Glossary

IoT and Connected Product Glossary

Plain definitions of the smart home, connectivity and post-purchase terms used across the Copilot.cx guides, from Matter and Thread to OTA updates and onboarding.

Last reviewed Oct 16, 2026

Amazon ACK (Alexa Connect Kit)

Amazon ACK, the Alexa Connect Kit, is an Amazon managed service that lets manufacturers connect smart home products to Alexa without building their own cloud. Amazon provides SDKs, modules from partners, setup features such as Frustration-Free Setup, OTA updates and device metrics. Matter-enabled ACK products can also work with other Matter ecosystems.

Ayla Networks

Ayla Networks is a US-based IoT platform company that provides cloud connectivity, device management and app tools for smart home products. Its platform supports multiple connectivity options, including Matter solutions. Ayla describes it as an end-to-end IoT platform designed specifically for smart home and IoT solutions.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)

Bluetooth Low Energy, often shortened to BLE, is a low-power radio mode of the Bluetooth standard specified by the Bluetooth SIG. It is used for short-range data exchange with phones, for wearables and sensors, and for device setup, where a phone app sends Wi-Fi or network credentials to a new product before it joins the home network.

Bluetooth Mesh

Bluetooth Mesh is a Bluetooth SIG specification that lets Bluetooth Low Energy devices form a many-to-many mesh network, relaying messages between nodes. It is used mainly for lighting control, building automation and sensor networks where many devices must communicate across an area larger than the range of a single radio link.

Cloud-to-cloud integration

A cloud-to-cloud integration connects a manufacturer's own device cloud to a smart home ecosystem's cloud, so users can control the brand's products from that ecosystem's app or voice assistant. The user links accounts, typically through OAuth 2.0. Google Home and Amazon Alexa both offer this option alongside local standards such as Matter.

Commissioning

Commissioning is the process of adding a new device to a network and granting it credentials so it can be controlled. In Matter, a commissioner such as a phone app or hub verifies the device, usually through a QR or numeric setup code, then provisions network credentials and operational certificates. Bluetooth Low Energy can be used during this step.

Consumer review

A consumer review is a buyer's evaluation of a product, service or business published on a site or platform that collects such evaluations, including star ratings without text. In the United States, the FTC rule on consumer reviews and testimonials prohibits fake reviews, buying reviews for a particular sentiment, undisclosed insider reviews and certain review suppression practices.

ESP32

ESP32 is a family of system-on-chip microcontrollers from Espressif Systems that integrate Wi-Fi and, depending on the series, Bluetooth LE and IEEE 802.15.4 radios. Different series, such as ESP32-S3, ESP32-C6 and ESP32-H2, vary in cores, radios and memory. The chips are used in connected consumer products and are supported by the ESP-IDF framework.

ETSI EN 303 645

ETSI EN 303 645 is a European standard from ETSI that sets baseline cybersecurity provisions for consumer IoT products. Its provisions include no universal default passwords, a published way to report vulnerabilities, keeping software updated, secure storage of credentials and protection of personal data. It is referenced by several regulators and certification schemes.

EU Cyber Resilience Act

The EU Cyber Resilience Act is a European Union regulation that sets cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements, including connected consumer devices, placed on the EU market. It covers secure design, vulnerability handling and security updates across a product's support period. Its obligations apply in stages after entry into force, so manufacturers plan compliance over several years.

Google Home

Google Home is Google's smart home ecosystem, including the Google Home app, Nest devices and the Google Home platform for developers. Manufacturers can make products work with it through Matter or through cloud-to-cloud integration, and can use Google Home APIs in their own apps. Some Google Home devices act as Matter hubs and Thread border routers.

IEEE 802.15.4

IEEE 802.15.4 is a standard from the IEEE 802.15 working group that defines the physical and MAC layers for low-rate, low-power wireless personal area networks. It is a radio foundation, not a complete product protocol. Thread and Zigbee both build their networking and application layers on top of IEEE 802.15.4 radios.

Matter

Matter is an IP-based smart home connectivity standard maintained by the Connectivity Standards Alliance. It defines a common application layer so certified devices from different brands can work with each other and with multiple ecosystems. Matter runs over Wi-Fi, Thread and Ethernet, and uses Bluetooth Low Energy for commissioning new devices.

Mesh network

A mesh network is a topology in which devices relay messages for one another instead of each connecting directly to a single access point. Messages can take more than one path, so the network can route around a failed or distant node. Thread, Zigbee, Z-Wave and Bluetooth Mesh are mesh protocols used in smart home products.

MQTT

MQTT is a lightweight publish and subscribe messaging protocol designed for devices with limited resources and unreliable networks. Devices publish messages to topics on a broker, and other clients subscribe to the topics they need. It is an OASIS standard and is used to move telemetry and commands between connected devices and cloud services.

Multi-admin (Matter fabric)

Multi-admin is the Matter capability that lets one device be controlled by several ecosystems at the same time, such as Google Home, Amazon Alexa and Apple Home. Each ecosystem joins the device as a separate fabric, a logical group of nodes that share a root of trust, so control does not depend on a single platform.

OAuth 2.0

OAuth 2.0 is an authorization framework, published by the IETF as RFC 6749, that lets a user grant one service limited access to their account on another service without sharing their password. In smart home products, it powers account linking, for example when a user connects a brand's device account to a voice assistant or ecosystem app.

Over-the-air (OTA) update

An over-the-air update, or OTA update, delivers new firmware or software to a device through its network connection instead of a physical cable. OTA lets manufacturers fix bugs, patch security vulnerabilities and add features after a product is sold. Safe OTA designs verify the image and keep a fallback partition in case an update fails.

Push notification

A push notification is a message that an app's server sends to a phone through the operating system's notification service, so it appears even when the app is closed. On iOS and Android, users must allow notifications. Connected-product apps use them for alerts such as motion detected, device offline, or available updates.

System-on-chip (SoC)

A system-on-chip, or SoC, is an integrated circuit that combines a processor, memory interfaces, peripherals and often wireless radios on a single die. In connected products, the choice of SoC determines which protocols the device can speak, how much firmware it can run, its power consumption and which over-the-air update options are available.

Thread

Thread is a low-power, IPv6-based wireless mesh networking protocol for smart home and IoT devices, promoted by the Thread Group. It runs on IEEE 802.15.4 radios, is designed to avoid a single point of failure, and connects to other IP networks through a border router. Matter uses Thread as one of its network transports.

Thread border router

A Thread border router is a device that connects a Thread mesh network to other IP networks, such as a home Wi-Fi or Ethernet network. It lets Thread devices reach phones, hubs and cloud services. Smart speakers, displays and hubs from several ecosystems can act as border routers, and open-source implementations such as OpenThread exist.

Tuya (Tuya IoT Development Platform)

Tuya is an IoT company whose Tuya IoT Development Platform gives manufacturers modules, firmware, cloud services and app development kits for building connected products. Brands can launch products under Tuya's own apps or use its app SDKs to build branded apps. The platform also provides device management, data services and manufacturing tools.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is the family of wireless local area network technologies based on the IEEE 802.11 standards, with interoperability certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Many connected consumer products use it to reach the home router and the internet directly, without a hub. It offers higher throughput than low-power mesh protocols but typically uses more power.

Wi-Fi 6

Wi-Fi 6 is the Wi-Fi Alliance generation name for devices based on IEEE 802.11ax. It adds features such as OFDMA and Target Wake Time, which help routers serve many devices efficiently and let battery-powered clients schedule sleep periods. Wi-Fi 6E extends the same technology into the 6 GHz band where regulators allow it.

Wi-Fi 7

Wi-Fi 7 is the Wi-Fi Alliance generation name for devices based on IEEE 802.11be. It introduces capabilities such as Multi-Link Operation, which lets a device use more than one band at once, and wider 320 MHz channels in the 6 GHz band. Many low-cost smart home devices still use earlier Wi-Fi generations.

Wi-Fi Easy Connect

Wi-Fi Easy Connect is a Wi-Fi Alliance certification program for onboarding devices that have little or no display. A user scans a QR code or uses another method with a phone or similar configurator device, which then securely provisions the new device onto the Wi-Fi network without typing the password into the device itself.

Wi-Fi HaLow

Wi-Fi HaLow is the Wi-Fi Alliance name for products based on IEEE 802.11ah, which operates in sub-1 GHz spectrum. Compared with 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi, it is designed for longer range, better penetration through walls and lower power use, at lower data rates. It targets IoT sensors and similar low-bandwidth devices.

WPA3

WPA3 is the current generation of Wi-Fi security certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance, succeeding WPA2. It strengthens protection for password-based networks through Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE), which resists offline password guessing. Connected products that support WPA3 can join networks configured to require it, which matters as routers move to newer security defaults.

Z-Wave

Z-Wave is a wireless mesh protocol for smart home devices, governed by the Z-Wave Alliance. It operates in sub-GHz frequency bands that vary by region, which helps it avoid congestion in the 2.4 GHz band. Z-Wave products are certified for interoperability and usually connect to apps and cloud services through a Z-Wave hub or controller.

Zigbee

Zigbee is a low-power wireless mesh standard from the Connectivity Standards Alliance for smart home, building and energy devices. It builds on IEEE 802.15.4 radios and defines the network and application layers up to a shared data model. It supports 2.4 GHz and sub-GHz bands and uses AES-128 encryption. Zigbee networks typically connect to apps through a hub or gateway.

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