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Zigbee’s Project Connected Home over IP standard expanding to commercial markets

December 19, 2020* – The Zigbee Alliance—an organization of companies “creating, maintaining and delivering open standards for the internet of things”—announced that its Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP) initiative has formed a team to develop and promote the standard for commercial markets.

“In today’s changing world, an IP infrastructure is the necessary backbone for any network to enable companies to leverage a digital architecture and connect their IoT-enabled devices,” said Manish Kumar with Schneider Electric, one of the companies involved in CHIP.

Have a peek at our interview with Makarand (“Mak”) Joshi, a Zigbee vice-chair and member of the board, who is leading the commercial strategy group inside the CHIP initiative.

This move aligns with the overall vision for the CHIP initiative, says Zigbee, which is to develop and promote the adoption of a new, royalty-free connectivity standard, simplifying development for manufacturers and increasing compatibility for customers and consumers.

The standard is targeting devices in categories such as: lighting and electrical; HVAC controls; access control, safety and security; window coverings/shades; TVs; access points, bridges, and others.

The alliance says this standard would address “many of the needs of the high-growth commercial buildings category, where the install base of connected devices is expected to grow from 1.7 billion in 2020 to nearly 3 billion by 2025”.

Despite its roots in smart homes, Zigbee says the Project CHIP standard is well-suited to commercial applications, as it is being built on “market-proven solutions and best practices from major technologies to ensure secure, scalable architectures”. Of particular importance, the project is based on an IP networking foundation, which enables the reuse of flexible and familiar connectivity options.

To date, more than 50 industry players with commercial-focused solutions—including Allegion, DSP Group, DSR Corp., Latch, Legrand, MMB Networks, Nordic Semiconductor, NXP Semiconductors, Osram, Qorvo, Schneider Electric, Signify, Silicon Labs, Somfy and Ubisys—have aligned to form the project’s Commercial Strategy Group.

* Originally published November 18, 2020. Updated December 19, 2020, with video interview.