BOSTON - Ember has introduced EmberZNet PRO, a new professional-grade version of its ZigBee wireless networking software designed to support larger, more sophisticated sensor and control networks. Ember develops ZigBee network technology for smarter and more energy-efficient buildings and homes.

EmberZNet PRO is said to be a scalable and feature-rich ZigBee platform. It is draft compliant with the next-generation ZigBee standard, called ZigBee Pro, which will be ratified in the coming months.

According to the company, EmberZNet PRO supports very large networks with high reliability and security. Ember’s network routing is more scalable, security mechanisms are more robust, and it sports new features like multicast and source routing to help ensure network communication does not fail.

“We’ve seen tremendous growth in the home automation market, with increasing demand to integrate more devices into whole house systems,” said Will West, CEO of Control4. “EmberZNet PRO will help our customers scale effortlessly as they add new devices.”

EmberZNet PRO is Ember’s third-generation ZigBee software designed for self-organizing, self-healing wireless networks using a mesh networking topology. It provides all the standards-based benefits of the ZigBee Pro specification, including multivendor interoperability. It also provides features beyond the standard to simplify application development and improve performance. For example, it provides an open source serial interface, called EZSP, that makes it easier for product engineers to port existing applications to the new ZigBee platform.

“Siemens’ APOGEE® Wireless Field Level Network products, which are built on the Ember platform, help building owners improve facility control and cut energy and operational costs, without the expense of network wiring,” said Jay Hendrix, manager of wireless solutions at Siemens. “The Ember platform has proven over many installations to provide the scalability and reliability commercial building owners demand.”

EmberZNet PRO is interoperable with ZigBee 2006 devices, which can be incorporated into EmberZNet PRO-based networks. Ember is working closely with the ZigBee Alliance to complete multi-vendor certification of ZigBee Pro similar to the recently announced certification effort on ZigBee 2006.

For more information, visit www.ember.com.

Publication date: 01/22/2007