The Google-inspired Thread Group has released its first hardware reference testbed and compliant stacks, and while it is off-schedule for its consumer products, it is casting its reach beyond the smart home and into office buildings. With the rival, but similar, ZigBee Alliance also targeting the ‘Internet of Buildings’, this may provide an opportunity for the two groups to merge at last, an outcome Google and its subsidiary Nest have openly supported. That would create a single short range, low power wireless network protocol based on the 802.15.4 standard, and a combined front against the main alternative, Bluetooth Low Energy. The first companies to bring Thread-conforming stacks to market are ARM, NXP and Silicon Labs, supporting the Thread 1.1 specifications.…