Nest Labs moves to dominate the smart home
Initially launched in June 2014, the "Works with Nest" program allowed third-party smart connected devices to link with Nest devices indirectly, through the cloud. Now third-party smart home devices will be able to communicate with Nest and other devices directly using the Nest Weave protocol – Nest’s internally developed secure wireless communication protocol dubbed "the IoT protocol for everything."
Weave runs over the Thread network protocol, an IPv6-based networking protocol for smart household devices. Designed for efficiency, low power, and speed, it is suited for use even by battery-powered devices.
Nest is working with semiconductor companies – including Dialog Semiconductor, Qualcomm, Freescale, and Silicon Labs – to develop chips and development kits for Weave products. A number of smart device manufacturers have already indicated they will be adopting Weave, including Big Ass Solutions, Daikin North America, GE branded lighting controls, Hunter Douglas, iHome, Legrand, LIFX, Lutron Electronics, P&G, Philips Hue, Rachio, Somfy, SkyBell, Tyco, and Belkin WeMo.
“Building a connected product is hard,” says Matt Rogers, vice president of engineering, Nest. “We’ve been doing it for the past five years and have first-hand experience with the challenges. That’s why we want to make it easier for developers. We’re offering proven technologies like Nest Weave, along with cloud services and the ability to integrate with the Nest app. Developers have an end-to-end solution when they work with Nest, and can use only the parts of the program that meet their needs."
Nest will be launching a "Works with Nest" store, with categorized product listings, to allow consumers to easily find and buy new devices. The first third-party product to use the Nest Weave technology will be the Yale Linus Lock (see video (0:30 below), which should be available in 2016.
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