The nonprofit Thread Group has been created to tackle the basic problem of finding a common ground to develop the future Internet of Things platform. Probably never again in high-tech history the big companies have been so concerned about compatibility. Lessons have been learned in the hard way by tech companies and regular users struggled with myriads of devices while trying to perform computing basic functions. Two other alliances, Open Interconnect Consortium and AllSeen Alliance gathered most of the big players in the Internet of Things market. Samsung plays on two fields at once, since it already is a member of the first group.

Samsung, Nest and ARM, under Google’s leadership are the core of the nonprofit Thread Group. We cannot really benefit from the upcoming Internet of Things without having interoperable devices. The whole point of the Internet of Things concept is to have a fully working ecosystem of wireless devices. Nonprofit Thread Group was established with this goal in mind.

Nonprofit Thread Group will focus on developing low energy mesh networking

The main principle strategy behind the new alliance is based on mesh networking. The idea is to have the widest wireless network possible without installing new hardware. Mesh networking implies using a mobile device with wi-fi capabilities as a router. As such, the range of Wi-Fi can be increased at no cost. The nonprofit Thread Group will work towards obtaining such a capability with low energy costs. The 6LoWPAN low-power Wi-Fi standard will be at the heart of the new platform. Nest products already feature it. The communication standard will be reliable, and, most importantly, encrypted, thus offering a high degree of security.

The great big news is that for devices to access the new standard of wireless communication, there is no need for hardware upgrading. A software upgrade will enable the devices’ access in the network. Smartphones are highly capable devices, soon to outrun average desktop performance. There is a downside to that, as we all know. Fully charged smartphones’ batteries only offer on-screen experiences for less than a full work day. Until the problem is solved, the main goal of the nonprofit Thread Group is to establish a low energy wireless communication standard. Thread uses the new IPv6, so all the devices will be able to connect to the new type of Internet of Things ecosystem for a long time from now on.