The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) today announced that Apple, alongside Google and Samsung, will be participating in the Matter “Works With” program. According to the CSA, this means that Matter device manufacturers will be able to launch Matter devices with compatibility for these ecosystems.
The “Works With” moniker is a key part of many Matter device maker’s go-to-market journey and ultimately works to guarantee that a new product will work within a major smart home ecosystem. These programs often require entirely separate testing processes for each ecosystem.
Effective immediately, Apple will begin accepting Alliance Interop Lab test results for Matter devices for Works With Apple Home, while Samsung and Google will begin accepting test results later in the year.
In the meantime, the CSA says the Lab will also continue to work with other members towards integrating additional “Works With” programs, with device makers being encouraged to contact their platform partners for additional details on their programs.
Both Google and Samsung have well documented histories at this point both with their respective smart home ecosystems, as well as with the Matter standard.
Lightapalooza took place in late February, and the growth of the event has mirrored the rapid ascension lighting fixtures and controls.
While Apple has long had its HomeKit ecosystem, the company has largely kept out of the broader smart home market. It hasn’t been until recent months, that leaks regarding a new smart home OS, a control panel, as well as several other devices has led to suspicions that the company may be attempting to build out its offerings as competitors Google and Amazon had done previously.
That said, it is still to be seen how these developments will pan out. The most concrete bit of information available suggests many of these products could be made available as early as this year. Apple’s actions have also not gone unnoticed in the professional channel, with many exhibitors at last year’s CEDIA Expo featuring updates related to the enigmatic HomeKit.
Apple Didn’t Attend CEDIA Expo 2024, But There Was Plenty of Apple News at the ShowIt is still to be seen how these developments will shake out with regards to reality, however, as actions often speak louder than words, Apple’s actions (especially within the CEDIA channel) continue to point towards a growing interest in building out its smart home ecosystem.
In the same press release that mentioned its “Works With” Program, the CSA also announced two new programs aimed at eliminating pain points in Matter certification: FastTrack Recertification and Portfolio Certification.
Built upon the feedback from members regarding the difficulty and cost of Matter recertification, the Matter Working Group developed FastTrack back in November 2024, with the new program setting out to simplify the process, thereby significantly reducing costs and administrative overhead for product manufacturers.
It also aims to make it so product makers can more easily release critical updates to enhance their products and utilize the Interop Lab as a “light touch” check, using the Lab’s capabilities to check that updates do not unintentionally degrade in functionality or performance when used with other popular devices and systems.
The secondary benefit is that the program should allow members to quickly deploy bug and security fixes, enabling quicker response times to emerging issues. Alliance recertification follows shortly thereafter to maintain certification integrity with trained and qualified members able self-test using the Alliance-approved test suite.
The Portfolio Certification Program, meanwhile, applies to both Zigbee and Matter products and allows a manufacturer to certify multiple Portfolio Member Products within a single application, using what’s known as a “Parent Product” as the basis.
The program is again designed to accelerate time-to-market and minimize costs for both the Alliance and its Members, with this program reportedly offering greater flexibility compared to the existing Certification by Similarity and Product Family Certification Programs.
The CSA has even suggested that it may eventually supersede those programs due to its efficiencies.
Since its launch, the Matter standard has run up against many issues that have stalled its goal of a single, truly interoperable smart home standard. Over time, the CSA has worked to improve upon its original standard with updates like the recent Matter 1.4 building upon multi-admin support–a core feature of the standard currently utilized by a scant few members, two of them being Google and Samsung.
Service updates like the Fastrack and Portfolio programs address key challenges for manufacturers when it comes to attaining the standard. However, it’s the participation from larger industry players like Apple, Google, and Samsung in the “Works With” program that signal increasing confidence with the standard from the industry.
Hopefully, through continued improvements on the program, the CSA can continue to foster its vision for secure and reliable operations of IoT devices on differing ecosystems.
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