On August 19th Samsung announced a brand-new hub architecture for its SmartThings platform called SmartThings Edge. SmartThings Edge will bring speed, security, and reliability to the SmartThings platform.
SmartThings continues as one of the most popular smart home platforms with more than 62 million active users. The hub supports a number of protocols including Zigbee, Z-Wave, LAN-based integrations, and soon and it will support the new Matter connectivity standard. Moreover, it supports a vast ecosystem of products like motion sensors, contact sensors, switches and a vast universe of smart devices that can integrate and be controlled with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa voice assistants. SmartThings Edge will make networks run faster, more smoothly, and more safely.
This transition to Edge will occur behind the scenes for SmartThings users. The effect of the transition should be immediately noticeable. The change will allow for local data processing in your SmartThings Hub. Eliminating cloud execution of device instructions will result in much faster response times for automations, reducing latency, and increasing reliability between connected devices. It will also improve device and data security as that information won't leave your home.

In addition to these consumer-focused enhancements, SmartThings Edge will make it easier for developers to work with Samsung's platform. The move from the legacy Groovy platform will give developers the ability to build integrations that have Device Drivers with Lua. Lua is a lightweight, high-level, multi-paradigm programming language designed primarily for embedded use in applications. SmartThings Edge uses Lua-based device drivers and the SmartThings Rules API to control and automate devices connected directly to a SmartThings Hub.
Previously, sharing device type handlers (DTH) required end-users to copy and paste the code for each individual DTH into their accounts. This could be confusing and time-consuming for users to ensure they had the latest updates installed. With SmartThings Edge, SmartThings will introduce driver sharing for community distribution. This will allow the SmartThings end users to share custom devices with a simple link—no need to copy and paste code!

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