GreenPeak Technologies, a leading ZigBee semiconductor company, introduced the latest addition to its ZigBee chip portfolio - the GP490, a low cost, ultra-low power ZigBee PRO communication controller that allows the design and manufacture of cost and energy optimized sensor devices for the rapidly growing Smart Home application market. The GP490 has been specifically developed to address the Smart Home market demand for low power sensor applications like door sensors, window sensors, temperature sensors and light switches. With the GP490, these kinds of low power, low data rate Smart Home applications equipped with the energy optimized GP490 will be able to operate on a coin cell battery for over 10 years, eliminating the maintenance problem of frequent battery replacement. The GP490 is designed as a Low Power ZigBee PRO chip and supports all features including bi-directional commissioning, bi-directional communication and full security mode. With GreenPeak's superior range and robustness and best in class WiFi interference rejection mechanisms, the devices can guarantee a reliable full home coverage. The low cost GP490 enables developers and manufacturers to supply ZigBee Smart Home sensor solutions that can be offered as low as $5 each, a GreenPeak unique differentiator. The GP490 development kit with reference design and software is available and allows a quick time to market. It will guide device manufacturers to build low cost, low power sensor nodes, optimized for battery and coin cell battery operation. Certification guidelines and tools are provided to ensure an efficient ZigBee certification for a cost optimized feature set of the ZigBee Home Automation (HA 1.2) Application Profile. Cees Links, Founder and CEO of GreenPeak Technologies, summarizes as follows: "Our customers, both Operators and sensor manufacturers, are interested in a small size, low cost communications chip with over 10 year battery life in Smart Home applications. We managed to meet these requirements into a single chip, the GP490 Low Power ZigBee PRO chip. It is a reliable new solution for designing ZigBee sensors that can be offered as low as $5 and run for more than 10 years on a single coin cell battery. The launch of the GP490 builds on our proven track record of delivering millions of ZigBee devices to the Smart Home industry." According to Peter Cooney, ABI Research, referring to his most recent report "802.15.4 Protocols, Will ZigBee be King?": "ZigBee continues to be a strong contender for the wireless connectivity technology of choice in many markets; mesh-networking topology, ultra-low power, and low cost being the major drivers for adoption. Annual shipments of 802.15.4-enabled devices are forecast to grow more than 5 times from 2012 to 2018, with a CAGR of over 30%. ZigBee continues to be the primary driver toward standardization and interoperability and will see further strong growth across many markets, accounting for almost 80% of total 802.15.4-enabled device shipments in 2018." According to a recent report from Next Market Insights, this new market will grow from under $2 billion in 2012 to over $10.9 billion by 2017. GreenPeak will be at IBC - Hall 1 - Booth 1.C90. GreenPeak
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