[November 08, 2017] |
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Thread Group Sees Strong Adoption for Networking Protocol Across IoT Ecosystem
Today, the Thread
Group announced significant progress in market adoption of the
Thread networking protocol. Adding to the eight Thread
certified components currently available, the certification pipeline
is full with devices from across the IoT ecosystem, including a number
of end-products slated to be in the market by the end of the year. To
further address the industry-wide demand for a mesh networking protocol
that works, and can be deployed today, Thread has added four new test
labs sites internationally, and expanded the test program to include the
"Thread Ready" designation for specific applications.
The Thread Group certification team is actively collaborating with more
than 20 member companies across a wide range of verticals, and preparing
each application to meet all the interoperability requirements to pass
certification. The variety reflected by the eight Thread certified
components available in the market today indicates strong demand for
pre-certified components industry-wide. This also points to a future
wave of Thread-enabled end products, as the components are the first
building blocks essential to development. These components include:
The Thread Group also has a robust certification pipeline, with more
than ten additional end products currently undergoing testing and
expected to achieve certification by the end of 2017. Specifically, eero
is pursuing Thread certification for the devices in their latest mesh
Wi-Fi system, and Legrand plans to introduce Thread certified products,
and will share more detail shortly.
"Our members are reporting strong demand for Thread, which is
corroborated by our active testing pipeline," said Grant Erickson,
president of the Thread Group. "Companies are pursuing a number of use
cases - from high-end controllers for the home, to commercial settings
where IT teams need reliable connectivity with their building management
systems, which Thread's IP-based protocol ensures. The buzz behind the
scenes is exciting, and we've scaled our testing operations accordingly."
New Global Test Labs To accommodate the strong demand for
Thread certification globally, and to expedite the testing process, the
Thread Group recently expanded its authorized facilities to six
laboratories across four different countries, including the U.S., United
Kingdom, Germany and Taiwan. UL
was the Thread Group's sole testing partner at launch, and the
organization has recently started working with UL's Taiwan lab, in
addition to locations in the U.S. and Europe. Further, the Thread Group
recently designated TÜV
Rheinland and 7layers,
a Bureau
Veritas Group company, as official authorized testing labs for
Thread products, giving members the flexibility to leverage both
companies' IoT testing facilities in the U.S., Europe and several
locations across Asia.
Thread Ready Program To further boost market adoption of
Thread-based solutions, Thread released a second formal recognition
program of Thread technology implementations called "Thread Ready."
Thread Ready brings the validation and credibility of Thread's rigorous
testing to devices that meet the core requirements of the specification,
but don't require or use the full scope of the Thread certified product
envelope. Specifically, Thread Ready recognizes products that are either
part of a private or closed ecosystem, or are otherwise
resource-constrained by legacy components that can't support the full
feature set required for the full Thread-certified Product designation.
The Thread Group's board of directors reviews each Thread Ready
application for this time-bound designation to ensure there is a path to
full Thread adoption.
The new Nest
Detect and Nest
Guard devices from the Nest Secure home security family are the
first examples of Thread Ready end products.
Strategic Liaison with KNX The Thread Group has continued to
build relationships with other leading industry alliances, including a
new liaison with KNX. The two groups have partnered to begin the work on
incorporating Thread's IP-based networking layer with KNX's
well-established and interoperable application layer that will address
use cases in the commercial building domain.
About The Thread Group The non-profit Thread Group is
focused on making Thread the foundation for the internet of things in
the home and beyond by educating product developers, builders and
consumers on the unique features and benefits of Thread and ensuring a
positive experience through rigorous, meaningful product certification.
Thread is backed by industry-leading companies including Arm, Johnson
Controls, Nest Labs, NXP® Semiconductors, OSRAM, Qualcomm, Schneider
Electric, Silicon Labs (News - Alert), Somfy, and Yale Security. Since opening its
membership in October 2014, companies from around the world and across
all aspects of the expansive and connected technology sector have joined
the Thread Group to create the very best way to connect and control
devices. For more information, please visit http://www.threadgroup.org.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171108005608/en/
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