Samsung’s SmartThings Edge promises a more efficient smart home experience

SmartThings Edge is more than Groovy.

What you need to know

• Yesterday, Samsung announced a new hub architecture for its smart home platform called SmartThings Edge.
• The update brings enhancements to speed, security, and reliability.
• SmartThings Edge continues Samsung’s exit from its legacy Groovy developer platform.

As part of an ongoing effort to update and upgrade its internet of things (IoT) services, Samsung has announced a brand-new hub architecture for its SmartThings platform called SmartThings Edge. Samsung says this new hub architecture will make SmartThings more reliable, faster, and more secure.

SmartThings is one of the most popular smart home platforms with a vast ecosystem of products like motion sensors and smart bulbs that can integrate with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa-powered devices. Samsung has been making it easier for its customers to add old and new devices to their SmartThings network, and the Edge project will make those networks run faster, more smoothly, and more safely.

This transition will occur behind the scenes for SmartThings users and won’t appear as an obvious update in the app, but its effects should be immediately noticeable and relevant. It will allow for local data processing in their home’s SmartThings Hub, bypassing the cloud for faster response times for automation, reducing latency, and increasing reliability between connected devices. By removing the cloud from the equation, Samsung also believes this will improve device and data security as that information won’t leave the home.

In addition to these consumer-focused enhancements, SmartThings Edge will make it easier for developers to work with Samsung’s platform. The company says it is moving away from its legacy Groovy platform and that developers will now be able to build integrations that have Device Drivers with Lua. SmartThings edge will work with all kinds of smart home products and protocols, including those using Zigbee, Z-Wave, LAN-based integrations, and soon — Matter.

The SmartThings smart hub

Aeotec Smart Home Hub

$110 at Best Buy

The nerve center for all of your SmartThings.

The Aeotec Smart Home Hub has replaced older generations of Samsung’s devices as the new hardware controller for your SmartThings ecosystem.