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Philips Hue has announced the increase of its connection Smart light bulbs made of Matter-over-Thread which will allow them to run both Thread and Zigbee at the same time. This update means you can connect compatible Hue bulbs and switches directly to the Matter ecosystem – Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, or Google Home – while keeping them connected to the Hue Bridge and the Hue ecosystem.
“Today you can’t have Zigbee and Thread running at the same time, so when you deploy it, you have to choose,” Philips Hue CTO George Yianni said. Seaside. “If you want to change it later, you have to set it up again.”
The upcoming update to Hue is supported by a radio communication software developed by Hue’s chip supplier, Silicon Labs, called concurrent multiprotocol technology (CMP). This technology allows Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Thread to work together.
“This means that the light can be connected to the Hue Bridge or the Hue remote control with the Thread network,” says Yianni. “It listens to both commands and responds without thinking of changing or implementing it differently.”
The display will be released later this year on the latest Hue devices built on Silicon Labs’ MG26 and SiMG301 wireless SoCs, which was launched late last year. Yianni said: “It was always planned to do that;
Interestingly, Qorvo chip Ikea uses its own devices with the same technology, it is called ConcurrentConnect. One advantage of supporting all these radios is that the devices can act as mesh extenders. So your Hue bulbs can support your Thread network.
“I can imagine in the future how (the move to Thread) could happen if it would allow us to do something new, to offer something new.”
– George Yianni
Today, you can sync Hue lights with the Hue Bridge and then show them to Apple Home, Google Home, and other Matter platforms via Matter bridging. With CMP, Matter traffic will no longer need to pass through the Hue Bridge. In fact, lights can have two masters, maintaining simultaneous connection with the environment of Hue and Matter controller. This means you can connect directly to Matter without leaving the Hue interface.
Its immediate benefit is today’s change, but there is also evidence of tomorrow’s future. “We’re not using Thread for our own use,” Yianni says, but he doesn’t rule out moving the Hue environment to Thread if the standard evolves to provide better performance than Zigbee.
“It gives us options as to whether a future evolution of the Thread standard will allow us to apply it to our current application,” he says. “This could be something that will make us rethink how we live. If we can successfully organize fun, interactive communities on the Thread network,” he says. “It’s not like that today and there are no plans to do it, but I can imagine the future if it allows us to do something new, to give something new.”
Meanwhile, Hue users will soon be able to connect compatible light bulbs directly to Apple Home, Google Home, and other Matter platforms, while continuing to use the features available through the Hue Bridge.
