The ZigBee® Alliance, a non-profit association of organizations that create open, global standards defining the Internet of Things for use in consumer, commercial, and industrial applications, has announced the unification of its market-leading wireless standards into a single standard called ZigBee 3.0.This standard will offer interoperability between the widest range of smart devices and give consumers and businesses access to innovative products and services that will work together to improve daily life.
The new standard unifies the ZigBee standards found in tens of millions of devices that offer benefits to today's consumers. The ZigBee 3.0 standard enables communication and interoperability between devices for home automation, lighting systems, energy efficiency, and other markets, so product developers and service providers can offer more diverse and fully interoperable solutions. All device types, commands, and functionality defined in the current ZigBee PRO standards are available to developers in the new standard.
ZigBee 3.0 defines the broadest range of device types, including home automation, lighting, energy management, smart appliances, security, sensors, and healthcare monitoring products. It supports easy-to-use do-it-yourself (DIY) installations as well as professionally installed systems. Based on IEEE 802.15.4, which operates at 2.4 GHz (a frequency available for use worldwide), ZigBee 3.0 uses ZigBee PRO networks to enable reliable communication in smaller, lower-power devices. Existing ZigBee Certified products based on ZigBee Home Automation and ZigBee Light Link are interoperable with ZigBee 3.0. A complete list of the standards that have been combined to create ZigBee 3.0 can be found on the ZigBee.org website.
ZigBee 3.0 is currently in the testing phase. Many Alliance members, including The Kroger Co., Legrand, NXP, Philips, Schneider Electric, Silicon Labs, Texas Instruments, Wincor Nixdorf, and V-Mark, have been actively involved in the development and testing process. The draft standard is available to ZigBee Alliance members today and is expected to be ratified in the fourth quarter of 2015. Demonstrations of ZigBee 3.0 are planned for the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2015.
ZigBee: Control Your World.
ZigBee offers the only open, global wireless standard that enables simple, smart everyday devices to work together, helping you control your world. ZigBee is the leading monitoring and control standard used in consumer, commercial, and industrial markets worldwide. The ZigBee Alliance is an open, non-profit association of approximately 400 members that develops and promotes the standards that define the Internet of Things for use in homes and businesses.
Certified
program ensures that products built using ZigBee 3.0 functionality as intended, and products from different manufacturers, interoperate with each other. Product certification is also a critical part of the Alliance's standards development process. Unlike other standards organizations, product testing and certification are required before any ZigBee standard is released for use. The ZigBee Certified process allows manufacturers to offer a variety of products to all types of customers who can benefit from the simplicity of ZigBee control.
