Building on Existing Technology, What's Next for the Smart Home?

With U.S. households now more connected than ever, the home broadband market is growing at the fastest rate in over a decade, according to a new white paper titled "Next-Generation Smart Home: Building for the Future," published by technology market research firm Parks Associates in partnership with Connectivity Standards Alliance. The white paper forecasts that by the end of 2025, approximately 93% of U.S. households will have either a fixed or mobile broadband subscription. And with the number of smart home devices owned by Americans continuing to increase, there's more intense desire among consumers that these devices work together seamlessly and intelligently.

A unified smart home experience is the holy grail of convenience and value for consumers, but fragmentation and interoperability issues have hindered the early development for the smart home. Curated, systems-based approaches – most notably through home security platforms and hub-based smart home systems — have been critical for providing a unified, seamless, smart home experience. Still, most consumers buy point solutions for particular use cases. This widespread purchase behavior limits the opportunity for integration and whole-home experiences.

Industry players have been building standards for decades, and the new Matter standard provides a possible solution that serves an enormous number of stakeholders in the smart home marketplace, including solution providers, manufacturers, and consumers.

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