The Thread Group has announced an interoperability deal with the EEBus Initiative, which will see the two collaborate on smart home solutions. The deal follows similar moves by Thread to secure liaisons with the ZigBee Alliance and the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF), and looks like something of a reinvigoration for the alliance, following a recent lull. The EEBus Initiative stems from a collaboration between Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) and the Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU). It was established to promote the E-Energy research program, and consequently has strong history in the renewable energy and smart grid sector – into which smart homes eventually slot, as a core component in demand response…