Thread Group Opens Testing to Members as ARM, NXP and Silicon Labs Bring First Conforming Stacks to Market

Availability of Reference Test Bed, Harness and Lab Marks Final Milestone Towards Thread Product Certification for Thread 1.1 Technical Specification

SAN RAMON, Calif.--In its effort to drive adoption of the Thread networking protocol in the connected home and beyond, the Thread Group today announced the release of its initial hardware reference test bed and test harness, as well as the opening of its test lab to members. Further, the Thread Group also announced that the test bed participants ARM, NXP and Silicon Labs have released the first conforming stacks that have successfully passed testing based on the Thread 1.1 technical specification. This announcement opens the door for member companies to utilize the Thread test resources - test bed, test harness and UL’s lab - to test products for conformance based on the 1.1 specification.

“The arrival of this milestone generates a new wave of momentum for Thread. We’re very excited to see the first Thread 1.1-conforming stacks come to market, and for our member companies to move their Thread-enabled products towards commercial availability,” said Grant Erickson, president of the Thread Group. “As an organization, we’re addressing a profound gap in the way we connect things where people live and work -- an easy-to-use, IP-based, resilient, low-power, and secure way to connect and control products -- and we’re very pleased that our memberships’ vision, collaboration, and hard work are coming to fruition.”

Members of the Thread Group can access a number of advanced tools and resources to support their product development lifecycle. The Thread Group provides a hardware test bed, which includes multiple silicon and stack implementations. It also collaborated with Granite River Labs to develop a test harness which runs automated test scripts on the test bed - confirming proper functionality, while enabling the highest degree of speed and repeatability in the testing process. The test harness features an automated DUT (device under test) and API (programming interface) that enables members to integrate the Thread test harness into their internal automated testing environment and run constant regression testing.

The Thread Group has a number of leading silicon providers in its membership, and with the addition of the test resources, the group expects to see additional conforming stacks come to market in the coming months. The Thread Group is now working with UL Labs to perform interoperability testing with the conformant stacks from ARM, NXP, and Silicon Labs. Upon the successful completion of interoperability tests, Thread will designate these stacks as “Thread certified.” The Thread Group expects to meet this milestone in late 2016.

“Silicon Labs is committed to Thread as one of the founding member companies to build a better solution to connect products within the home, and we have worked alongside many companies to bring that technology to market,” said Skip Ashton, Vice President of Software at Silicon Labs. “Our customers are excited about the potential of Thread since we first announced the venture, and we’re very pleased to begin shipping the conforming stacks to our customers in so they can begin building products.”

“As a founding and active member of Thread, NXP is committed to establishing and evolving the protocol and its specs. We’re pleased to be one of the first to market with a compliant end-to-end solution that meets the needs of the entire Thread network,” said Emmanuel Sambuis, Vice President of Microcontrollers at NXP Semiconductors. “The powerful combination of our Thread conformant stack optimized for our broad portfolio of products, which include Kinetis MCUs and i.MX Application Processors, will significantly help drive new secure and IP-based solutions for the smart home.”

“ARM, a founding member of the Thread Group, has prioritized Thread as a strategic networking protocol for the Internet of Things (IoT),” said Michael Horne, deputy general manager, IoT Business, ARM. “The protocol is supported by ARM® mbed™ OS 5.2, a fully conformant software stack with automated testing that ensures high-quality implementations. Simultaneous availability from multiple suppliers of Thread stacks optimized for ARM-based silicon will accelerate IoT device development and deployment at scale.”

About Thread

Designed for devices and things in the places where people live and work, Thread is an IPv6 networking protocol built on open standards for low-power 802.15.4 mesh networks that can easily and securely connect hundreds of devices to each other and directly to the cloud. The non-profit Thread Group is focused on making Thread the foundation for the Internet of Things in the home and beyond, educating product developers, builders and consumers on the unique features and benefits of Thread and ensuring a positive experience through rigorous, meaningful product certification. Thread is backed by industry-leading companies including ARM, Big Ass Solutions, Nest Labs, NXP, OSRAM, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Schneider Electric, Silicon Labs, Somfy, Tyco and Yale Security. Since opening its membership in October 2014, Thread has grown quickly to include a diverse membership. For more information, please visit http://www.threadgroup.org.