Samsung Electronics has launched the Home Connectivity Alliance together with The Electrolux Group and Haier, among others. Within this alliance, participating companies will work together to make their smart home services work better together.
With HCA, the participating companies want to make it possible for devices to work with cloud services from other companies. For example, consumers should soon be able to buy a product from Haier or GE Electronics, which works within Samsung’s SmartThings platform. Or that consumers buy a Samsung product, which in turn can be used within the smart home platform of, for example, Haier or GE Electronics.
In addition to this interoperability, the participating companies also want to look at the security of these data flows and the physical safety of consumers. The alliance looks at new and old appliances, with a focus on household appliances, HVAC systems and TVs. In addition to the companies mentioned, American Standard Heating and Air Conditioning, Arçelik and Trane Residential participate in HCA.
To ensure that the devices and smart home platforms can work together, the companies want to set guidelines. Details on this are not yet disclosed. Other companies can join the alliance. The Home Connectivity Alliance seems to want to achieve a similar goal as Open Connectivity Foundation’s OCF Universal Cloud Interface, an api that allows devices from Haier, LG and Samsung, among others, to work together.
In addition, Samsung, Google, Amazon, Apple and The Zigbee Alliance, among others, are working on Matter, a universal standard for smart home devices. The first Matter products should be released later this year. Samsung also announces that it will build SmartThing hubs in TVs, monitors and Family Hub refrigerators.
