'Matter', an open smart home interconnection standard, is expected to bring about significant changes to the smart home business ecosystem. Experts have suggested that service providers should take the lead in commercializing Matter standards to revitalize the domestic smart home market.

At the e4ds news webinar titled 'Matter Standard that Will Bring about a Seismic Shift in the Smart Home Market' on April 6, Director Kim Hak-yong of the IoT Strategy Research Institute explained the concept, necessity, and main features of the Matter standard, and forecasted the changes in the market environment after the Matter standard.

Director Kim Hak-yong said, “Unlike the standards promoted by existing device manufacturers, Matter is a standard led by platform operators and has great market potential because it was created from the user’s perspective,” adding, “We expect active participation in the ecosystem by various domestic service providers.”

■ Smart Home Market Demand for New Linkage Standards Is Rapidly Growing The era of ambient intelligence is coming, where technology automatically does what people want. Various IoT devices around us are continuously collecting data, and AI is analyzing the data, making it possible to enjoy convenience in our daily lives.

However, compared to AI technology, the smart home market has not been active. The usage rate of smart devices is only about 10%. Director Kim cited the fact that automation of smart devices does not reflect customer value as the reason, and suggested that “the market should be expanded to provide convenience by incorporating services that customers actually use.”

They also mentioned that using smart devices is difficult. IoT devices need to check the platform that supports them, and there are issues related to setup and security.

Eventually, as market demand for a new interoperability standard surged, CSA announced version 1.0 in October 2022. According to Director Kim Hak-yong, although it was released later than the original release date, Matter was released after a significant portion of the code was modified and verified through the participation of various businesses based on open source. Currently, more than 800 products are registered. Version 1.1, which will be released in April of this year, is expected to be the final work on the already written part, and version 1.2 is expected to be released in the second half of the year.

Version 1.0 includes 30 to 40 products, including lights, controllers, TV devices, sensors, and door locks. Version 1.1 will see expanded participation from home appliance companies such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, including robot vacuum cleaners, home appliances, and electric vehicle charging devices, and version 1.2 is expected to add smart home security cameras. It will also expand to the IoT device sector in the health and wellness sector.

■ Matter Features and Principles
The Matter standard has four characteristics: it is user-friendly, the Matter standard is IP protocol-based, supports multi-administration, and is centered around local administrators.

Consumers can easily register and use the product by using the QR code attached to the Matter logo. “It will be easy to replace devices, so it will be up to customers to decide which platform they choose,” said CEO Kim, demonstrating the process of registering a Matter device using a smartphone.

The Matter standard applies blockchain technology during registration. First, the device manufacturer creates a Matter product and the agency certifies the device. After that, the PAA (Product Attestation Authority) is notified, and the DAC (Device Attestation Certificates) for the product are issued and updated to the device manufacturer and DCL. Therefore, unlike before, the device requires hardware space to store credentials.

Matter is also an IP-based application layer IoT integration standard. While users have had inconveniences in using various communication protocols such as Zigbee, IP-based Matter is distinguished by IP and uses a unique IPv6 address, so it has the characteristics of multi-admin that can be linked with multiple platforms at the same time. It currently supports threads and Wi-Fi and is used for communication.

The advantage of multi-admin is that while previous devices required direct linkage work when using different platforms, no additional work is required once the Matter standard is introduced. Device manufacturers only need to develop products that support Matter. They can save costs and time by making it possible to link with Matter-supported platforms.

“Since all device manufacturers will focus on price competitiveness as their point of differentiation, it is likely that cheap Chinese products will be adopted in the beginning, making it difficult to manufacture directly,” said CEO Kim. He added that it would also have to provide differentiated features not defined in Matter.

■ Changing smart home market ecosystem

Ultimately, Director Kim claimed, “By resolving the issue of securing a device lineup for platform operators, we can expect the emergence of new smart home platform operators based on Matter standards.”

For example, furniture company IKEA, streaming service provider Roku, and security company ADT are participating, and it is expected that domestic retailers, device manufacturers, internet service providers, mobile security companies, electronics stores, furniture and interior design companies, and real estate agents will also participate.

Meanwhile, Amazon, Google, Apple, etc. are responding to the Matter standard, but the response of domestic companies, excluding Samsung and LG, is inadequate. Matter chipset manufacturers include Silicon Labs, Nordic, LXP, TI, and Infineon. In particular, Silicon Labs has recently expanded its integrated HW/SW portfolio for Matter development.

CEO Kim added, “There are companies that are passive about the Matter standard, but it is expected that big tech companies will take the lead in supporting the Matter standard as a basic feature in their smartphone OS, which will cause a tectonic shift in the smartphone ecosystem, so there is a high possibility of expansion in the long term.”