The ZigBee Alliance has ratified the first ZigBee specification, making a reality the development and deployment of power efficient, cost effective, low data rate monitoring, control and sensing networks. This specification is the culmination of two years of worldwide development and interoperability testing by the more than 100 member companies within the ZigBee Alliance.
For those members that have already announced ZigBee-ready technology, the ratification of the specification enables them to enhance their products and begin testing to obtain ZigBee-compliant certification. All Alliance members have complete and exclusive access to the final specification and will continue to participate in ongoing interoperability testing to verify that their products are ZigBee-compliant.
"The announcement of the ZigBee specification is a major milestone in wireless networking," says Andrew Wale, vice president of business development, Advance Transformer Co., a Rosemont, Ill.-based division of Philips Electronics North America Corp. "ZigBee is poised to become the leading wireless technology for a myriad of uses, ranging from building automation to industrial and residential applications. As a member of the Alliance, we have been following closely the development and ratification of the specification, and look forward to bringing innovative new products to consumers using the ZigBee technology."
Now that the ZigBee specification has been ratified, the Alliance will continue to validate the specification through expanded interoperability and scalability tests and future enhancements. The Alliance will actively promote the use of ZigBee-enabled technology in real-world applications to foster new, creative applications for the market, as well as to facilitate the broad market adoption of the ZigBee standard around the world.
“Now we can go to the deployment phase,” stated Bob Heile, chairman of the ZigBee Alliance, “making sure that it rolls out in a clear cut way. Following that will be development tools. Many member companies are coming out with network sniffers and other tools for the network. We will also be taking the testing process on the road so that developers can test their products for interoperability with other ZigBee devices.”
ZigBee addresses the unique needs of low-cost, low-power, wireless sensor networks for remote monitoring, home control and building automation network applications in the industrial and consumer markets.
