Netatmo launches new platform to make smart objects talk to each other

French startup Netatmo just introduced a new developer platform called Netatmo Connect so that developers can build software and hardware integrations with Netatmo products. Netatmo sells weather stations, thermostats, indoor and outdoor cameras. The startup raised $32 million in November 2015.

It’s interesting to see that Netatmo doesn’t want to rely exclusively on other platforms, such as IFTTT or Apple’s HomeKit — some of its products are compatible with other platforms already. Instead, the company thinks other developers are going to integrate with its devices thanks its own unified set of APIs.

In fact, there are already 20 companies and 14,000 developers working with Netatmo’s existing APIs. Today’s news is that Netatmo is getting serious about these APIs and unifying its efforts on this front.

There are three core areas for Netatmo and the company is going to provide three different programs for each area. Netatmo’s first product was a weather station, and there are already many people using these devices. AccuWeather even uses these data points to make weather predictions. The Netatmo Weather program will let developers tap into all this weather information.

Second, Netatmo Smart Home is going to work with the company’s smart thermostat, indoor and outdoor camera. IFTTT already provides triggers so you can change the temperature or receive an alert using your Netatmo products and other services.

Finally, Netatmo has been ramping up its enterprise customers. The company is now working with Engie in France so that the utility provider can collect data and analyze trends from Netatmo’s thermostats. While this isn’t as sexy as other programs, Netatmo Enterprise could play an important role in the future of the company.

We’re at a tipping point when it comes to the internet of things. Many customers have now bought smart home devices and realize that they aren’t as smart as they should be. Making your lights work with your thermostat and your garage door is hard. The future of the internet of things is platforms.

If companies don’t want to disappoint their customers, they have to foster developer platforms or integrate with HomeKit, the Amazon Echo, Works with Nest and all the other platforms out there. With today’s news, Netatmo shows that it is perfectly aware of this trend.