Thread is an IPv6-based, closed-documentation, royalty-free networking protocol for Internet of Things (IoT) "smart" home automation devices to communicate on a local wireless mesh network.
In July 2014, the "Thread Group" alliance was announced, which today is a working group with the companies Nest Labs (a subsidiary of Alphabet/Google), Samsung, ARM Holdings, Qualcomm, NXP Semiconductors/Freescale, Silicon Labs, Big Ass Solutions, Somfy, OSRAM, Tyco International, and the lock company Yale in an attempt to have Thread become the industry standard by providing Thread certification for products.
Thread uses 6LoWPAN, which in turn uses the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless protocol with mesh communication, as does ZigBee and other systems. Thread however is IP-addressable, with cloud access and AES encryption. It currently supports up to 250 devices in one local network mesh.
An "AS IS" BSD licensed free and open-source implementation of Thread (called "OpenThread") has also been released by Nest.
Competing IoT protocols
Other competing Internet of Things (IoT) protocols currently already in wide use globally include ZigBee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth LE (also known as Bluetooth Smart).