Oliver Haslam·

Apple, Amazon, Google, Zigbee Alliance Join Hands To Create New Smart Home Standard

It’s been a big day in the world of smart homes with Apple, Google, Amazon, and more all set to work together to help create an open standard that makes it easier for devices to communicate.

One of those working as part of the group is the Zigbee Alliance, which includes some big names including KEA, Legrand, NXP Semiconductors, Resideo, SmartThings, Schneider Electric, Signify, Silicon Labs, Somfy, and Wulian. All are working on the new “Project Connected Home over IP” and there’s even a new website to help people keep updated on how things are progressing.

Apple says that the idea is to make it easier for devices to work with smart assistants like Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa.

The project aims to make it easier for device manufacturers to build devices that are compatible with smart home and voice services such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant, and others. The planned protocol will complement existing technologies, and working group members encourage device manufacturers to continue innovating using technologies available today.

When any of this labor will bear any fruit remains to be seen, but it’s unlikely to happen soon. These things take time, especially when you’re dealing with companies – and egos – as large as the likes of Apple, Google, and Amazon. Hopefully something will come of it, rather than the whole thing dying a death before any meaningful progress can be made.

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