Matter is Looking Ready for Prime Time Now

Matter 1.4.2 was released recently, and to be honest, there wasn’t a lot of fanfare around it. I think this is a good thing. It means Matter is getting to the level of stability needed for prime time. My testing over the years, including my latest testing of Matter over Thread and multiple open thread border routers (OTBR), can attest to that.

Putting Matter Through to the Test in the Real-World

For some background, I’m responsible for Matter marketing at Silicon Labs (among other wireless technologies), and an avid adopter of Smart Home technologies, including Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Matter, and even Z-Wave. So, when Matter was first released in late 2022, I took it upon myself to do some testing at my home. My first experiences in late 2023 were not good. While I had some success, the level of support and reliability were nowhere near the level that I became used to with my other smart home technologies. In 2024, I did additional testing, and reliability was greatly improved across the board thanks to both updates in the Matter specs and updates to the firmware on my Matter smart home devices. This was especially noticeable on Matter over Thread to the point that it was ready to roll out in my home.

Moving Past Single Points of Failure in Matter Networks

If you’re not familiar with Matter, there are two wireless network protocols supported: Wi-Fi and Thread (Bluetooth is only used for commissioning). These were chosen because they both support IPV6. However, Matter over Thread requires an OTBR for several reasons, including routing traffic between the two networks. Many (but not all) of my early issues, were on Matter over Thread. I tested multiple ecosystems and Matter over Thread OTBRs. The experiences varied, but they all had issues. While these seemed to be resolved in my 2024 testing, the biggest issue that still exists today is Matter over Thread support. Matter over Wi-Fi is widely supported in smart homes, thanks to the broad adoption of Wi-Fi and integration in popular devices like smart speakers and hubs from Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, and others. In contrast, Matter over Thread has more limited support, as only newer devices include a Matter-capable OTBR. For example, in my home, I had 8 Amazon Echo devices in my house, but only one had support for an OTBR (Echo 4).

Recently, I added an Echo hub that also supports an OTBR, so I decided to do some testing. Previously, my Echo 4 was a single point of failure for my Matter over Thread network. If that device failed, or was unplugged, my Matter over Thread devices would be unresponsive, however, my Matter over Wi-Fi devices would still respond. Since all my Matter over Thread devices were commissioned when I had the Echo 4, I know that it was the active OTBR on my network. So, I unplugged my Echo4 to see what happened. As expected, while my Matter over Wi-Fi devices continued to work, my Matter over Thread devices become unresponsive – for a short time. To my excitement after several minutes, my second OTBR was able to take the place in the network and my Matter over Thread devices came back online without any intervention on my end (yes, I actually got excited about this – I know I am a geek). While this seems like a little thing, even my Zigbee network that I have used for years and has set the bar for reliability, always had a single point of failure on the coordinator. The elimination of an OTBR as a single point of failure and the increased number of devices that have OTBR support available on the market now, including smart speakers, TVs, as well as integration with ISP gateways goes to show that Matter is truly becoming the future of the smart home.

Leading the Way in Smart Home Unification

I’m clearly an enthusiast, but as a company Silicon Labs has a long track record of championing the standards that are unifying the smart home. Matter has long been hyped as the harbinger of this seamless interaction. With Matter 1.4.2, it seems we’re graduating beyond the hype and hyperbole of the early days and moving into an era where the specification is ready for mass adoption. With cost-effective solutions and the evolution of the Matter standard, the implementation of OTBRs is getting easier and more cost effective. To learn more about how this is happening, check out our blog, “The Advantages of Low-Cost OTBRs in Matter over Thread Integration.”