The IoT ecosystem has been broadened after competing standards ZigBee and Thread agreed an end-to-end interoperable development solution for smart home devices.
The agreement, which completes work first started last year, means Thread will join Zigbee’s set of product development specifications, technology and certification programmes.
Zigbee said the agreement will ultimately benefit the consumer as it will lead to a more streamlined product development and greater levels of interoperability among smart home products.
Thread Group’s networking layer will be incorporated into ZigBee’s Applications Layer, which brings together every market specific ZigBee device profile.
By the end of the third quarter this year, both companies will issue an end-to-end certification programme that aims to broaden the smart home market.
Tobin Richardson, President and CEO of the ZigBee Alliance, said: “With this liaison agreement, we are bringing the industry’s most advanced and proven low-power networking layer experience to a complete and interoperable, end-to-end solution using our consolidated ZigBee Common Applications Library.
“Building on more than a dozen years of experience in standards and ecosystem creation, we are now taking an important step toward IoT unification by adding compatibility with the Thread networking stack and its IP underpinnings to the ZigBee Alliance’s solutions portfolio.
“This portfolio spans all network layers and critical energy-harvesting and other foundational technologies, and is supported by all necessary interoperability and marketing solutions.”
Thread Group launched in 2014 with founder members including ARM, Samsung and Google’s smart home wing Nest.
Chris Boross, President of the Thread Group and Technical Product Marketing Manager, Nest, said: “The ZigBee Alliance and Thread Group are taking a big step towards reducing IoT industry fragmentation. Bringing ZigBee’s application layer to Thread-enabled devices will simplify product development and increase interoperability, encouraging the Thread ecosystem – and the connected home – to flourish. Our organizations share many of the same members, and we look forward to collaborating with the ZigBee Alliance to offer the market a combined solution for the connected home.”