BSH discuss the future of Matter in your smart home

We know that Matter has been conceived to ensure a fully interoperable smart home, regardless of which platform you use. While it seems development has been slow, this is probably because we’ve been watching it quite closely for quite some time.

In fact, development is constant, with new organizations getting involved with Matter and Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) all the time. One example is BSH Home Appliances, another company whose personnel have enthused the benefits of collaboration to develop the possibilities of Matter.

The BSH perspective on Matter

BSH – better known as the German Bosch-Siemens partnership whose full title was previously Bosch-Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH – produces a vast range of home appliances. This is in addition to IoT and other digital equipment in industry.

Any Bosch or Siemens-branded products have come from BSH. When it comes to the hardware you can connect to your smart home, it’s all about the domestic range of BSH Home Appliances, where the Matter Project Lead is Eelco Lammertink "[...]at BSH I'm responsible for bringing together what requirements might come from the CSA, and how our product teams integrate the Matter spec into our products."

The key focus for BSH Home Appliances seems to be on connectivity and interoperability, and how these enhance the value of their products. Integration of smart home tech naturally requires a focus on connectivity, whether Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or Thread, so this should come as no surprise.

Stephanie Lips, Managing Director Home Connect at BSH Home Appliances: "Connectivity in general is extremely important because our products are enhanced by connectivity and deliver a completely different user experience."

This strategic view of connectivity and compatibility across platforms (which is what interoperability basically refers to) demonstrates the same thinking for BSH as we’ve seen from other organizations in these videos. For example, Bosch Smart Home’s Christian Thess has also expressed support for Matter, noting "I believe we all have a common interest. We want to make user-friendly innovation experiences and use cases, and the competition world amongst us doesn't help there sometimes."

BSH’s focus seems to be on seamless integration and simplified controls, but both groups clearly see Matter as the road to the future smart home.

BSH's involvement in the Matter ecosystem

"The Matter meetings are a lot of fun because we get to come together with a group of like-minded people to solve different challenges that we all face as an industry particular around IoT and connectivity and trying to shape the matter spec…" says Eelco Lammertink.

And BSH’s participation in the CSA is demonstrably comprehensive, giving the European tech giant the opportunity to shape the standard.

Fridges, the Bosch Kitchen Dock, and other kitchen equipment from the BSH lines have already been linked with Matter connectivity. "We really expect Matter to get a lot of momentum.” says Lips. “This is just the beginning... And we want to be part of this journey."

Future proofing Matters to BSH

So, BSH’s commitment to Matter as a means to future proof products is a long-term strategy. They’re not alone in this. I think all of the big players in Matter realize the importance of a reliable and secure smart home environment and how it can help beyond creature comforts and convenience.

Hardware that is built for sustainability, and future-proofed against premature obsolescence, is a far more attractive prospect than cheap, disposable goods. Perhaps the association with famous brands like Bosch with resilient smart home tech is great marketing.

But it also builds consumer trust in smart homes, and that is really what Matter is all about.

(Image credit: Marsupilami/Wikipedia)