Some interesting changes coming from zigbee, most of which will be invisible to end users, but will improve network efficiency.
One interesting point: some additional frequencies are being added, and these are outside of the range that Wi-Fi interferes with. That doesn’t mean they will work with smartthings right away since smartthings doesn’t have those radios, but it’s still interesting for long-term.
This one is super technical, but should be helpful in network reliability
The Zigbee PRO 2023 version also progresses standardization of hub-centric operations with the first phase of ‘Works with All Hubs’, a feature that improves network resiliency on a Hub-centric network by helping devices to identify the most suitable parent for securely joining and rejoining the network.
Some definite security improvements. These should be invisible to end-users, but are certainly good to see.
The key new security features include Dynamic Link Key, Device Interview, and Trust Center Swap Out. Dynamic Link Key is a significant improvement based on Public/Private key pairing and advanced security curves, further protecting the network from attacks. Device Interview technology allows users to query and filter out the devices before allowing them onto a network based on ecosystem requirements. The Trust Center Swap-Out feature allows changing out the ‘Trust Center’ which can be a gateway, hub, smart speaker, and even commercial electric meters for a network without requiring all devices to be recommissioned.
The following is another long-term benefit as far as smartthings goes, but should mean that sometime in the future, we will finally be able to add local monitoring of some smart meters. But it’s going to be a ways off. Good trajectory, though.
In addition to the security improvements, Zigbee devices built to Zigbee PRO 2023 specifications with a sufficient level of security are now able to be on the same network as Smart Energy devices, providing the exchange of important information to further improve control and use of the energy and devices.
So nothing that will change anything right away, but two years from now, assuming smartthings adds support for some of these features, I think it will be a real improvement in terms of network reliability, and security.