The Thread Group, an industry alliance addressing IoT convergence, has announced the addition of Amazon to its Board of Directors.
Amazon’s increased backing of Thread Group further demonstrates its commitment to Matter, over both Thread and Wi-Fi, and to supporting a broad range of smart home protocols, which benefits both device makers and their customers.
“We’ve been a proud member of the Thread Group for the last five years, and I’m pleased to join the Board of Directors, continuing Amazon’s commitment to supporting a flexible, private, collaborative, and interoperable smart home,” says Gabe Kassel, principal product manager at Amazon.
“We believe Matter and Thread will improve interoperability and make it easier for customers to set up and automate their homes and, as a board member, I’m excited to drive further innovation in the smart home industry.”
With this appointment, Amazon will continue to advance Thread as a key technology supported by Matter, a unified IP-based connectivity protocol. Matter helps connect and build reliable, compatible and secure IoT ecosystems, enabling communications among a wide range of smart devices. Consumers can be assured that any device built on this standard is reliable, secure, and compatible.
According to the Thread Group, Amazon is dedicated to ensuring that customers can simply set up and use Alexa with as many smart home devices as possible. Supporting new industry standards such as Matter and Thread, in addition to existing protocols, is an important part of that effort. eero, an Amazon company that provides a whole-home mesh Wi-Fi system, already has millions of Thread border routers in homes around the world, including eero Pro, eero Beacon, eero Pro 6, and eero 6.
Amazon joins 12 existing member companies across the IoT ecosystem on the Thread Group’s Board of Directors, including other leading smart home and building technology providers such as Google and Apple.
“As one of the fastest-growing alliances, we are focused on ensuring responsive, robust, and secure smart home solutions,” comments Vividh Siddha, president of Thread Group.
“As such, we are committed to reducing industry fragmentation by working together closely with organizations across the IoT spectrum. Therefore, we’re thrilled that Amazon is increasing its commitment to the organization’s overall goal of establishing the widespread adoption of Thread technology in connected homes and buildings.”
More news from the Thread Group: Samsung SmartThings Introduces Matter Compatibility
