SAN RAMON, Calif. — The ZigBee Alliance has announced the ratification of the ZigBee Remote Control 2.0 standard for smart home remote control using fast, reliable radio frequency technology.

“With this release, which includes a range of necessary enhancements, ZigBee is now the most comprehensive standard for an optimal control experience,” said Arsham Hatambeiki, vice president of corporate product strategy at Universal Electronics.

The new ZigBee Remote Control 2.0 standard provides consumers with the capability to directly control all devices in a home with one remote control. All parts of a ZigBee smart home network including HVAC, lights, security, and home monitoring can be operated with the same remote control. It also enables telecom companies and cable operators to seamlessly integrate their smart home offerings with set-top boxes. The alliance said these newest updates will allow companies to deliver new products and services using ZigBee to improve comfort, security, and convenience in the smart home.

“ZigBee Remote Control offers significant enhancements to life in the smart home,” said Tobin J.M. Richardson, president and CEO of the ZigBee Alliance. “Continuing to lead and define the Internet of Things, the alliance and our members have completed work on ZigBee Remote Control 2.0 in order to deliver all the benefits of the smart home right to the palm of your hand.”

The alliance said major contributions to the implementation of the standard came from the semiconductor companies Freescale, GreenPeak Technologies, NXP, Silicon Labs, and Texas Instruments, all of whom provided golden units for testing compliance with the specification to guarantee a multi-source, fully interoperable supply of chips that implement the ZigBee Remote Control 2.0 standard and are readily available.

For more information on the ZigBee Alliance and the ZigBee standard, visit http://zigbee.org.

Publication date: 10/6/2014

Want more HVAC industry news and information? Join The NEWS on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn today!