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Douglas Adams, of Hitchhiker’s Guide Fame, wrote this borrowed piece of insight in his blog post “How to Stop Worrying and Love the Internet”. (If you haven’t read it, you absolutely should. It’s a bit dated now, but replace “Internet” with “IoT”, or really any new technology trend, and it’ll be perpetually relevant.)

A couple of weeks ago, Thread Group held two events in Munich, Germany to engage with European companies invested in IoT.

Security continues to be a concern and challenge to those considering Internet of Things (IoT) implementations. A major threat that remains today is where the IoT network actually connects to the Internet, or what's often referred to as the border.

CABA has focused on IoT as of late and recently completed a research project, “Intelligent Buildings and the Impact of the Internet of Things”. This landmark research study was a major initiative of the CABA Research Program, which offers a range of opt-in technical and advisory research services designed to provide industry stakeholders with collaborative research and R&D opportunities.

IoT or the Internet of Everything (IoE), are just two terms that have been used to describe the idea of having a "smart" world where devices have intelligence about themselves and other devices. The idea has been around for a few years, but the technology and infrastructure have not truly been available until recently. The growth that industry analysts have projected now seems truly achievable - tens of billions of units by 2020. That's huge!

We hope you can make time to grow your network, continue your education and become active in the Thread community by attending our upcoming Thread Group Technology Workshop at the Google complex in Mountain View, Calif., on March 27.

Today marks another big milestone for The Thread Group: the official opening of our certification program!

The Thread Group's first face-to-face All Members Meeting of 2017 is fast approaching and you don't want to miss it!

The Smart Home Marketplace at CES 2017 was dominated by the sheer volume of connected devices on display, affirming the need for an IP-based convergence to help connect and control these products in the home, and beyond. At the show, we saw strong evidence and resonance that IP-based technologies and ecosystems based on them are where the future of the smart home lies.

The Internet of Things continues to advance - and we like to think the Thread Group contributed to that progress. We expect to see even greater IoT growth next year, and have compiled some key predictions for 2017 from editors around the web.

In its effort to drive adoption of the Thread networking protocol in the places where we live and work, the Thread Group this week opened its test tools and test lab to its members. In support of this "semi-final" round, the Thread Group announced that ARM, NXP and Silicon Labs have released the first conforming stacks that have successfully passed testing based on the Thread 1.1 technical specification and are now undergoing interoperability evaluation to achieve the Gold medal - the Thread certification logo.

From building security to energy management and lighting Thread Group’s President, Grant Erickson explains Thread’s role in the commercial building domain.

The Centero WEE Module, designed and manufactured to be an integral part of Centero's Thread based IoT communication platform, recently passed the Thread Group's Beta Test Suite, conducted by UL to assess compliance to the Thread V1.0. And, was able to pass on the first attempt!

Today there are a number of challenges in getting connected home devices to talk to one another. Most of today’s technologies rely on a single device to communicate with products around the home. So if that device fails, the whole network goes down. 

So, what does a “liaison agreement” really mean, and how will it benefit the industry?

A smart and connected home includes everything from computers, smart phones, TVs and set-top boxes to lighting, appliances and heating/air conditioning systems and makes them accessible and easy to control with a single interface. But, why do we as consumers need to connect these devices?

Thread was designed with one goal in mind: To create the very best way to connect and control products in the home. Doing this well requires building a technology that uses and combines the best of what's out there to create a networking protocol that can help the connected home realize its potential for years to come.

Let's dive deeper into what needs to be considered for Thread product certification.

Let’s dive deeper into some of the key security measures being addressed at the Thread Group, as referenced in our Thread Commissioning whitepaper.

The goal of the 'Internet of Things' (IoT) is to transform people's lives through smarter homes and businesses. As technology continues to make our lives easier, however, a downside remains: a real risk of security breaches. As devices in the home become smarter and connected to the Internet, we are faced with the reality they can be hacked. With researchers estimating more than 50 million connected homes by 2020, developers, consumers and retailers must make protecting customer data a top priority. Fortunately, Thread Group saw the security risks associated with IoT from the start, and as a result, provides protection in every Thread network across a wide variety of applications in the home, including appliances, access control, climate control, energy management, lighting, safety and security.

The board of directors of The Thread Group would like to comment on this week's introduction of OpenThread Released by Nest.

Elarm, Thread's Q2 2015 winner (along with Amatis Controls), speaks about their experience

Over the last decade or so, society has become increasingly concerned about the impact environmental pollution is having on the Earth’s limited resources. As a result, nearly 200 countries mark April 22 today as Earth Day, celebrating events to help bring awareness and address issues such as global warming and the Greenhouse Effect.