Zigbee Alliance and Thread Group Release Dotdot over Thread Specification

The Zigbee Alliance and Thread Group report that they have completed the Dotdot 1.0 specification and also announce the Dotdot over Thread certification program. Developers of smart products can use a mature, open and certifiable interoperability language over a low-power IP network. This will reduce product development risk and roadblocks, enable new IoT applications and improve the consumer experience by reducing IoT fragmentation, The Zigbee Alliance and Thread Group note.

“The integration of Dotdot over Thread moves the industry forward by providing interoperability across different home networks through the Dotdot application framework,” says Tom Kerber, senior director, IoT Strategy and Custom Research, Parks Associates. “This kind of cooperation across the industry, vendors, and standards organizations is critical to the widespread interoperability—and success—of smart home devices.”

The Zigbee Alliance incorporated an open, common application layer that connects products from many different vendors and powers popular smart home products like Comcast Xfinity Home Security and the Amazon Echo Plus and the new Echo Show. Dotdot takes that universal device language and enables it to work over Thread’s low-power IP network. With Dotdot over Thread, smart home vendors can ensure the reliable user experiences needed to drive growth, while IP networking allows vendors to maintain a direct connection to their device and an ongoing relationship with their customers, the company reports.

“Over the last two years, companies from across the IoT worked together within the Alliance on this effort to take the interoperability standard at the heart of Zigbee and enable it to run over any network,” says Tobin Richardson, president and CEO of the Zigbee Alliance. “Built from this solid foundation, we are excited to announce that the Dotdot spec is now prepared for ratification and release to Alliance members.” 

Zigbee Alliance has leveraged the existing Thread commissioning mobile application and extended it to include application level configuration of devices on a Thread network. This mobile application, along with an automated test harness, will assist member companies in expediting their Dotdot over Thread product development and facilitate their preparation for certification procedures.

“Certification is critical to ensuring interoperability between wireless devices, but it can add time and complexity for product vendors,” says Grant Erickson, president of Thread Group. “Offering an efficient, affordable, and reliable certification process was a priority for both organizations and our members. As the Zigbee Alliance and Thread Group share a number of common authorized test labs, it made sense to streamline this go-to-market phase with a coordinated path to certification.”

Users can access the Dotdot over Thread Specification and Certification programs by joining theZigbee Alliance and Thread Group. The Dotdot specification is available to Zigbee Alliance members. The Thread 1.1 specification is available on the Thread Group website. Additionally, there will be a free webinar, co-hosted by the Thread Group and Zigbee Alliance, on January 30, 2019. 

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Zigbee Alliance

Thread Group

Sources: Press materials received from the company.