
By Byron V. Acohido
The IQ of our smart homes is about to level-up.
Hundreds of different types of smart devices designed to automate tasks and route control to our smart phones and wearable devices have arrived on store shelves, just in time for the holiday shopping season.
Related: Extending digital trust globally
Some of these latest, greatest digital wonders will function well together, thanks to the new Matter smart home devices standard, which was introduced one year ago.
However, there’s still a long way to go to achieve deep interoperability of interconnected services in a way that preserves privacy and is very secure. Matter is a bellwether, part of a fresh slate of technical standards and protocols taking shape that will help to ingrain digital trust and pave the way for massively-interconnected, highly-interoperable digital services.
I recently discussed the current state of tech standards with DigiCert’s Mike Nelson, Global Vice President of Digital Trust and, Dean Coclin, Senior Director of Trust Services, at DigiCert Trust Summit 2023. We drilled down on Matter as well as another new standard, BIMI, which stands for “brand indicators for message?identification.” BIMI essentially is a carrot-on-a-stick mechanism designed to incentivize e-mail marketers to proactively engage in suppressing email spoofing. Here are my takeaways:
Matter picks up steam
Frustration with smart home devices should be much reduced in 2024. That’s because gadgets that bear the Matter logo are more readily available than ever. Matter-compliant thermostats, pet cams, vacuum cleaners, kitchen appliances, TVs and security systems can no