Are ZigBee and Z-Wave circling the drain??
JohnR2010
Posts: 431
With the two predominant mobile giants Apple and Google basing their future home automation on wireless protocols that are not ZigBee based I have to wonder? I just read my second article confirming Apple is going to position Bluetooth LTE and Wi-Fi as the communication protocols of choice for their Home-Kit. Google / Nest announced this summer their future direction is a whole new protocol, Thread, that is based on the 802.15.4 6LoWPAN (IP6 Based) standard. I know ZigBee is based on 802.15.4 as well but I think that is giving a lot of people a false since of comfort. The two protocols will not natively communicate with each other and not share any existing installed components. So if you have a ZigBee or Z-Wave based device it will not talk with Thread unless there is some type of gateway.
This takes me back to the days of Token-Ring Vs Ethernet and TCP/IP vs DenNet, XNS. What a dark time in IT.
How in the world is Apple going to position Bluetooth LTE and Wi-Fi as a replacement for ZigBee?? Wi-Fi will not allow devices to sleep and the join process is a complex nightmare to navigate through for a small battery powered end device. That leaves Bluetooth LTE and I’m going to have to get up to speed here. The first thing I wonder about is I was always under the impression Bluetooth was a personal area network protocol (one host to many devices). How is that going to work in an environment where devices need to route each other’s traffic and talk directly to each other??
So as a person who has a ZigBee based product going through certification and several other items on the drawing board I have to ask do I stop and change direction? I have heard of a start-up or two that were headed down the ZigBee road and have halted and switched over to Bluetooth LTE.
I know this is a bit off topic from the normal Forum threads but we do base our devices on the propeller and I wouldn’t be surprised if others are using ZigBee as well. I’m a huge ZigBee fan I think the protocol is solid and very rich it’s just they (ZigBee Alliance) have fallen short in positioning it as the protocol of the future!!
I fear long term (in the next year or two) ZigBee and Z-Wave will be all but dead (very few new home automation products will be based on them)! Thoughts? Am I completely off course here??
This takes me back to the days of Token-Ring Vs Ethernet and TCP/IP vs DenNet, XNS. What a dark time in IT.
How in the world is Apple going to position Bluetooth LTE and Wi-Fi as a replacement for ZigBee?? Wi-Fi will not allow devices to sleep and the join process is a complex nightmare to navigate through for a small battery powered end device. That leaves Bluetooth LTE and I’m going to have to get up to speed here. The first thing I wonder about is I was always under the impression Bluetooth was a personal area network protocol (one host to many devices). How is that going to work in an environment where devices need to route each other’s traffic and talk directly to each other??
So as a person who has a ZigBee based product going through certification and several other items on the drawing board I have to ask do I stop and change direction? I have heard of a start-up or two that were headed down the ZigBee road and have halted and switched over to Bluetooth LTE.
I know this is a bit off topic from the normal Forum threads but we do base our devices on the propeller and I wouldn’t be surprised if others are using ZigBee as well. I’m a huge ZigBee fan I think the protocol is solid and very rich it’s just they (ZigBee Alliance) have fallen short in positioning it as the protocol of the future!!
I fear long term (in the next year or two) ZigBee and Z-Wave will be all but dead (very few new home automation products will be based on them)! Thoughts? Am I completely off course here??
Comments
Tim
Just because I am delusional and paranoid does not mean real people are not out to get me.