ZigBee and 802.15.4 to Drive 43 Percent of Wireless Smart Energy Solutions

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San Diego, CA (PRWEB) January 29, 2014  - ZigBee and IEEE 802.15.4 are driving Smart Energy solutions worldwide, according to global technology research firm ON World. Between 2012 and 2018, ZigBee and 802.15.4 based systems will make up 43% of the wireless chipsets used for smart metering, home and building energy management, distributed energy resources as well as lighting controls.

"As core technologies for Smart Energy, ZigBee and 802.15.4 are used in Smart Grid initiatives worldwide," says Mareca Hatler, ON World’s research director. "Energy service providers, governments and consumers are demanding a new generation of energy management solutions and developers have responded with Internet connected smart devices, cloud services and standards-based end-to-end smarter energy solutions."

Consumers rank energy savings as one of the most important smart home solutions. ON World’s latest survey with early technology adopters found that over half (54%) are "Interested" or "Most Interested" in energy management. Almost half are willing to spend $7 or more per month on an energy service that saved them 10% of their energy expenditures. Thirty-eight percent are willing to spend $150 or more upfront if they could save up to 30% of their energy costs.

The Do-it-yourself model is "Preferred" or "Most preferred" by half of the respondents compared with 41% that would prefer to purchase from a cable/broadband service provider. ZigBee’s name recognition continues to grow as 45% more consumers ranked it as "Familiar" or "Most Familiar" in 2013 compared with ON World’s previous survey in 2012.

A few of the ZigBee/802.15.4 related Smart Energy achievements and developments over the past year include the following:

Completion of ZigBee IP and the ZigBee Smart Energy 2 (SEP 2) profile for end-to-end IPv6 communications for connecting the smart metering infrastructure with in-home/building devices for demand response and energy management.

Five compliant SEP2 network stacks from Silicon Labs, Texas Instruments, Grid2Home, Sensinode and Exegin.

Software defined radios such as GainSpan’s WiFi and ZigBee IP chipset and GreenVity with a hybrid communication SoC system that supports ZigBee and HomePlug Green PHY on the same chipset.

Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has adopted the Wi-SUN Alliance’s ECHONET-Lite specification for secure and interoperable communications between the smart meter and home energy management systems (HEMS) using IEEE 802.15.4g/e.

The ZigBee Alliance announced they are developing a communication profile to ensure interoperability for the Smart Grid’s Neighborhood Area Network (NAN) using IEEE 802.15.4g and IETF standards such as IPv6, RPL, UDP and TCP.

Dozens of utilities across the U.S. are offering rebates for consumers to purchase smart thermostats by companies such as Nest, Ecobee and Honeywell as well as options to connect real-time energy displays (e.g. EnergyAware, Rainforest and Comverge/Emerson) to smart meters.

By 2018, more than 400 million IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee enabled Smart Energy related devices will have shipped worldwide.

Based on over 800 surveys and interviews with end users, vendors and suppliers, ON World’s report, "802.15.4 & ZigBee: Enabling the Internet of Things," analyzes the global market opportunity for IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee as well as competing alternatives such as WiFi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, EnOcean, ANT and others.

The report synopsis and a free executive summary are available from: http://www.onworld.com/zigbee.

About ON World:
ON World provides global business intelligence on smart technology markets. Our market research and information services are sold to Fortune 1000 companies, startups and investors worldwide. http://www.onworld.com.