Amazon Joins Thread Group Board of Directors
Increased Role Underscores Commitment to Advancing Adoption of Matter in Smart Home Technologies
San Ramon, California – [November 3, 2021] – The Thread Group, an industry alliance addressing IoT convergence, and challenges around security, energy footprint, and architecture at the network layer, today announced the addition of Amazon to its Board of Directors. Amazon’s increased backing of Thread Group further demonstrates its commitment to Matter, over both Thread and Wi-Fi, and to supporting a broad range of smart home protocols, which benefits both device makers and their customers.
With this appointment, Amazon will continue to advance Thread as a key technology supported by Matter, a unified IP-based connectivity protocol. Matter helps connect and build reliable, compatible and secure IoT ecosystems, enabling communications among a wide range of smart devices. Consumers can be assured that any device built on this standard is reliable, secure, and compatible.
Amazon is dedicated to ensuring that customers can simply set up and use Alexa with as many smart home devices as possible. Supporting new industry standards such as Matter and Thread, in addition to existing protocols, is an important part of that effort. eero, an Amazon company that provides a whole-home mesh Wi-Fi system, already has millions of Thread border routers in homes around the world, including eero Pro, eero Beacon, eero Pro 6, and eero 6.
We've been a proud member of the Thread Group for the last five years, and I’m pleased to join the Board of Directors, continuing Amazon’s commitment to supporting a flexible, private, collaborative, and interoperable smart home,” said Gabe Kassel, principal product manager at Amazon. “We believe Matter and Thread will improve interoperability and make it easier for customers to set up and automate their homes and, as a board member, I’m excited to drive further innovation in the smart home industry.
Amazon joins 12 existing member companies across the IoT ecosystem on the Thread Group’s Board of Directors, including other leading smart home and building technology providers such as Google and Apple.
"As one of the fastest-growing alliances, we are focused on ensuring responsive, robust, and secure smart home solutions,” said Vividh Siddha, president of Thread Group. "As such, we are committed to reducing industry fragmentation by working together closely with organizations across the IoT spectrum. Therefore, we’re thrilled that Amazon is increasing its commitment to the organization’s overall goal of establishing the widespread adoption of Thread technology in connected homes and buildings."
About Thread Group
Formed in 2013, the non-profit Thread Group is focused on making Thread the foundation for the internet of things in homes and commercial buildings. Built on open standards, Thread is a low power wireless networking protocol that enables direct, end-to-end, secure, and scalable connectivity between IoT devices, mobile devices, and the internet. And, because Thread is IP-based, it seamlessly integrates with many environments, apps, devices, and clouds. The Thread Group provides a rigorous certification program to ensure device interoperability and a positive user experience. Thread is backed by industry-leading companies including Amazon, Apple, Google, Lutron, Nordic Semiconductors, NXP Semiconductors, OSRAM, Qualcomm, Samsung SmartThings, Siemens, Silicon Labs, Somfy, and Yale Security.
Media Contact:
Michelle Sieling
Finn Partners for Thread Group
Email: thread@finnpartners.com