STMicroelectronics Joins Global Alliance Board to Establish International IoT Standards
STMicroelectronics (ST) has joined the Board of Directors of the Zigbee Alliance, a major step forward towards plans to guide the adoption and evolution of the IoT-friendly wireless standard.
The Zigbee Alliance is an organization consisting of hundreds of companies that create, maintain, and deliver open, global standards for the Internet of Things (IoT). It has recently joined forces with STMicroelectronics (ST), a global leader in semiconductors that serves customers worldwide.
Zigbee aims to simplify product development for manufacturers and increase device compatibility for consumers. With ST’s involvement, it is thought that Zigbee will become far more visible, helping to accelerate new product development with improved cross-compatibility and interoperability.
Striving to Meet the Demand for Reliable IoT
In a statement, Hakim Jaafar, Head of Marketing for Wireless Microcontrollers at STMicroelectronics, said, “In both the consumer and industrial markets, demand for reliable IoT connectivity is expanding fast and the trend towards wireless technologies is growing tremendously – whether in smart-home solutions, asset-tracking production tools, or building control. As a leading and trusted Arm Cortex-M supplier to both top OEMs and the mass market committed to propagate Zigbee technology in its 2.4GHz product roadmap, ST supports the mission of the Zigbee Alliance and joined the board to share our expertise and help continue the Alliance’s success.”
A Zigbee Alliance test lab location in Irvine, California, used for testing and certification efforts. Image used courtesy of Zigbee Alliance.
The Goals of an Alliance
In his own statement, Zigbee’s President and CEO, Tobin Richardson, warmly welcomed ST, commenting that, “STMicroelectronics plays an important role in powering next-generation IoT devices, and their leadership will be a great value-add at the board level and within working groups as we work diligently to create communication and connection standards that can be cast across continents. As we head into 2020, it’s extremely encouraging to see the impressive collection of global tech organizations like ST that are committed to cooperation and interested in taking a seat at the Alliance table.”
This partnership has been brought on in response to the already high and constantly rising demand for IoT connectivity and the growing trend towards wireless technologies. Including wireless technologies in ST’s product portfolio will prove beneficial by offering greater device architecture flexibility and faster transition for the mass market to add connectivity.
ST has said that its STM32 MCU/MPU, which focuses on integrated security mechanisms to guarantee IP and privacy protection, will be the company’s focus of this new alliance.
