Insteon Announces Membership in the Thread Group

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Insteon®, creators of the world’s premier home automation and control technology, today announced that it has joined the Thread Group, an industry organization dedicated to market education and product certification for Thread, a low-power, wireless mesh networking protocol designed to easily and securely connect hundreds of devices in the home. Insteon will have access to the Thread specifications, which are built on open standards and IPv6 technology with 6LoWPAN at its foundation, and will be able to certify and brand Thread-compliant products starting in the second half of 2015.

“We developed Thread to provide an easy and secure way for product developers and consumers to connect products in the home to each other and directly to the cloud. We’ve seen incredible momentum to date, and our membership has grown to more than 50 companies”

The Thread Group was formed by seven industry-leading organizations including Yale Security, Silicon Labs, Samsung Electronics, Nest Labs, Freescale® Semiconductor, Big Ass Fans and ARM. They developed Thread to provide a new and better way to connect products in the home by building on proven technology standards.

“We developed Thread to provide an easy and secure way for product developers and consumers to connect products in the home to each other and directly to the cloud. We’ve seen incredible momentum to date, and our membership has grown to more than 50 companies,” said Chris Boross, president, the Thread Group and technical product manager, Nest Labs. “We’re delighted that Insteon will join our efforts to establish Thread as the most widely adopted protocol powering the next generation of the connected home.”

“Insteon is a proud contributor to the larger connected home ecosystem, as evidenced by our membership in the Thread Group,” said Joe Dada, CEO of Insteon. “This is especially important as the industry shifts from a PC-centric world to a mobile-centric world. While Insteon has become a leading connectivity protocol with massive consumer adoption, the company also has the flexibility to work with other connected-home protocols via cloud-to-cloud or TCP/IP as it makes business sense to do so. We believe strongly in the approach that the Thread Group is taking, and we’re proud to lend our expertise to such a marquis group of companies who are working collaboratively to bring IoT into the mainstream.”

Insteon is a global leader in the home automation and control industry, with more than 20 years of industry leadership and a global footprint of more than 200 different connected devices being sold across 2,500 mainstream retailers including Walmart, Costco and Home Depot. Insteon was founded in 2005 to give motion sensors, lights, thermostats and other common household items the ability to function through RF and Powerline communications. Insteon is powerful, reliable and simple. This means homeowners can easily install their system on their own and then run it from any smartphone, tablet or computer from anywhere in the world.

A Better Wireless Networking Protocol for the Home

Using proven standards and IPv6 technology with 6LoWPAN as its foundation, Thread offers numerous advantages over existing wireless standards:

  • IP-based technology: Thread is an Internet protocol designed specifically for the Internet of Things. It takes existing technologies and leverages the best parts of each to provide a better way to connect products in the home.
  • Reliable networks: Thread offers robust self-healing mesh networks that scale to hundreds of devices with no single point of failure. Devices are ready when people need them.
  • Secure networks: Thread networks feature secure, banking-class encryption. Thread closes identified security holes found in other wireless protocols and provides worry-free operation.
  • Simple connectivity: Thread devices are simple to install with a smartphone, tablet or computer. Consumers can securely connect Thread devices in the home to each other and to the cloud for easy control and access from anywhere.
  • Low power: Thread supports battery-operated devices as part of a home network. This allows the devices that people use every day – including thermostats, lighting controls, safety and security products – to be a part of the network without requiring constant charging or frequent battery changes.

The first Thread-certified products are expected to ship in late 2015.

About Insteon®

Insteon® transforms the “connected home” from a buzzword into reality. We make life simple by connecting you to the things that matter. Control your lights, alarms, thermostats – all your things – from wherever you are in the world. Insteon’s patented technology is simple and reliable, powering the most fail-safe connected home on the market. With more than 200 Insteon products available today and thousands of developers, we bring all of the things in your home into elegant command. Imagine a lifestyle where all of your things work together in perfect harmony. That’s the power of Insteon.

For more information about Insteon, please visit www.insteon.com, or connect with Insteon on Facebook (www.facebook.com/insteon) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/insteon).

About Thread

Designed for consumers and devices in and around the home, Thread easily and securely connects hundreds of devices to each other and directly to the cloud using real Internet Protocols in a low-power, wireless mesh network. The non-profit Thread Group is focused on making Thread the foundation for the Internet of Things in the home, educating product developers and consumers on the unique features and benefits of Thread and ensuring a great user experience through rigorous, meaningful product certification. Thread is backed by industry-leading companies including Yale Security, Silicon Labs, Samsung Electronics, Nest Labs, Freescale Semiconductor, Big Ass Fans and ARM. For more information, please visitwww.threadgroup.org.

Contacts

Insteon Contact:
Finn Partners for Insteon
Krista Sparks
(415) 348-2732
insteonpr@finnpartners.com
or
Thread Contact:
Finn Partners for Thread Group
Gabriella Asmus
(415) 348-2721
gabriella@finnpartners.com

About Ruslan Ulanov 103 Articles
Ruslan Ulanov is a software engineer by day and Smart Home hacker by night. He got fascinated by potential of home automation over a decade ago, when it was available to select few. Over the years experimented with smart products using different technologies from X10 to Insteon to ZigBee. Actively supports new smart home developments on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

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