FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Supported by Manufacturers with Revenues Surpassing $1 Trillion,
ZigBee Crosses the Chasm

San Diego, CA , June 2, 2010— Adopted by over 350 global manufacturers with combined annual revenues exceeding $1 trillion dollars, ZigBee is the winning protocol for wireless sensing and control, according to a recently published report by ON World.  Despite a challenging economy, ZigBee annual unit sales have increased by 62% since 2007 and the market is on track to reach hundreds of millions of annual units within the next few years.

“The ZigBee market has undergone dramatic changes over the past two years,” says Mareca Hatler, ON World’s research director.  “Today, nearly everyone is interested in developing ZigBee and Smart Energy products and services.” 

One of the key standards in the NIST Smart Grid Standards Framework, the ZigBee Smart Energy profile is enabling sensor network solutions from the home to the utility.  Through collaborations with standards and industry groups such as the American Telemedicine Association, BACnet, Continua Health, HomePlug, IETF, and IPSO, ZigBee market opportunities are expanding for smart energy, healthcare, retail, consumer electronics, building automation, and telecommunications. 

ZigBee supporters include some of the world’s largest companies including AT&T, GE, Hitachi, Kroger, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Siemens and Sony. Demonstrated by new ZigBee component suppliers such as BlueRadios, CEL, Dust Networks, and SyChip, momentum is growing.

In 2009, ZigBee made up 75% of the IEEE802.15.4 chipset units and the largest markets were Smart Energy and Consumer Electronics.

Smart Energy
With billions of dollars of smart grid investments, energy directives and the ongoing threat of depleting energy sources, the Smart Energy market has attracted hundreds of companies over the past few years.  Smart meters will make up the majority of the market in the near term as 40+ million ZigBee enabled meters are deployed over the next few years.  Longer term, there is a large total potential market of 1.5 billion devices that could be installed in homes worldwide for energy management and demand response. 

Consumer Remote Controls
ZigBee RF4CE targets the home entertainment center with simple, low cost IR replacements for remote controls used with flat screen TVs, set-top boxes, DVD/Blu-Ray players, and stereo systems.  Promoted by consumer electronics leaders such as Panasonic, Philips, Samsung and Sony, there are nearly a dozen ZigBee RF4CE compliant platforms available today.  With over 500 million consumer IR products shipping per year, this represents a huge potential market for ZigBee that is likely to expand to other home control applications within the home.

ZigBee’s Evolution
ZigBee has emerged as the most widespread wireless sensing and control technology today, but in a different form than originally envisioned. “ZigBee” has become two— and soon three-- distinct network stacks targeted at unique but overlapping markets.  These include: ZigBee PRO, ZigBee RF4CE, and ZigBee IP for the upcoming “Smart Energy 2.0” specification that will support Internet Protocol (IP) based sensor network applications focused on home energy management and demand response.

By enabling network diversity and adaptability, ZigBee is delivering on its promise as the preeminent standards based platform for wireless sensing and control.  At the same time, ZigBee faces stiff competition, especially from low power alternatives to today’s most popular unlicensed wireless technologies: Bluetooth and WiFi.

Based on 600 interviews with end users, vendors and suppliers, ON World’s report “ZigBee Crosses the Chasm” covers the global market opportunity, threats, and competitive landscape for ZigBee and IEEE802.15.4. Report synopsis: http://www.onworld.com/zigbee

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

Media Contact:
Mary E. Purvis
email: purvis at onworld.com
ph: 858-259-2397

Back to News