U-snap alliance gains industry support from Enocean Alliance, HomeGrid Forum and Z-Wave Alliance

Morgan Hill, California - (February 17, 2010) - The U-SNAP Alliance gained broad industry support for its universal communication interface today by signing liaison agreements with several important industry associations, including EnOcean Alliance, HomeGrid Forum and the Z-Wave Alliance. These agreements are expected to result in a wider range of solutions for consumers and utilities to connect appliances and consumer electronics to smart meters in home and local area networks.

The U-SNAP Alliance enables interoperability between multiple wireless and wired communication technology options, supporting the deployment of 'best-of-breed' Smart Grid solutions. There are a number of well-established and emerging home area network technologies providing consumers and utilities with a broad selection of networked products. The U-SNAP specification provides a simple, cost effective, future-proof solution for manufacturers to build standard products capable of supporting a full-range of industry protocols. This approach significantly reduces the cost of manufacturing, providing consumers and utilities with a competitive array of affordable products.

"The signing of these important industry organizations reinforces the significant role that freedom of choice provides to consumers and utilities." said Jon Rappaport, chairman of the U-SNAP Alliance. "It is simply too difficult to select one single communication technology that supports the diverse requirements of manufacturers, consumers, utilities and regulators. By leveraging the U-SNAP interface, the industry can move forward with confidence that products can be connected together in smart networks to enable a new era of consumer energy awareness and participation."

"We are very happy about the cooperation with the U-SNAP Alliance. Their expertise in energy efficiency and smart metering is a perfect match with EnOcean batteryless wireless technology and an optimal background for excellent solutions for sustainable buildings", said Graham Martin, Chairman & CEO of the EnOcean Alliance.

"As the next-generation wired home networking standard, it's incumbent on G.hn to address the market requirements for energy efficiency and management," said Dr. Vladimir Oksman, technical marketing director at Lantiq, and chairperson of HomeGrid Forum's Smart Grid Workgroup. "Through the efforts of HomeGrid Forum's Smart Grid workgroup, its role on the National Institute of Standards and Technology Smart Grid Interoperability Panel Governing Board (SGIP GB), via the ITU-T and with our liaison organizations, we've progressed the technology significantly making it ideal for deployment on the Smart Grid."

"Z-Wave puts home energy management in the hands of consumers, while also allowing utilities to communicate with home systems directly," said Raoul Wijgergangs, chairman of the Z-Wave Alliance. "As such, we're excited to be partnering with the U-SNAP Alliance to enable utilities and metering companies to load shed, while also helping consumers better manage their energy consumption and spend."

About U-SNAP Alliance
The U-SNAP Alliance is an open industry association developing an industry specification for connecting energy aware consumer products with smart meters. The Alliance will create and publish a specification, establish testing and certification procedures for product conformance and educate consumers, utilities and vendors on the benefits of the standard. Alliance membership is comprised of utilities, manufacturers, consultants and other parties interested in developing or deploying the standard. For more information, or to find out how to join the Alliance, please visit www.usnap.org.
 

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