Common standard
The Trust has taken the lead in support of a common and open standard for wireless communication in the home.
The Trust’s open standard
Several producers have chosen to adopt the Trust’s Z-Wave standard. This gives consumers the advantage of being able to combine products and therefore choose between competing energy saving equipment. This lays the foundations for a sizeable market with many products.
Z-Wave standard
In the Trust’s view, the most promising technology for wireless communication in the coming years is Z-Wave from Zensys.
Characteristics of Z-Wave from Zensys
- Inexpensive chip that can be integrated into a range of appliances.
- Low power consumption makes battery-powered sensors a reality.
- 30 m operating range can be extended because the Z-Wave chip has repeat function that allows commands to be relayed to any other Z-Wave chip which is not within the transmitting range of the control device sending the signal.
- Rapidly growing market share with increasing number of manufacturers making Z-Wave products – especially in the USA.
- Simple communication protocol that is constantly expanding to cover new areas.
- Alliance of companies (Z-Wave Alliance Group) using Z-Wave technology. Z-Wave Alliance cooperates on development of communication protocols and ensures that products can communicate with other Z-Wave products via open standards. These products can then display the special Z-Wave logo.
- Z-Wave Alliance and communication protocols are open to all.
- Well-defined communication protocol and an open approach create the opportunity for a great variety of third party products, thereby ensuring competition in the market and ultimately cheaper product prices.
Page last updated 06.10.2008