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Apple, Amazon, Google, and Zigbee Alliance Standard for Smart Home Technology on Track for 2021 Release
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Yes, I gave up on Wemo and went with Meross. It's a shame because Wemo had a head start and was working well. Then all of a sudden with firmware and app updates, it worked intermittently at best. At one point, Belkin, Linksys and Wemo all became the same company (later purchased by Foxconn), and despite only having network/smart equipment that belonged to these three, I still had connectivity problems.
Meross is much better.
WOW ZigBee Alliance is still alive ?!?!
Most stuff sold these days is still zigbee - that's why we need hubs. Hue, Ikea, Aqara is all zigbee. In general, anything that needs compact remotes which could only fit a CR2032 battery is typically running on zigbee.
Not really a good example to use. The case of iTunes/Music was very much intentional, as Apple sought to deprecate iTunes and separate out the functionality to smaller, more efficient apps. Conversely, these changes to home automation are all back-end stuff the user doesn't see. Perhaps you can explain to me why Apple would need to render legacy HomeKit devices useless in order to implement CHIP? I (again as a layperson) don't see why it would need to be any more complicated than adding CHIP support to Siri and the Home app for new devices to the market using that technology. At this point, anyone screaming about everyone's existing HomeKit devices being bricks is just fearmongering. Anything is possible, but I don't see why that would end up being the case in reality.
Edit:
Will current smart home products continue to work?
Yes. Amazon, Apple, and Google are committed to continue support for developers and their products.
Will they also be compatible with the new protocol?
The focus of the Project will be on new [emphasis mine] products. For developers interested in joining the effort, please join the Project Connected Home over IP Working Group.
What are the market-tested smart home technologies being contributed?
The Project intends to leverage development work and protocols from existing systems such as:
Will the Project attempt to standardize smart home user interfaces?
- Amazon’s Alexa Smart Home
- Apple’s HomeKit
- Google’s Weave
- Zigbee Alliance’s Dotdot data models
No. The Working Group at this time does not intend to standardize smart home user interfaces such as voice assistants, smart displays, or desktop and mobile apps.
Project Connected Home over IP
Project Connected Home over IP is a new Working Group within the Zigbee Alliance. This Working Group plans to develop and promote the adoption of a new, royalty-free connectivity standard to increase compatibility among smart home products, with security as a fundamental design tenet.www.connectedhomeip.com
Consider me unconcerned at this point. HomeKit is being leveraged in CHIP. HomeKit isn't being thrown out with the bath water. Another key is that this isn't an attempt to standardize the UI, which makes sense. Like I said, these are all back-end changes, and companies can use whatever UI they desire.
There is a lot in your reply.
First ... I specifically stated iTunes/Music was International to prove my point - not stating it wasn't. I guess lost in translation there so to speak.
"Yes. Amazon, Apple, and Google are committed to continue support for developers and their products."
Does not mean backwards compatibility. This only means continued (forward going concern) for developers and their products. It does not specifically state committed to developers and their existing products in market. I learned this from Sonos' vague AirPlay 2 support announcement a full year before the Sonos Play One was announced (leaving out the Sonos Play:1). Huge thread on that on these forums here about a year ago.
"The focus of the Project will be on new [emphasis mine] products. For developers interested in joining the effort, please join the Project Connected Home over IP Working Group."
^ pretty much sums up what I've stated - no guarantee of existing products already in market getting support. maybe not promising yet until their certain. Like Sonos and AirPlay 2 support, it's possible some chips may not be upgradeable to support CHIP.
In layman's terms there could very much be every reason for existing HomeKit products not to work with CHIP. I recall buying lights and they did NOT support Google Home or vice versa on other products. It's only in the last few short years that products had dual support. Be that a restriction of marketing or licensing or hardware limitations with no firmware update support. Like the Apple Watch S0 may not get WatchOS 8/9/10.
PS: man all this mention of CHIP/CHIPS makes me think of that horrible 70's TV cop show on motorcycles with Eric Estrada. EEEW OMG, I think I just remembered my mother making some high pitched noise when she saw Eric on a poster with a tie on in that show. I'm feeling sick now, think I'm going to yak.
A thermostat (Nest) that can't stand heat, how ironic...hehe.
I don't know if you get a refund if they broke, an easy way to break them is to overheat them
, mine broke on the hottest day here in central Europe, t'was about 39 celsius outside, 33 inside.
WOW ZigBee Alliance is still alive ?!?!
Zigbee has huge disadvantages over some other Protocols, like not having standard switches available, in Europe we mostly have the same brand/type of switches, I want a switch face to be exactly the same as what I have in my house now, I do not want all kinds of different things on my wall, Phillips Hue does not have them, another real disadvantage is that if you switch it of the bulb does not work anymore, I have Z-wave inserts, they can be inserted behind normal switches, the switch works AND it works on your devices, also in the cloud.
They do have them for Zigbee but they charge you an arm and a leg, like €100+ for 1 single switch, insane.
I think you're confused. I'm not saying backwards compatibility will come and that existing devices will all get CHIP support. Existing HomeKit products don't need to support CHIP in any way. In fact, the manufacturers don't need to do anything for things continue working as they currently do. The only thing that's going to happen is that Apple will add support for CHIP devices (rather than only HomeKit) to Siri and the Home app. It seems like you think this is an either or proposition for some reason and that Apple has to choose between HomeKit and CHIP. Going forward manufacturers can implement CHIP in their new devices while their current devices will continue to exist and function as they already do.
I know. We're one of the initial member of ZigBee Alliance and there are our contributions in ZigBee standard ver 2007. We're one of the developer teams that first implemented full stack on Atmel+TI platform, including the MAC because TI's implementation is just a collection of bugs that would run into deadlock after few hours. We dropped ZigBee development in 2009 because we can't see any market opportunity.
Zigbee has big problems in routing, channel management and network forming in the protocol side, but the hugest Achilles' Heel is still the cost of communication module. The protocol stack is too complex and requires lots of redundant resources to deal with the networking stuff. And that's why Bluetooth LE succeed in this realm.
It's all for niche in 2008, and still niche by now. Meanwhile, the Bluetooth Mesh spec is still in a mess. Sign.
Too bad that we've missed the UWB based protocols like original Bluetooth 3.0 and Wireless USB, all thanks to Lehman Bros.
Huh, I work in automation for lots of (Big) international clients, I haven't seen Zigbee anywhere.
It's not safe to have signals over such protocols as Zigbee, it needs to work 100% of the time, accidents could happen if it's not failsafe.
Wired is and will be the standard for a long time.
The reason you don't see these for zigbee, is that it doesn't make sense to use zigbee in a situation where the device is getting constant power (like a relay). Zigbee is most common in situations where some of the devices are going to be completely wireless (like wireless remotes and motion sensors).
The most common relay devices (Shelly and Sonoff) are both WiFi. Sonoff is actually a good example because their relay devices are WiFi but their remotes and motion sensors use zigbee.
If I can't use my own server to talk to the system I don't want it.
I don't want devices manufacturers can obsolete at will.
I don't want devices manufacturers can obsolete at will.
sorry, I was probably unclear. I didn’t mean to say there are no zigbee in wall switches, only that they’re less common. Usually they exist only in scenarios were a company already has a large portfolio of zigbee products, and wants their in wall switches to run on the same hub. Aqara, for example, has a relatively cheap in wall powered zigbee switch. But it’s obvious that they went with zigbee because the rest of their lineup (including several battery powered switches) use zigbee by necessity and it would be easier to just keep the in wall switch on zigbee.
So obviously this is good news for you, since creating an open standard to address these devices will help with that.
