Rapidly Integrate ZigBee Smart Energy in Meters

MMB Research delivers turnkey ZigBee Smart Meter Gateway on Ember's ZigBee PRO
Platform

BOSTON, Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Ember, a leading provider of wireless
sensor and control network technologies, is enabling MMB Research to help
metering vendors quickly and easily integrate ZigBee wireless networking into
their products.
MMB Research's new RapidSE ZigBee Smart Meter Gateway acts as a
communications gateway between a utility's electric meter and its customers'
wireless home area networks (HANs) of energy management devices. It is
designed as a turnkey ZigBee solution, combining Ember's EM250 ZigBee
system-on-chip (SoC) and EmberZNet PRO networking stack with a RapidSE
embeddable software package.
RapidSE takes full advantage of the ZigBee Smart Energy (SE) Profile, an
industry standard that enables two-way communications between utilities and
HANs, and is a critical component of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)
deployments. As ZigBee SE has become the preferred wireless standard for AMI
networks, RapidSE allows metering vendors to quickly integrate a
fully-compliant ZigBee SE platform without extensive knowledge of ZigBee.
RapidSE leapfrogs development cycles by translating ZigBee SE and HVAC
functions into simple serial commands. This allows metering vendors to issue
commands and receive feedback from the HAN using their existing
microcontroller while RapidSE manages the ZigBee network. ZigBee networks are
self-organizing, self-healing and can operate for years on inexpensive
batteries, making them ideal for use in many HAN devices.
RapidSE-based smart meters play the role of Energy Service Portals (ESP)
in the AMI ecosystem -- serving as both gateways and ZigBee coordinators in a
HAN-to-AMI network configuration. They automatically connect thermostats,
in-home displays, smart appliances, and other energy management devices to the
utility network to help consumers conserve energy and save money, while also
helping utilities better manage peak energy demand situations. RapidSE also
provides very strong wireless security thanks to the inherent security
features in Ember's Smart Energy Suite (SES).
"We partnered with Ember because it was the only provider with a complete
ZigBee PRO hardware and software solution with built-in ZigBee Smart Energy
Profile support," says Daniel Moneta, MMB's strategic director. "The smart
energy market is rapidly gaining momentum. Our metering vendor customers are
under pressure to quickly respond to a myriad of government and utility
initiatives with robust smart energy solutions. They don't have the time or
resources to become ZigBee experts. Ember's industry leading ZigBee chips and
stack combined with our embeddable software and tools provide a rapid
development platform that any metering engineer can quickly master."
RapidSE is available pre-loaded on MMB's EM250-based ZigBee radio module
for easy integration with existing hardware, or as an embedded software
package compatible with any EM250-based platform. Evaluation and development
kits, available in October, will include RapidSE Desktop -- a software tool
that simulates a ZigBee-enabled meter (an energy service portal), allowing
users to issue and monitor ZigBee SE or HVAC commands through the accompanying
RapidSE USB dongle. This functionality makes RapidSE Desktop both a valuable
development tool, and an ideal platform for evaluating third-party ZigBee
devices.
Ember's EM250, the industry's first ZigBee SoC integrates an IEEE 802.15.4
radio, a 16-bit microprocessor, flash, RAM and peripherals delivering
excellent performance at a low system cost. The EM250 SoC along with the
EmberZNet PRO networking stack is the industry's only true SoC platform
supporting the ZigBee PRO Feature Set.
"The urgent need for smart energy solutions is putting metering and HAN
device vendors under intense competitive pressure to rapidly integrate ZigBee
in their product lines," said Bob Gohn, Ember's vice president of marketing.
"Solutions like RapidSE Smart Meter Gateway allow vendors to bring products to
market rapidly, and without having to internally hire wireless networking
expertise."
ZigBee: Wireless Control That Simply Works
The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to
enable reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wirelessly networked monitoring
and control products based on an open global standard. The ZigBee Alliance is
a rapidly growing, non-profit industry consortium of leading semiconductor
manufacturers, technology providers, OEMs, and end-users worldwide. Membership
is open to all. Additional information can be found at http://www.zigbee.org.
About MMB Research
MMB Research is a full-service engineering firm specializing in embedded
systems and smart energy technologies such as ZigBee wireless networking.
Through its custom integration services and commercial products like RapidSE,
MMB Research has enabled smart energy device vendors to rapidly implement
robust ZigBee solutions. MMB's extensive competencies and industry
relationships allow it to support customers through the entire product
development cycle, as well as take products to market with testing,
certification and manufacturing support. MMB Research is headquartered in
Toronto, Canada. For additional information, visit http://www.mmbresearch.com.
About Ember Corporation
Ember Corporation develops ZigBee wireless networking technology that
enables companies involved in energy technologies -- enertech -- to help make
buildings and homes smarter, consume less energy, operate more efficiently,
and keep people comfortable and safe. Ember's low-power wireless technology
can be embedded into a wide variety of devices to be part of a self-organizing
mesh network. Ember is headquartered in Boston and has its radio development
center in Cambridge, England, and distributors worldwide. The company is a
promoter and Board member of the ZigBee Alliance and its platform is the
"Golden Suite" for 802.15.4/ZigBee interoperability testing. For more
information, please visit http://www.ember.com.
Ember, Ember Enabled, EmberZNet, InSight and the Ember logo are trademarks
of Ember Corporation. ZigBee is a trademark of the ZigBee Alliance. All other
trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies.
SOURCE Ember

Ravi Sharma of Ember Corporation, +1-617-951-1236, ravi.sharma@ember.com; or
Michelle Dillon of Beaupre & Co. Public Relations, +1-603-559-5835,
mdillon@beaupre.com, for Ember