Z-Wave Opens Spec to Chip Makers Beyond Silicon Labs in Effort to Advance Market
Z-Wave Alliance opened its specification as a multi-source wireless standard, hoping third-party chip makers and software stack suppliers will grow the ecosystem beyond 100 million devices to 200 million, Johan Pedersen, Silicon Labs smart home product marketing manager told us…
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Thursday. Similar to Zigbee's Wednesday announcement (see 1912180060), Z-Wave said Thursday members will work together on connectivity to help solve interoperability challenges. Zigbee works in the 2.4-GHz range; Z-Wave operates in sub-GHz frequencies. "Our plan is to push out Z-Wave and enable many other companies to participate in it so it’s not a closed system,” he said. Silicon Labs, which bought the Z-Wave business from Sigma Designs for $240 million in April 2018, wants that standard to be the only sub-GHz standard for smart home, said Pedersen. Silicon Labs, which makes Zigbee chips, too, is also part of the Connected Home over IP initiative backed by Amazon, Apple, Google and the Zigbee Alliance, he noted.