ZigBee Alliance adds new specification

The ZigBee Alliance has decided to incorporate global IT standards from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) into its specification portfolio of low-power wireless networking standards.

As a result of this initiative, ZigBee Smart Energy products will enhance their application capabilities with native IP support, allowing seamless integration of Internet connectivity into each product.

The move will see the strengths of the ZigBee Smart Energy standard getting combined with the ubiquity of Internet standards, ensuring that smart meter deployments currently underway will have a seamless path for continuous upgrades including Internet connectivity.

Through cooperative efforts with IETF, the members will create additional solutions for wireless sensor and control networks as part of the new specification. Internet connectivity is currently provided by existing ZigBee specifications; however, the addition of native IP support will offer tighter integration from wireless devices all the way to large scale utility IT networks.

The resulting specification will further broaden ZigBee’s suite of low-power wireless network solutions to meet the diversified needs of companies in the home, automation, healthcare, commercial building automation, telecommunications and consumer markets.

The deployment of an estimated 30 million ZigBee equipped smart metres is underway in North America.