More than 50 companies get behind Thread initiative for home-based products

The Thread Group says it now supports more than 50 members since it opened its doors for membership applications in October, and it's working with UL to set up testing and certification facilities to ensure a high quality user experience, as well as interoperability and security across Thread products.

Thread Group was established by seven organizations--including Yale Security, Silicon Labs, Samsung Electronics, Nest Labs, Freescale Semiconductor, Big Ass Fans and ARM--to further the Thread technology in the connected home via marketing and education. Thread runs over 802.15.4 radio technology and uses existing standards and IPv6 technology with 6LoWPAN at its foundation.

The newest Thread members include Whirlpool, Kwikset, Energizer Holdings and Shenzhen Rakwireless Technology.

In a press release, Chris Boross, president of the Thread Group and technical product marketing manager at Nest, said the momentum behind the group paves the way for the first Thread-enabled products in 2015.

UL will manage the product certification process, working closely with Granite River Labs to develop the test harness. Thread product certification is expected to be available in the first half of 2015.  

The group says that Thread offers product developers a reliable low-power, self-healing and secure network that makes it simple for people to connect more than 250 devices in the home to each other and to the cloud for control and access from anywhere.

Thread is hardly alone at targeting IoT. The AllSeen Alliance, the Open Interconnect Consortium and Industrial Internet Consortium are just some of the other organizations banding companies together. "There are many players, and we'll participate when the timing is right," said Steve Nelson, executive director of IoT, at Freescale, which is a member of the Thread Group and thus far has not joined any other IoT-focused groups.

"For many of these, there are a large number of companies, many times with competing interests," he told FierceWirelessTech via email. "So we stay aware and monitor these groups, and we'll certainly join when we feel our energies are warranted."

For more:
- see the press release

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