The ZigBee™ Alliance, an association of companies working together to enable wirelessly networked monitoring and control products based on an open global standard, announced 20 new member companies, bringing its total membership to more than 150 companies. New member companies include: Contec Co. Ltd.; Creston Electronics Inc.; Digital Sun Inc.; Eka Systems Inc.; Fego Precision Industrial Co. Ltd.; Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.; IBM Research GmbH; Indesign LLC; INETCO Systems Ltd.; Innovative Wireless Technologies; Johnson Controls; L.S. Research Inc.; Mikrokrets AS; Mithril LLC; Signal Technology-AISD, a Crane Co. company; Trane; Urmet Domus SpA; Viconics Electronics Inc.; Vitelec BV; and Xanadu Wireless.
The ZigBee Alliance also announced that Chipcon has been admitted as a “Promoter” level member. Chipcon, a long-time member of the ZigBee Alliance, will join Ember Corp., Freescale Semiconductor Inc., Honeywell, Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola, Philips and Samsung on the ZigBee Alliance Board of Directors. As a newly elected “Promoter,” Chipcon accepts a leadership role in ZigBee Alliance activities and the development of the ZigBee specification. As the ZigBee Alliance grows, so does the level of OEM member support. Today, nearly 30 percent of the ZigBee Alliance membership is OEMs. Existing ZigBee Alliance OEM members are joined by several leading companies including Creston Electronics Inc., a leading OEM in the US home automation market; Johnson Controls, a global market leader in automotive systems and facility management and controls; Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., China’s largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment; Signal Technology-AISD, a Crane Co. company, which focuses on the defense, space, aerospace and medical markets; and Urmet Domus SpA, a leading OEM in the European home automation market. “We believe 2005 is going to be an incredible year of continued momentum and development for ZigBee, as evidenced by our growing global OEM membership,” said Bob Heile, chairman of the ZigBee alliance. “With the ZigBee specification ratified, our focus is on ensuring interoperability through rigorous compliance testing and to facilitate global market adoption of ZigBee-enabled technology. These new members join the Alliance at a time when we expect ZigBee-compliant products to begin penetrating the market, making the deployment of cost-effective, low data rate monitoring, control and sensing networks a reality in commercial and residential environments.” The ZigBee Alliance advanced into calendar year 2005 with the ratification of the ZigBee specifications in December 2004. ZigBee membership in 2005 has already increased 35 percent, validating the growing market demand for reliable, low cost, low power wireless communication solutions. This demand could be seen at the ZigBee Open House, held on March 2nd in San Francisco, CA, where 650+ prospective members crowded to see 27 member companies demonstrating their IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee products. During the Open House, the Alliance announced a new Adopter Class of membership to provide companies access to final, approved ZigBee specifications and allowing them use of the ZigBee logo and collateral. In less than one month following the announcement, five companies have joined as Adopter Class members. ZigBee is the only standards-based technology designed to address the unique needs of low cost, low power, wireless sensor networks for remote monitoring, home control, asset management and building automation applications in the industrial and consumer markets. Leading companies who want to have input on developing the ZigBee specification and create ZigBee products can join the Alliance by visiting www.zigbee.org/en/join/.