July 21, 2014: Nest Helps Lead Effort to Create Wireless Protocol for Home Automation
Thread Group Is Formed to Develop a Simple, Secure, and Low-Power Network
SAN RAMON, Calif. — Seven companies announced that they’ve joined forces to form the Thread Group and develop a new IP-based wireless networking protocol for home automation called Thread. The Thread Group’s founding members include Nest Labs, Samsung Electronics, Big Ass Fans, Yale Security, Silicon Labs, Freescale® Semiconductor, and ARM.
While currently available 802.15.4 networking technologies have their advantages, each also has critical issues that prevent the Internet of Things (IoT) from being realized, stated the Thread Group. These include lack of interoperability, inability to carry IPv6 communications, high power requirements that drain batteries quickly, and “hub and spoke” models dependent on one device (if that device fails, the whole network goes down). With the Thread protocol, the organization said product developers and consumers will be able to easily and securely connect more than 250 devices into a low-power, wireless mesh network that also includes direct Internet and cloud access for every device.