Last year, we already talked about the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA), which aims to create interoperability among all home automation manufacturers. Yes, a “competing” standard to Matter, which we hear so much about. At CES 2023, the HCA announced a major milestone with the introduction of the HCA Specification 1.0 for Cloud-to-Cloud (C2C) interoperability in smart home solutions. HCA is an organization founded by manufacturers of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems, home appliances, and televisions. The HCA was founded with the goal of formulating secure guidelines focused on the interoperability of smart home ecosystems.As a co-founder of the alliance, Samsung Electronics remains constantly committed to innovation. This includes the SmartThings platform, which contributes to the HCA's mission of developing industry standards and guidelines that foster interconnectivity. Through the industry's joint efforts through the alliance, we aim to make the smart home more accessible on the devices consumers use every day.
We are taking a fresh look at how home appliances can improve consumers' lives and how the appliance industry can better work together to create a safer, connected home our customers can trust. By focusing on themes such as energy savings and supporting older home products, we believe we can contribute to a world where sustainability starts at home.
Chanwoo Park, Executive Vice President and Head of the Service Biz Group, Digital Appliances Business, Samsung Electronics Interoperability to Promote Compatibility
The HCA Specification 1.0 builds on existing industry standards to define clear interoperability requirements that ensure devices can work seamlessly together. These devices include long-life appliances, HVAC systems and televisions, older legacy devices, and devices from different brands.
A pioneer in the smart home industry, the SmartThings platform has paved the way for interoperability within the connected home experience. SmartThings supports Internet of Things (IoT) devices from different manufacturers, as well as smart home devices from the primary manufacturer, providing consumers with greater convenience and choice within their connected home ecosystem.With the introduction of the HCA Specification 1.0, this enhanced interaction between devices will soon make the connected home accessible to more consumers than ever before. Version 1.0 supports selected features of the following appliances:
Air purifier
Cooktop
Dishwasher
- Dryer
- Freezer
- Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
- Humidifier/Dehumidifier
- Ice maker
- Oven
- Range hood
- Refrigerator
- Robot cleaner
- Television
- Washing machine
- Water heater
- Sustainability at the heart of the “connected home”
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- The launch of HCA Specification 1.0 paves the way for improving energy efficiency throughout the consumer’s “connected home” experience through holistic data. Customers can improve their energy IQ by identifying the appliances and devices in their home that consume the most energy and adjusting their usage accordingly.
Additionally, innovations such as SmartThings' AI Energy Mode allow consumers to automatically manage their energy consumption and costs with smart, instant insights via a single app on their phone. The HCA Specification 1.0 enables connected brands to offer consumers actionable, sustainability-focused insights to improve energy efficiency and achieve real savings.
Competitors Collaborate on the Connected Future of Consumers
The introduction of the HCA Specification 1.0 for increased interoperability is just the first step in the HCA standardization process. The alliance is already working with energy industry leaders to deliver even more energy-efficient complete home solutions.
The HCA currently includes fifteen global brands, including Samsung, AEG, American Standards, Arcelik, Electrolux, GE Appliances, Haier, LG, Resideo, Trane, and Vestel. HCA membership provides an opportunity to innovate together and share expertise with peers to expand the connected home ecosystem. It also offers consumers greater convenience and options.
With nearly 250 million registered users and over 108 million connected devices, Samsung leverages its market leadership in the smart home sector and works closely with other HCA members to develop and launch new connected home solutions.The HCA C2C Interoperability Demonstration was open to the public at CES 2023 as part of the Smart Home Expo. This technical demonstration showcased 27 solutions from 10 HCA member companies that use C2C connectivity to enable multiple apps to control multiple devices, HVAC systems, and TVs from different brands for optimal interoperability.
It remains to be seen what this new standard will look like in the future, given the increasingly widespread Matter standard. Will users have to choose between two different standards, or can both coexist? After all, several HCA members are also members of Matter, and Matter does not yet support HCA devices…
Source:
Samsung Press Release
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