ZigBee and Z-Wave square off in wireless residential control market

7 September 2005 News

Strategy Analytics released, 'ZigBee Squares Off Against Z-Wave', a report outlining the initial progress of chip makers in the emerging ZigBee market. Zensys has established a strong position in the residential control market with its proprietary Z-Wave solution, while Chipcon, Ember, and Freescale have started to build volume with ZigBee chips in industrial and commercial sensor and control applications.

Strategy Analytics predicts that the market for wireless mesh networking chips, including ZigBee and proprietary chips such as Z-Wave, will reach tens of millions of units per year by 2008. A broad range of applications will appear in the market, including residential control, industrial monitoring and asset management. Applications could also include cellphones equipped with ZigBee for activation of location-based services in support of wireless operator ARPU.

According to Chris Taylor, director of the Strategy Analytics RF & Wireless Component service, "The simplicity of Z-Wave has allowed Zensys to get chips to market and partner with the leading makers of residential control systems, such as Danfoss and Honeywell, well ahead of ZigBee."

Zensys, a privately-held firm, counts Intel Capital among its investors, which raises the prospect of Z-Wave becoming a de facto home control standard in PCs and notebook computers as well as a range of consumer electronics devices.

"We believe that the competition among Z-Wave, ZigBee and similar mesh networking schemes will lead to lower chip and system prices, which will stimulate the rapid adoption of wireless mesh networking technology overall," said Taylor.

www.strategyanalytics.net

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