Products Deliver the Final Connection Points of the Smart Grid to Consumers
SAN RAMON, Calif., May 19 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The ZigBee Alliance, a global ecosystem of companies creating wireless solutions for use in energy management, commercial and consumer applications, today announced the official certification of 19 products using the ZigBee(R) Smart Energy public application profile. This first group of products provides a broad range of services designed to help utility companies worldwide implement new home area networks for managing energy, helps consumers improve their own energy efficiency and delivers multi-vendor product interoperability.
"Southern California Edison will be relying on ZigBee Smart Energy products like these to connect homes to our industry leading Edison SmartConnect(TM) program," said Paul De Martini, vice president at Southern California Edison. "ZigBee Smart Energy products will provide our customers with choice and promote long term sustainability." An Edison International company, Southern California Edison is the largest electric utility in the state of California, serving a population of more than 13 million via 4.8 million customer accounts.
The following ZigBee Smart Energy products were tested to ensure they meet all of the Alliance's strict specifications and perform as promised. These products represent solutions across the entire efficiency ecosystem -- energy services portals, meters, displays, thermostats and load controllers. Each product may wear the ZigBee logo so that they may be easily identified in the marketplace.
-- Cellnet + Hunt -- FOCUS AX endpoint is an advanced metering endpoint
that provides two-way communication with the utility, meter and
home-area networks
-- Ember -- Smart Energy Application is a complete reference
implementation of each of the device types, clusters, and security
functions, enabling easy customization by device manufacturers to
allow rapid development and certification of their products
-- Itron(R) -- OpenWay(TM) CENTRON(R) advanced electricity meters provide
highly accurate electricity measurement and support two-way
communications between utilities and homes, including home area
networks
-- Itron(R) -- OpenWay(TM) Gas Module accurately measures natural gas
consumption and supports two-way communication with the Itron OpenWay
CENTRON meter for meter reading and remote programming
-- Tendril -- Outlet is a three-prong electrical outlet, for use in any
standard home outlet, that monitors and controls the energy
consumption of any electrical appliance while offering Internet or
in-home display tracking
-- Alektrona -- Z-Aperture(TM) is a broadband energy service portal
providing Internet connectivity for demand-response/load-control,
sub-metering, and other energy management services
-- Computime Limited -- CTW200 is a thermostat that monitors, controls
and displays energy consumption and rate information while supporting
all standard HVAC systems and two stage heat pumps
-- Computime Limited -- CTW300 is an in home display with a large dot
matrix screen for users to monitor energy rate and consumption
information in residences
-- Comverge(TM) -- DCU(TM) offers a wide range of functionality -- from
individual addressing to adaptive algorithms and is compatible with
popular air conditioning units, water heaters, pool pumps, and other
auxiliary appliances
-- Comverge(TM) -- SuperStat(R) is a smart thermostat offering both
utilities and end users programmable and energy efficient control
that operates with popular heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
systems while offering web based features
-- Energate -- Pioneer Z100 is a smart thermostat incorporating next
generation technology beyond the features found on today's most
sophisticated thermostats and provides unparalleled performance with
an exceptional user interface
-- Greenbox Technology -- Greenbox(TM) is a web-based interactive energy
management platform enabling households to better understand and
manage their energy and water usage, while saving money and reducing
their carbon footprint
-- LS Industrial Systems -- LK Series Single-Phase and Poly-Phase
Electric Meters are intelligent, fully featured, and revenue-grade
solid-state energy meters with integrated two-way communications
supporting many standards
-- National Technical Systems (NTS) -- Smart Energy Test Harness is a
complete reference application emulating all types of ZigBee Smart
Energy devices that automates the execution of the complete
certification suite needed to achieve certification
-- PRI -- Home Energy Controller monitors and displays electricity and
gas consumption from any meter and provides cost information on a
customer friendly display
-- PRI -- Single and Poly Phase Multi Rate Meters offer optional load
control switches and a variety of power ratings to suit any market
-- Trilliant(TM) -- SecureMesh(TM) Micro Access Portal is independent
from the meter and can be embedded in any end-point device including
thermostats, in-home displays, appliance controllers or meters and is
part of the Trilliant SecureMesh AMI network
-- Wireless Glue Networks -- GSF Smart Energy Device Simulator models
and tests ZigBee Smart Energy devices on ZigBee PRO platforms
including Texas Instrument Z-Stack and Ember ZNET and also supports
device on Daintree Networks' SNA
Other Alliance members play a key role in facilitating the completion and certification of Smart Energy products. ZigBee Promoters Ember and Texas Instruments each provide development and implementation support. Certicom provides assistance implementing Elliptic Curve Cryptography on ZigBee Smart Energy devices and issuing device certificates. Daintree Networks Sensor Network Analyzer provides independent validation of interoperability through implementations of all ZigBee Smart Energy capabilities. Wireless Glue Networks provides the Glue Software Framework offering simulation test systems to model a variety of ZigBee Smart Energy devices. NTS Corp. and TUV Rheinland, the Alliance's two official test labs, provide testing support and certification services around the world.
"These ZigBee Smart Energy products are an affordable and easy way to improve energy efficiency around the world and reduce the environmental impact of energy consumption," said Bob Heile, chairman of the ZigBee Alliance. "ZigBee Smart Energy is widely recognized as the both the industry standard and leader in providing a secure and consumer friendly method to implement new efficiency programs in homes and businesses around the world."
ZigBee Smart Energy -- Empowering Energy Efficiency Today
ZigBee Smart Energy enables wireless communication between utility companies and common household devices such as smart thermostats and appliances. It improves energy efficiency by allowing consumers to manage their energy consumption more precisely using automation and near real-time information while having the ability to choose from a large global ecosystem of companies supplying interoperable products. It also helps utility companies implement new advanced metering and demand response programs to drive greater energy management and efficiency, while responding to changing government requirements. For more details on ZigBee Smart Energy and a list of Certified Products, please visit http://www.ZigBee.org/SmartEnergy
ZigBee: Wireless Control That Simply Works
ZigBee is the global wireless language connecting dramatically different devices to work together and enhance everyday life. The ZigBee Alliance is a non-profit association of more than 260 member companies driving development of ZigBee wireless technology. The Alliance promotes world-wide adoption of ZigBee as the leading wirelessly networked, sensing and control standard for use in energy, home, commercial and industrial areas. For more information, visit: http://www.ZigBee.org.
ZigBee(R) is a registered trademark of the ZigBee Alliance. All third-party marks mentioned are trademarks of their respective owners.
