IP‘ (or CHIP). It seeks to meet, discuss and create an open source standard designed to increase compatibility across their devices, to simplify home automation connectivity and make it more secure, reliable, and seamless to use.

Crux of the Matter

1. This major step comes after all of the above stated companies were facing accusations of security concerns surrounding their products. The IoT concept involved in this project is planned to be implemented, such that it prevents the cybercriminals from accessing the user’s connected devices, via leakage of one.

2. Nik Sathe from Google Nest says that while smart home devices are abundant, the lack of an industry-wide connectivity standard leaves people confused and frustrated and manufacturers agitated to ensure compatibility of all devices with each other.

3. The project is meant to guarantee that any supported smart home devices bought by the user will work together, regardless of the smartphone or voice assistant used. The new protocol will be built off the back of Amazon’s Alexa Smart Home, Apple’s HomeKit, Google’s Weave and Zigbee Alliance’s Dotdot technologies and would work with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Apple’s Siri.

4. The initial draft of the plan is intended to be released officially in late 2020.

Curiopedia

IoT is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. In the consumer market, it is most synonymous with products pertaining to the concept of the “smart home”, covering devices and appliances that support one or more common ecosystems, and can be controlled via devices associated with that ecosystem, such as smartphones and smart speakers. More Info

Curated Coverage

1. TechCrunch – Amazon, Apple, Google and Zigbee join forces for an open smart home standard

2. MIT Technology Review – Amazon, Apple and Google joining forces could be what makes smart homes happen

3. DailyMail – Amazon, Apple and Google join forces to make their home products ‘speak to each other’ to make smart homes a reality

#CHIP #IoT #smarthome