I find all of this confusing as well. Now my understanding of Thread is that a hub or bridge isn’t really required because the devices all communicate directly with each other. The protocol does seem to be a lot more advanced than Zigbee or Zwave. I can’t see there being many features left out. If anything there should be more. It uses the same radio frequencies as Zigbee. I believe when the manufacturer of the blue series was talking “upgrading to matter via firmware” it was likely matter over thread since there is an upgrade path from zigbee to thread provided the hardware can handle it memory wise.
- Yes to just releasing a separate firmware for blue switches allowing the owner to use Thread/Matter or Zigbee on the same switch. If Matter catches on wholesale at some point you might reverse the default. Factory-install Matter/Thread and allow customers to install Zigbee.
- Pretty positive Matter as of spec 1 will not support all the bells and whistles capable of Zigbee today, Binding separate device together for example. This leaves it up to the customer to use what works for them.
- I for one still want you to follow through with Matter/Thread firmware and build in as much functionality as possible.
- You will likely be using openthread, most everyone else uses it, hopefully Inovelli/silabs target at or above the thread 1.3.0 spec on the MG24
Personally, I don’t see the need for a dedicated Thread switch that isn’t Matter compatible at this point. There are only a couple of hubs that support Thread (Apple/Amazon) and they will definitely be moving quickly to Matter.
If you go for Matter support now, you might be one of the first to market with a Thread/Matter switch and could generate a ton of buzz based on that. The market for a non-Matter compatible Thread switch would be small and shrinking IMO compared to what your Zigbee/Zwave markets are. So, it would be wasted effort IMO.
I’m primarily an apple user, but Google is on the move here too. On dec 15 they released Matter over Wi-Fi for several of their devices, original Google Home speaker, Google Home Mini and Google Nest Mini, the Nest Audio, all three Nest Hub devices (first gen, second gen, and Max), and the Nest wifi pro. Through Nest (the primary inventor of thread back in 2012 or so) Google is also preparing updates for Matter over Thread for the Nest Wifi Pro, Nest Hub Max, and Nest Hub (second gen), all of which do thread now.
I feel you’re right here. At this stage, I don’t think there really would be a market at all for a thread-only switch. Matter over Thread is definitely the way of the future. But if thread uses the same frequencies as Zigbee, and the chipset in the Blue series can support thread, is unique hardware really needed? 1 switch with 2 sets of firmware depending on which protocol the user wants would make things a whole lot cheaper to bring to market. (Assuming it’s possible)
Pretty certain this is exactly what inovelli plans to do … single hardware platform and user changeable firmware, either Zigbee (blue series) or Matter over Thread (white series). Even as a longtime Apple user, I would vote they should not waste any dev time, resources and money to do Homekit over Thread firmware.
I have zero doubt the Matter over Thread (Matter 1.0 was only recently released into the wild) firmware software capability will be less than the Zigbee (zigbee 3.0 very mature by comparison) firmware, but that is OK and the buyer will have the ultimate choice in which firmware to use.
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After skimming this thread, I have one major question:
Will the current ZigBee 2-1 switch receive thread support?
Based on the initial post it sounds like that would be completely possible—however since you’re launching an entirely new product, that makes me think the thread support while present in the currently shipping devices, will simply remain disabled, and those needing Thread support will need to go buy another round of switches.
My understanding is the current Blue switches run on a chip that is capable of doing either Zigbee or Thread, depending on the firmware running. Switching between the two requires hooking up a data cable to the switch to flash some really low-level firmware that is incapable of over the air updates. Newer Blue products, however, will be running on chips that are capable of flipping between Zigbee or Thread via over the air updates.
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And that will be a new SKU? Or just sort of a rev. b of the current product?
- Even with shared revision-b hardware, I expect a new sku when matter/thread (white switch) firmware is factory installed. Just logistically easier to order, track, ship.
- Unclear if rev-b with factory installed Zigbee (blue switch) firmware will get different sku than rev-a blue switches. Not sure this is necessary.
EDIT: Nanoleaf introduced a thread/matter Switch and dimmer at CES for those interested. :format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24322524/sense_plus_environment.jpg)
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That roller wheel for the dimmer though! Reminds me of a mouse stuck on the wall 
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I might be mistaken but I thought that one of the features with thread was that the switches could talk locally to each other. So what features you install on one switch would be able to transferred to the other switch in that network. Trying to read up on these things but gets a little wordy at times
Peter
From what I can tell the big draw for Matter would be the ability of a controller to share its devices with another controller. For example, you could run Home Assistant and have Alexa for voice controls on the side.
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Apple user here. There are literally thousands of people on the homekit reddit waiting for a nice looking Matter & Thread compatible dimmer. I’ve been checking your site for months hoping you’d release something since I love the look of your dimmer.
If you had a Matter/Thread switch available today at $50 I would order 65, right now.
I currently have about 25 Leviton D26HD-2RW Decora Smart Wi-Fi Dimmers. I completely stopped buying smart home devices last year in anticipation of the coming release of Matter & Thread. I’ve bought a couple of Eve switches to test out but frankly I don’t like the look of their product and they don’t offer a dimmer yet.
Please take my money!
Hubitat is starting with some HomeKit integration. Not exactly Matter (yet), but a step in the right direction.
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I also have my Inovelli switches controlled with Apple HomeKit through Hubitat. It’s still in Beta, but I haven’t run into any issues.
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I do this now with Hubitat
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Whole point of Matter/Thread integration is NOT needing another hub or device to manage things. So I will wait for official support.
Hmm I thought an Apple TV or HomePod acted as a hub/border router so it’d technically control the device . I guess I don’t see any difference in having another device to control switches as I don’t think all features written in the firmware will be able to utilize notifications at the individual LED or animations from say HomeKit scene setup.
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Correct, an Apple TV or a HomePod does act as the hub/border router, and does control the device(s). I already have them and they serve a useful purpose beyond just being a hub/border router in my home. Adding Hubitat into my existing setup does just what I said above, it adds another hub or device to manage things, which I don’t want.
Almost all of my Apple Homekit devices have their own app, which adds additional functionality, I’m just fine with that. I just don’t want additional hardware sitting in my house somewhere to interface with it.
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