In-Stat says ZigBee is good for wireless mesh networks

By Staff -- Control Engineering, 12/1/2006

Because of the clarity of the ZigBee standard, the organizational strength of the ZigBee Alliance, and the involvement of several of the world's largest semiconductor companies, ZigBee will emerge as the dominant wireless mesh networking technology, according to recent research and analysis by In-Stat, a unit of Reed Business Information, which also owns Control Engineering.

Wireless mesh networks are a mosaic of proprietary and non-proprietary implementations, In-Stat says. The IEEE 802.15.4 Working Group was designed to create unified standards for short-range, self-configuring mesh networks. ZigBee is a networking layer built on top of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. The 200-company ZigBee Alliance is an open organization that governs the ZigBee standard, promotes the technology, and tests the equipment.

“ZigBee is designed to create interoperability among silicon vendors and facilitate common software and profile platforms for end-users in specific applications,” says Chris Kissel, In-Stat analyst. “The addition of ZigBee to 802.15.4 gives an OEM or other end-user the assurance of multiple sources of silicon.”

In-Stat says:

• In 2006, between 4.5 million and 10.5 million ZigBee RF components will be sold;
• Commercial building control is, and will continue to be, the largest 802.15.4/ZigBee application; and
• In 2005, North America represented 53% of all 802.15.4/ZigBee nodes in use.

www.in-stat.com; www.zigbee.org