SAN RAMON, CA—The ZigBee® Alliance, a global ecosystem of companies creating wireless solutions for use in energy, residential, commercial, and industry applications, announced that its members are joining forces and leveraging their global wireless and utility expertise to fight the predicted global energy crisis. With this commitment, the Alliance has increased membership and expanded its ability to deliver solutions that are helping consumers, businesses, and utilities improve efficiency, reduce the need for new power plants, and save money.
The Alliance enjoys strong endorsement of its energy-management and efficiency solutions by utility industry and smart energy grid proponents. Some of the world's leading energy companies, ranging from utilities to suppliers, have recently joined the Alliance and are relying on ZigBee solutions. Utilities such as CenterPoint Energy, Southern California Edison, and Sempra Utilities are working alongside other member companies such as Cellnet, Eaton, Itron, Phillips, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Converge, Control4, DCSI, Golden Power, Johnson Controls, Legrand, Nivis, Nuri Telecom, Sensus Metering, Silver Spring Networks, Site Controls, Talon Communications, Trilliant Networks, Tritech Technology, and Viconics to use existing low-cost and easily installable ZigBee products and services. As a result of these Alliance members' efforts, more ZigBee products are now being shipped to utility companies around the world than ever before.
"CenterPoint Energy is one of the leading utility companies in the United States promoting and employing intelligent grid technology. The ZigBee standard provides a crucial link to make our advanced metering infrastructure upgrade an even more robust reality," says Tom Standish, CenterPoint Energy group president, Regulated Operations. "Our AMI program enhances the efficiency and reliability of our operations and, through the use of ZigBee-enabled equipment in the home, ultimately gives consumers more ways to manage and use energy in a more cost-effective and energy-efficient way."
In the US alone, progressive utility companies and state legislatures are expected to deploy new smart meters in approximately 30 million homes over the next few years.
See the ZigBee Alliance's website at www.zigbee.org for additional information.