ZigBee Smart Energy Working Group Reaches Major Agreement on Use of HTTP and CoAP

SAN RAMON, Calif., June 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The ZigBee® Alliance, a global ecosystem of organizations creating wireless solutions for use in energy management, residential, commercial and consumer applications, today announced major progress in achieving agreement on a proposal involving the way HTTP and CoAP are used in the draft of the Smart Energy version 2 standard. This agreement means the draft can advance into the next ballot, scheduled to begin on July 11.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20091005/SF86596LOGO)

During the Alliance's Member Meeting last week in Wuxi, China, the ZigBee Smart Energy Working Group made significant progress on resolving outstanding comments and also unanimously agreed on a proposal for a technical solution regarding the use of HTTP and CoAP to optimize Smart Energy 2 for different devices.  This issue was a key point of disagreement in the previous ballot, and the agreement now represents a significant step forward in finding a broadly supported technology solution.

"I want to thank our members and liaison partners for their continuous hard work and collaboration, as well as for leveraging their significant technical expertise that ultimately made it possible to reach an agreement on this key technical issue so quickly," said Bob Heile, chairman of the ZigBee Alliance.  "Dealing with the realities of an open standards development process can be difficult, but the effort is necessary to ensure the needs of the broadest set of stakeholders are met. Reaching this agreement demonstrates the process is effective.  The ZigBee Alliance is committed to using all of its resources to assist moving Smart Energy 2 rapidly forward because we know this standard is essential to helping utilities and energy service providers maintain the security and consistency of energy supplies around the world."

Smart Energy 2 will provide an IP-based energy management solution capable of running on both wired and wireless communication protocols, including those supported by the HomeGrid Forum, the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, the Wi-Fi Alliance and the ZigBee Alliance.  Smart Energy 2 already has attracted strong support from leading smart meter manufacturers, device and appliance manufacturers, utilities, energy service providers and various government and standards organizations around the world.

ZigBee Smart Energy – The Standard for Smart Metering and Energy Management in Home Area Networks

ZigBee Smart Energy enables energy service providers and utilities to wirelessly communicate with and manage common household devices such as smart thermostats, in-home displays and appliances. It improves energy efficiency by giving consumers the means to manage their energy consumption more precisely using automation and near real-time information to save both money and energy. ZigBee Smart Energy also helps utilities and energy providers implement new, advanced metering and demand response programs to drive greater energy management and efficiency, while responding to changing government requirements. Today utilities and providers can choose from more than 100 ZigBee Smart Energy Certified products. For more information and a list of ZigBee Certified products, visit: www.ZigBee.org/SmartEnergy.

ZigBee: Control your world

ZigBee offers green and global wireless standards connecting the widest range of devices to work together intelligently and help you control your world. The ZigBee Alliance is an open, non- profit association of approximately 400 organizations driving development of innovative, reliable and easy-to-use ZigBee standards. The Alliance promotes worldwide adoption of ZigBee as the leading wirelessly networked, sensing and control standard for use in consumer, commercial and industrial areas. For more information, visit: www.ZigBee.org.

SOURCE ZigBee Alliance