I really appreciate the information in this article, thank you for sharing.  One suggestion for improvement though would be to talk specifically how TP-Link will be adopting Matter.  The final paragraph that states "as we receive more information about how TP-Link will be adopting Matter...." doesn't instill much confidence that TP-Link understands how it will fit into this new world. 

Given that Matter is supposed to be available "this fall" I'd think TP-Link would be more clear on their participation in this new standard.

@homeownergeek Folks have been asking this for over a year https://community.tp-link.com/us/smart-home/forum/topic/265136

i imagine the biggest question is the same one I have, what does this mean for Kasa devices?  
 

it seems to me like tp-link is quietly end-of-life'ing Kasa devices in favor of their Tapco line.  If they had a roadmap or plan for support they'd have publizized that fact by now.  

Does this mean a network Access Point (AP) will possibly become a middle man to allow your devices to communicate on the Internet as well as communicate with each other?
This would give you better control on the communications and allow you to control the traffic through a router and firewall. Putting it on it own VLAN would allow you to control the security of your network better instead of using a edge device that could have access to all your network devices on your network.

@HomeownerGeek @jb510,

Thanks for stopping by! 

TP-Link has plans to implement the matter protocol in the future. I cannot share any details regarding how, so that's why I'm recommending keeping an eye out for more information on the community, as I will share it as soon as I can. We also do not want to share any specific plans regarding our support and implementation until its final form has been achieved by the engineering team. The last thing we want to do is promise that a feature or product may be coming soon, only to have a product removed, or a feature changed.

When it comes to Matter, the technologies on the devices that support the protocol will end up determining how they implement Matter. Wi-Fi-powered devices that receive matter support will be able to connect to your matter network through an IP connection, and devices with a Bluetooth module may be given a Bluetooth Provisioning feature, depending on the compatibility of the protocol and existing hardware.

From what I have been told and am reading online, the official release and adoption of the Matter protocol have been pushed back a few times now on a protocol-wide scale. I have heard,  that we should be hearing more detailed information regarding the release from the Connectivity Standards Alliance.

As Matter is the Future of Smart Home Communications, TP-Link is working hard to make sure that our users have the best experience possible, using the most up-to-date technologies. As TP-Link releases more new products, expect to hear more detailed information on what and how devices will be compatible with the protocol.As TP-Link releases more new products, expect to hear more detailed information on what and how devices will be compatible with the protocol.

@jb510 

There are a lot of rumors still circling around indicating that Tapo will be favored by TP-Link over Kasa. I can guarantee you, this is not the case and there are many new exciting products and features coming to our Kasa line of products. In fact, the developers have been collecting feedback regarding what features users would like to see in the Kasa app; so I think it is safe to expect some improvements and features for our Kasa app sometime soon.

In case you did not now, Tapo has been a TP-Link brand that has seen a large amount of success internationally but is just starting in the United States. Kasa on the other hand, is the reverse, with a huge presence in the United States, and far less abroad. For this reason, there are no plans to EOL Kasa Smart, ESPECIALLY with it not being in the best interests of TP-Link USA.

Don't worry, by the way, the company and team are seeing the community's reaction to the rumor of Kasa being EOL'd; and I have seen no indication that this may be the case in the future.

Furthermore, while it may not appear as the case right now, according to our US product offerings, the Tapo brand is based around a Hub and Sub-GHz Technology, while Kasa focuses on Wi-Fi Smart Devices. As more products for the Tapo line are released, this distinction will become more and more clear.

@MaximusMark,

There are actually a load of security features that are included with the Matter Protocol. For example, you can choose what devices in the network are able to communicate with each other, and which devices can see the status/info of a device.

Matter actually supports the inclusion of two matter controllers that can interact with each other, and use the same devices, but have different security and access permissions. This would let you create a much more secure smart home ecosystem for your home.

From what I can tell, yes it is the case that an AP would accomplish, however this will not be too terribly different from current VLAN settings for APs., and would only work this way for wi-fi exclusive devices.

 @Riley_S, may I ask to clarify something re the compatibility of existing devices? I have one L900 running and like it a lot, and thus consider buying a few more (and pair them with motion sensors at some point). But, do I understand it correctly that the L900 will need a Matter-compliant hub in order to profit from the Matter standard, while the new  L925 will work without such a hub? Thanks for clarifying this..

Also, any guesstimate on the availability of all the devices you have on the Matter list, but in particular the L925 (and the hub H100M)?

We cant share any release dates that we have for products as they may change, however I can say that the release date is soon and the first matter devices should hit the stores in January. There is a lot that we do not know about the Matter Integration into our Devices. When our first device is released we will be able to give more information about whether a hub will be used to bring older devices to the protocol. 

The matter protocol is capable of connecting devices via a variety of methods/protocols; so it is not guaranteed to require a hub if it uses IPv6 networking. If you are looking to have matter only devices, I would recommend purchasing devices that were built with the protocol in mind to get the best experience. Right now there is only One Matter device on the market, so it is still a little early to know how it will all piece together.

First off, I am happy that this protocol exists and appears to be actively in revision. I've seen products displaying the term, "Matter," and always wondered what they were talking about. Didn't realize it was in relation to an innovative protocol that may one day improve our digital lives.

There is a lot of net-positives in this initiative. The goals in which Matter aims to accomplish are both bold and gigantic. This is a good and a bad thing. It's good because something needs to bring us into a better protected digital realm. History has shown us that the most profound inventions were initially downplayed. I like that Matter dares to be bold in its extremely wide-scoped goal.

However I think this level of compliance across major platforms that already implement invasive ToS's will not do so kindly. They will try to find a workaround by any angle and by any means necessary, and we all know they have the means. Therefore this level of standardization may take an entire generation before it gains wide-spread adoption. Not to mention this must be a legality enigma among both parties. The legal process alone is what makes me think that the rapid adoption of a protocol such as Matter is not a realistic perspective.

Nonetheless, I am happy to see a large company like TP Link take strides to spread awareness and inform their end users about these developing innovations, even if it is partially to try to sell me some color changing light bulbs. What I would really like to know is how it could be possible to prevent large tech companies from gathering data on devices with this protocol implemented if the user is already using other products on their platform, that aren't based on a framework by Matter? It all seems too good to ever come to fruition from my surface-level perspective. But we've got to, no, we have to try though.

Interested in what tplink brings to the market with matter as it matures.