Anybody, who is completely hooked on NEST and all the other smart technologies that control everything at home, would be able to tell you that there is only one limitation to the whole experience. You need a separate control for each individual component, which can become rather confusing if you have a couple of these smart gadgets.
Now, NEST, the famous Google-owned makers of the smart thermostat, have joined forces with a number of major smart-gadgets producers, to solve the issue once and for all, and provide people with the ultimate controlling system that can run all gadgets. Meet the Thread.
As more and more gadgets get connected to the Internet and start managing our home and bills through lights, temperature and utilities, the lack of communication between them moves from being a small inconvenience to actually becoming very difficult to handle. In order to operate properly, each smart gadget follows a certain protocol, which unfortunately is not unique for all. In addition, there is a separate app to control each individual service.
NEST were the first to spot this limitation, and decided to take care of it. They joined forces with a bunch of leading hardware makers, and came up with the Thread technology that is reliable, secure, and compatible with all smart gadgets that are designed to follow IPv6 protocol layer for 802.15.4. mesh networks. To put this in simple terms, all gadgets that operate with this protocol can now be controlled at the same time. Thread offers the desired connection between the smart products, it is very easy to set up, and it is battery friendly with a very low power consumption.
The Thread Group include companies like Samsung, Freescale, NEST, Yale among others, which ultimately guarantees that the idea is not going to remain conceptual for too long. After all, they all have an interest in developing this technology, as more and more people will be made happier, and therefore invest more.
The list of already existing gadgets that will be controlled by the Thread is quite long and includes the Nest Thermostat and Smoke detector, Philips Hue bulbs, Dropcam security cameras, and all products by all partners.
The project seems quite huge and very ambitious, especially since the guys have to compete with the already established big players on the market- Bluetooth and WiFi. I am quite eager to find out what the result will be.
Image (c) Thread
