ZigBee Alliance Admits Siemens to Highest Level of Membership; Electronics Giant Joins Growing List of Industry Innovators and Leaders

ZigBee Alliance Admits Siemens to Highest Level of Membership; Electronics Giant Joins Growing List of Industry Innovators and Leaders

SAN RAMON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 28, 2006--The ZigBee(TM) Alliance, the world's only non-profit industry association promoting the growth of a global, open standard for wireless control of devices used to automate homes, commercial buildings and industrial environments, today announced that Siemens, one of the world's largest and most respected companies in the field of electrical engineering and electronics, has been admitted at the highest level of membership -- "Promoter" level. Siemens joins BM Group, Ember Corporation, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Honeywell, Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola, Philips, Samsung and Texas Instruments on the ZigBee Alliance Board of Directors.

"Adding Siemens to the ZigBee Alliance further strengthens ZigBee's strong hold in the development of wireless mesh networking," said Marcus Torchia, senior analyst, Wireless/Mobile Enterprise Solutions of Yankee Group. "The ZigBee Alliance has consistently demonstrated a commitment to quality and interoperability and adding Siemens to the roster of promoter companies demonstrates an immense commitment from the industry and continued support and development for ZigBee applications."

Over the past several months, ZigBee has seen tremendous momentum in the ZigBee compliant platform supply ramp-up leading to consumer product availability during 2006. The ZigBee standard offers an unbeatable price and performance differential. Alliance members have made significant headway in shipping millions of radios in the last year, far more than any other wireless control technology. The variety of manufacturers in the Alliance ensures a solid and diverse supply of components all designed to seamlessly work together.

"Siemens carefully investigated the various wireless control options available on the market and selected ZigBee because it offers a true, internationally recognized standard that fits well into the product strategies of several of our business units," said Walter Weigel, vice president standardization and regulations of Siemens AG. "Siemens has great experience and vast knowledge in the field of automation that will also benefit ZigBee over the coming years."

Siemens' support and leadership commitment to the ZigBee Alliance comes on the heels of the recent moves by several industry giants: Texas Instruments completed its acquisition of Chipcon in January, and a joint effort by STMicroelectronics and Ember to work together on ZigBee solutions was also completed in January.

"The Siemens addition to the ZigBee Alliance and board of directors sends another strong message to the marketplace that ZigBee technology is the preeminent technology in the world," said Bob Heile, chairman of the ZigBee Alliance. "No other wireless control standard brings this level of financial, industrial and creative backing to the marketplace. The Alliance is succeeding because industry leaders from around the world are working together to ensure that ZigBee compliant products work, and more importantly, build much needed trust among buyers."

Siemens will implement ZigBee technology in sensors used in discrete manufacturing and process automation in conjunction with existing communication standards like PROFIBUS and PROFINET.

The Alliance is now more than 200 Alliance Members strong and has a presence in 26 countries spanning six continents. OEMs and end-product manufacturers represent 37 percent of the global membership.

ZigBee is the only standards-based technology designed to address the unique needs of low-cost, low-power, wireless sensor networks for remote monitoring, home control, and building automation network applications in the industrial and consumer markets. Companies who want to have input on developing ZigBee applications and create ZigBee products can join by visiting www.zigbee.org/join/.

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