The race to bring the much-hyped wireless home to market continued to heat up last week as two major wireless mesh-networking chipmakers gained traction in the nascent market.
Zensys A/S, a Denmark-based company, added two new backers for its proprietary Z-Wave technology. Monster Cable Products Inc., which produces consumer electronics for cars, offices and homes, said it will work with Zensys to develop a suite of home automation products. And universal remote control manufacturer Logitech Inc. announced it has included the technology in its new radio-frequency remotes.
Both manufacturers also joined the Z-Wave Alliance, a consortium of more than 125 partners including Motorola Inc.
Zensys steadily has gained ground in the home mesh-networking market this year. The company closed a $16 million round of funding in July, and Z-Wave technology is being sold in Fry’s Electronics Inc. retailers through Intermatic Inc., a manufacturer of energy control panels. The Intermatic offerings, which sell for between $40 and $120, allow users to control remotely home lighting, appliances and other electronic equipment. Zensys hopes to build on the retail offerings in coming weeks, using the Z-Wave logo to indicate product compatibility.
Meanwhile, ZigBee, a rival technology to Zensys’ Z-Wave, scored a win of its own last week, as Panasonic Electronic Devices Corp. of America announced it will use the technology in its wireless communications modules. Panasonic tapped Freescale Semiconductor Inc., an Austin, Texas-based chipmaker, to supply a ZigBee-compliant platform for a wireless module designed for remote control and wireless replacement in home automation, industrial systems, inventory management and automated meter reading.
“The selection of our platform for Panasonic’s communication module reflects growing industry support for our solution and for the adoption of wireless connectivity in the home and workplace,” said Franz Fink, general manager of Freescale’s Wireless and Mobile Systems group.
Freescale, a publicly traded company that was spun off from Motorola last year, recently acquired the assets of Seaway Networks Inc., a designer and retailer of content processing technology for the data networking industry.
And the mesh-networking segment is getting hotter. Not only are Z-Wave and ZigBee making impressive strides, competition in the space is helping to drive down production costs, allowing manufacturers to offer less-expensive wares.
“We expect to have our third-generation (chip) on the market in Q1 2006, and that will again cut the price of silicon in half,” said Raoul Wijgergangs, Zensys’ vice president of business development.
Those falling prices will drive the networking chip industry to reach tens of millions of units a year, according to Strategy Analytics. It’s likely that each of the two front-runners will build on its lead as the market begins to boom.
“Zensys has established a strong position in the residential control market with its proprietary Z-Wave solution,” according to the Strategy Analytics report, “while Chipcon, Ember and Freescale have started to build volume with ZigBee chips in industrial and commercial sensor and control applications.”
