News Highlights:
- ZigBee Alliance ready to help unify the IoT making it easier to build smart solutions for homes, buildings and cities.
- Industry rallies around new solution as EnOcean Alliance jointly announces collaboration to combine widely adopted interoperable wireless energy harvesting definitions with ZigBee 3.0.
- Ratification paves way for standards convergence around a newly consolidated ZigBee applications library that is the industry’s most complete set of definitions for IoT device interoperability.
Davis, Calif. – December 16, 2015 – The ZigBee Alliance, a non-profit association of companies creating open, global standards that define the Internet of Things (IoT) for use in consumer, commercial and industrial applications, today announced ratification of ZigBee 3.0, which builds on and unifies ZigBee standards already proven across hundreds of millions of shipped devices. ZigBee 3.0 ratification opens the door to a new era of improved communication and interoperability between products used in applications ranging from connected home, intelligent buildings and smart cities to connected lighting, energy efficiency and other applications.
“Last December we shared our vision for a unifying IoT standard that would make it easier to develop and market interoperable products and solutions, unlock growth opportunities, and fuel innovation to enable surprising new capabilities in the home, workplace and cities,” said Tobin Richardson, President and CEO of the ZigBee Alliance. “After a year of member testing and development, we now announce a significant step in fulfilling this vision with the ratification of ZigBee 3.0. This – along with finalization of our Common Applications Library – is a major milestone that we believe will help propel the IoT past infancy to mainstream market opportunities that can only be realized with future-proofed products that are easy to build and deploy, and that deliver compelling benefits across many different applications.”
Helping to lead the standards groups to collaborate with the ZigBee Alliance on fulfilling this vision for the IoT is the EnOcean Alliance. The two groups will work together to combine the benefits of EnOcean Equipment Profiles (EEPs) already widely adopted in the sub-one GHz frequency with the newly ratified ZigBee 3.0 solution in the worldwide 2.4 GHz frequency band.
ZigBee 3.0 is the first single unified, open and complete wireless IoT product development solution of its kind. It extends all the way from the physical to application layer, and includes certification and branding for improved interoperability across a growing range of market segments. Based on proven ZigBee PRO Mesh networking and with unique Green Power support for advanced energy-harvesting devices, ZigBee 3.0 is fully compatible with existing ZigBee Home Automation and ZigBee Light Link standards. ZigBee 3.0 unifies all previous application-specific ZigBee device descriptions, behaviors and profiles into a common applications layer that supports all IoT product development needs for smart homes, buildings and neighborhood area networks. The availability of ZigBee 3.0-certified devices will increase choice and flexibility for developers and users, and deliver the confidence that products and services will all work together.
“The ZigBee Alliance has delivered on its promise of a unifying IoT standard,” said Bruno Vulcano, Vice Chairman of the Board, ZigBee Alliance, and VDI & RF Engineering Manager, Legrand. “ZigBee 3.0 addresses the need for true interoperability between IoT devices and solutions by standardizing all layers of the network.”
ZigBee 3.0 ratification is the first major step in a number of planned 2016 initiatives that will be focused on further simplifying IoT product development and deployment, reducing industry confusion through the availability of a consolidated set of open application device definitions, and helping members bring the benefits and capabilities of connected IoT devices to a significantly broader range of applications and markets. The Alliance is concluding a year of major accomplishments including growth and diversification across its 425-company membership, expanded program and event offerings, and stronger engagement across more than 80 working group meetings each month. The Alliance continues to attract the industry’s top IoT product and solution developers and is also helping to foster greater industry collaboration by working with other major alliances and consortia to help reduce market confusion and further accelerate market growth and opportunities for its members.
ZigBee at CES
In January, hundreds of ZigBee Alliance members will participate in CES 2016, where the organization will have a significant presence spotlighting ZigBee 3.0. Booth sponsors include Atmel, DSR, Legrand, MMB Networks, NXP, OSRAM, OWON, Philips, POMCube and Ubisys. To experience what’s next in smart connectivity, mark your calendars to visit the ZigBee Pavilion at CES, January 6-9, 2016, in Booth #71344 within the Smart Home section of the Tech West emerging technology zone, located in the Sands Expo and Convention Center.
To become part of the global smart movement, work with hundreds of other forward-thinking companies interested in steering the evolution of the Internet of Things and join the ZigBee Alliance today. Learn more about the ZigBee Alliance and membership opportunities here.
ZigBee: Control Your World
The ZigBee Alliance creates, maintains and delivers open, global wireless standards that enable everyday objects to work together and control your world in the Internet of Things (IoT). An open, non-profit ecosystem of 425 companies, the Alliance is developing and promoting the world’s leading IoT standards across a wide range of consumer, commercial and industrial monitoring and control applications. For more information, visit www.ZigBee.org.
