Thread protocol

[Ethrex]

Is it possible the ISY hardware could support the Thread protocol? If so, is there any plan for ISY to support Thread?

[ase]

I can't answer for UD, But, what I can say is that several of the products that are listed on thread's official website are already supported via polyglot.

The other thing that hit me is the fact none of the products use Thread exclusively. They all have some other protocol available. This doesn't bode well for the protocol. Supporting a new protocol outside of the polyglot framework would be a massive undertaking. If the manufacturers who build on Thread are not fully committed to it why would UD want to spend the time to develop it within ISY?

The other big issue is the fact it is IPv6 dependent. That isn't big deal if you live in say an asian market that has been quick on the pick up of IPv6, but, in North America where a huge chunk of the business is, that is nearly a deal breaker. While most devices in the market are capable of running IPv6. In most home deployments, it is off by default. Most North American consumers are not going to be able to enable IPv6 throughout their network. I am sure this is why none of the manufactures are 100 percent committed, they need a fallback.

That being said I think it is a wonderful protocol. It is everything I want in a protocol. Network layer based, IP Aware, Encrypted, Mesh, and Open Source.  The Fact it is Network level and IP aware means the medium becomes nearly irrelevant. It can communicate via RF, Powerline, Bluetooth, Wifi, Ethernet, or any other medium that can connect two IP nodes. That IPv6 requirement though, that complicates things. 

If manufactures continue to implement it, I could see it being supported broadly in the future. There just won't be a rush to support it right now, by any company building Home Automation hubs. The American consumer is used to being spoon fed products that require very little work from them. The market is already crowded and confusing to the average American consumer. And as unfair and insane as it seems most of the corporate world places their bets on the American market before all others. 

[lilyoyo1]

8 hours ago, Ethrex said:

Is it possible the ISY hardware could support the Thread protocol? If so, is there any plan for ISY to support Thread?

What is it that you hope to accomplish with thread? Its been around for about 7 years or so with minimal impact and a small number of supported devices. 

When it comes to automation, Matter would mean more than thread by itself. But then again, it remains to be seen if matter really matters