Matter
The rollout of the first certifications for smart home standard Matter — formerly called “Project Connected Home over IP” or “CHIP” — has been delayed until 2022, according to a blog post by Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) CEO Tobin Richardson.
The Matter standard is supported by Apple, Google, Amazon and many other major players in the smart home industry. Among other things, it tried to ensure that devices from different companies that use different technologies (such as Wi-Fi or Zigbee) could work together reliably in one way or another.
We discussed the details of the technologies used in the standard when it was first announced in 2019. It was previously scheduled to arrive before the end of 2021. This isn’t the first time the standard has been delayed, though; it was originally scheduled for late 2020.
Richardson wrote that Matter has a feature-complete specification, “meaning that the final feature set and supported use cases have been ratified by the Matter Working Group” and that more than 200 companies are now committed to the standard. The next phase is “building out device type support, testing, refining and of course SDK development.”
But he went on to write that the SDK will now arrive in 1H 2022 instead of 2H 2021:
In May of this year, we saw a development trajectory with the first devices through certification by the end of the year in 2021. With the completion of several testing events and forecasting, our members have updated the schedule to reflect a commitment to ensure ensure the SDK, and related tools, are ready to meet market expectations when launched and enable a large ecosystem of interoperable Matter products. Our refined plans include continued SDK development and certification programs in 2H 2021, targeting a “pre-vote” version of the technical specifications to be available to members at the end of the year. In the first half of 2022, we expect the SDK to be released, the first devices to be certified, and our formal certification program to open.
Together with our members, we have updated these go-to-market plans to ensure that the Matter specification, certification and testing tools, and of course the SDK, are stable, deployable at scale and meet market expectations for quality and interoperability. Our members continue to work hard to build these tools and their own Matter products, and we look forward to the first products and timelines to be unveiled next year.
No reason has been given for the delay, but as reported by IoT reporter Stacey Higginbotham, this is partly due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and more companies choosing to support the standard.