The SSL team has headed to Austin, Texas, for Unify 2026, the premier public event hosted by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). SSL is a co-sponsor, alongside Keyfactor, of this year’s conference, which brings together more than 50 speakers and 20-plus sessions over two days, with keynotes, panels, and live interoperability demos.
They’re bringing you the latest news, insights, and the discussions we’re hearing between sessions that are driving the power and potential of open standards in the Internet of Things.
Our daily journal, straight from the exhibit floor at the Hilton Austin, is compiled by our boots-on-the-ground team, including Dom Guinard, Director of Product – Content Authenticity and IoT, and Leo Grove, President and CEO of SSL.
Thursday, June 18, 2026
From Leo Grove, SSL President and CEO:
It’s great to be here at Unify 2026 in Austin as part of our continued involvement with Matter, and by now partnering with Keyfactor, we can deliver a complete turnkey solution for home automation and IoT devices. In meeting the future challenges of AI and post-quantum, the mass adoption of IT is growing substantially. It’s great to be an integral part of that ecosystem where security is paramount, with IoT devices that need to be encrypted and secured to protect your customers.
There is always something new to learn about with the standards, and Unify is the right place to do so. There are great people, collaboration, and partnership opportunities to explore. We look forward to continuing our involvement in advancing the technology to make the world a safer place.
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
From Dustin Ward, SSL EVP of Technology:
One of my biggest takeaways from Unify Day 2 is that the industry is moving beyond connected devices and focusing on connected experiences. The keynote talked a lot about standards, Matter, Aliro, and the idea that consumers shouldn’t have to worry about what a brand’s device is or which ecosystem it belongs to. Things should just work together. But for that to happen, trust has to be built into the foundation. That’s where SSL comes in. As a product attestation authority, we help provide the trusted identity that allows devices to prove they’re authentic and secure before they join this ecosystem. The future isn’t just about connecting more devices. It’s about creating trust and interoperable experiences. That’s where the industry is headed.
From Luis Cervantes, Compliance Officer and Security Auditor:
From the compliance side, there’s a lot of work to be done. Currently, they use the same standards as WebTrust (RFC 3647) for the Matter Standard certificate policy, but there are no guardrails for auditing against it to ensure that those issuing these certificates do so as intended. In our communications with IoT manufacturers and working groups here, we are hopeful we can soon bridge these gaps.
From Dom Guinard, Director of Product – Content Authenticity and IoT:
After 20 years working in IoT, I was lucky to finally see Kevin Ashton live here at Unify.
He explained how he coined the term “IoT” back in 1999 with the great humour only a Brit can truly master: A tale of tracking lipsticks at Procter & Gamble is how the initial IoT concept started. He borrowed the word “things” from Massachusetts Institute of Technology‘s Neil Gershenfeld, and the term “Internet” from CISCO‘s John Chambers’ great presentations…before adding the term “of” himself.
Ashton followed this tale from back in time with a very inspirational talk about the importance of the future. Particularly with interoperability standards like Matter, but also about how to think bigger and more relevant, beyond the smart toaster and the smart refrigerator. It definitely made me want to pick up his latest book, titled “The Story of Stories: The Million-Year History of a Uniquely Human Art.”
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
From Dustin Ward, SSL EVP of Technology:
Most of the conversation around connected devices is about features and interoperability. The part I keep coming back to is identity. Every Matter device needs a credential it can actually prove, and every one of those credentials traces back to a chain of trust that someone has to operate at scale.
At SSL, we run public CA infrastructure, and the hard problems facing IoT right now look strikingly familiar to us. Device attestation. Certificate lifecycle across millions of endpoints. What happens when post-quantum migration meets hardware that ships and stays in the field for a decade? These are the same questions and concerns we’re already solving for the web.
If you are building device identity, attestation, or trust infrastructure for connected products, I want to compare notes while I’m here. Find me on the Unify exhibit floor at Table 15 or message me via LinkedIn.
From Dom Guinard, Director of Product – Content Authenticity and IoT:
Dom and Keyfactor’s Guillaume Crinon, Director, IoT Business Strategy, offer a sneak peek of the demo we’re presenting on the Unify exhibit floor.
If your business focuses on smart home and voice-integrated product development, energy management systems, or traditional smart switches and sensors, connect with the SSL team to learn how we can help.