ZigBee Alliance And ECHONET Consortium Sign Liasion Agreement

SAN RAMON, Calif., May 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The ZigBee® Alliance, a global ecosystem of companies creating wireless solutions for use in energy management, and the ECHONET™ Consortium, an organization promoting the development of basic software and hardware for home networks, today announced a liaison agreement to collaborate on the development of a certification program for products based on ECHONET standards.  In particular, the certification of ECHONET Lite applications using the ZigBee IP wireless mesh networking communications protocol.

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The ECHONET standards are universal, international communication standards for linking home appliances made by different manufacturers and provide various services using easily installed transmission media in both new and existing homes. The Internet Protocol (IP) based ECHONET Lite standard was endorsed as the Japanese Smart House Standard by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). ECHONET Lite defines application level communications for electric appliances and electronic equipment to connect to a home energy management system while allowing the use of any appropriate communication standard.

The ZigBee IP specification is the first open standard for an IPv6 based full wireless mesh networking solution to control low power, low cost devices. ZigBee IP enriches the IEEE 802.15.4 standard by adding network and security layers and an application framework. ZigBee IP offers a scalable architecture with end-to-end IPv6 networking, laying the foundation for an Internet of Things without the need for intermediate gateways. It offers a cost-effective and energy-efficient wireless mesh network based on standard Internet protocols, such as 6LoWPAN, IPv6, PANA, RPL, TCP, TLS and UDP. It also features proven, end-to-end security using TLS1.2 protocol, link layer frame security based on AES-128-CCM algorithm and support for public key infrastructure using standard X.509 v3 certificates and ECC-256 cipher suite. The ZigBee IP standard enables communications over the globally available 2.4 GHz frequency as well as other frequencies such as 920 MHz in Japan. 

"The ZigBee Alliance is pleased to collaborate with ECHONET Consortium by providing a communication technology that is reliable, scalable and secure for controlling energy management systems in a smart home," said Tobin J.M. Richardson, Chairman and CEO of the ZigBee Alliance. "Both the ZigBee Alliance and ECHONET Consortium are not only committed to establishing certification programs in Japan but also to promoting these international standards around the world."

ZigBee will be exhibiting at the Expo Comm Wireless Japan conference in Tokyo, May 29-31.

ABOUT ECHONET
Japan and other nations share many common tasks, including the need to reduce CO₂ emissions, reduce healthcare costs, and build safe, barrier-free societies. Various measures have already been implemented, both in industry and at the household level. Ultimately, however, a more effective resolution of these issues will require a systematic approach integrating many devices and systems. ECHONET is a home networking technology designed to achieve these goals.  For more information, visit: http://www.echonet.gr.jp.

ZigBee Certified
The ZigBee Certified program ensures that products built using ZigBee Standards function as expected and products from different manufacturers interoperate with each other. The certification of products is also a critical part of the Alliance's standards development process. Unlike other standards organizations, the testing and certification of products is required before any ZigBee standard is released for use. The ZigBee Certified process allows manufacturers to deliver a variety of products to customers of all types who can benefit from the simplicity of ZigBee control. To learn more about the ZigBee Certified program, visit: http://www.zigbee.org/Certification.aspx.

ZigBee: Control your world
ZigBee offers green and global wireless standards connecting the widest range of devices to work together intelligently and help you control your world. The ZigBee Alliance is an open, non- profit association of approximately 400 members driving development of innovative, reliable and easy-to-use ZigBee standards. The Alliance promotes worldwide adoption of ZigBee as the leading wirelessly networked, sensing and control standard for use in consumer, commercial and industrial areas. For more information, visit: www.ZigBee.org.

SOURCE ZigBee Alliance