What's Up
HARMAN Luxury Audio Integration with Matter and SmartThings – Why it matters.
By David Tovissi
Vice President and General Manager
HARMAN Luxury Audio
Several years ago, the consumer electronics industry announced a new standard for smart home connectivity. Matter was touted as an industry-changing connectivity standard created by more than 200 companies. With a mission of making connected living simple, convenient and affordable, Matter is set to transform the smart home industry and HARMAN Luxury Audio is developing new products to support this platform.
Of course we have an unprecedented advantage to most audio companies, because of our daily collaborative efforts with Samsung. As you may know, Samsung acquired the IOT Smart-Home platform developer, SmartThings in 2014. Since its acquisition, Samsung has maintained an arm’s length distance from the team at SmartThings. Based in Palo Alto, California, SmartThings is aligning with other technology giants like Apple, Google and Amazon to co-develop the Matter IOT connectivity standard.
Apple has included Matter protocol support into their Apple HomeKit platform when using the Apple HomePod and Apple TV 4K. Google has included Matter protocol support into their Google Home platform when using the Nest Hub. Amazon has released limited Matter support to many of its Echo and Eero products. Lastly, SmartThings has included Matter protocol support in the Samsung SmartThings Station, and the Samsung SmartThings Hub v3.
SmartThings is an open platform that connects devices across multiple brands and ecosystems, including Works with SmartThings devices which HARMAN Luxury Audio has been developing products to integrate seamlessly with. Most Matter devices work with SmartThings right out of the box. Late last year, we launched our first product, the JBL L42ms music system designed to connect with other Smart Things and Matter platform products. We partnered with the SmartThings engineers in Suwon, South Korea and Palo Alto, California to develop this product. Once developed we used the UL Solutions to certify that the JBL L42ms will work on this IOT platform.
In the ever-evolving world of smart home technology, compatibility and connectivity are paramount. That is why we not only partner with industry control manufacturers, Savant, Crestron, Control4, but also SmartThings and Matter. The ability to seamlessly integrate different devices and platforms is what makes the smart home experience a reality. For the JBL L42ms to work on the SmartThings platform the consumer needs to own a Smart Things connection hub. The hub is integrated into most Samsung televisions, but if the consumer does not own a Samsung television, they can purchase a hub or Matter bridge from many consumer electronics retailers.
Matter bridges or SmartThings hubs are a critical piece of the puzzle when creating a unified and interoperable smart home ecosystem. They serve as link to products that operate on Zigbee, Z-Wave and the various control companies previously mentioned.
HARMAN Luxury Audio will continue to expand our product lines to connect seamlessly with all the ecosystems that our consumers are interested in. That is why we participate in the Samsung Developers Conference every year in San Francisco and send our products to be on display and working with other IOT products in the Samsung EX-Home in Suwon and Palo Alto.
Samsung has made significant investments of late into smart home technologies especially for smart home living and this eX Home, which sits on the Digital City is the output of their commitment to the IOT space. Last month, I traveled to Samsung Digital City in Suwon to update our partners on our future product roadmap. Whilst I was there, I was treated to a tour of the Samsung eX House which is a preview and highlight as to what living in a smart home could be like.
My tour comprised of a multitude of realistic experiences that are entirely possible in a smart home. I started my discovery into the possibilities in the main living space which was an open concept combining the living room and kitchen. My enthusiastic docent walked me through how the SmartThings mobile app can easily onboard any device that supports this platform.
SmartThings and Matter are not meant to replace the existing protocols. Bluetooth, Zigbee and Z-Wave will still be part of smart homes and Bluetooth LE will be used for onboarding these devices to these platforms. Having all the tech giants aligning on standardization and interoperability is what is driving HARMAN Luxury Audio to develop more products work in a smart house.
Many experts and integrators have been skeptical that Apple, Google, Amazon and Samsung SmartThings could successfully work together and make the Matter protocol a reality. Despite the competitive nature of these companies, the need for industry standardization has been keeping this dream alive.
Next month, on July 17, we will be launching our new line of home cinema products at the iconic Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California. These products will change the way consumers experience home cinema works seamlessly with other IOT products. We also look forward to demonstrating them to attendees at this year’s CEDIA Expo in Denver.
Stay tuned to what Matters!