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.
What is ZigBee technology?
ZigBee is the only global wireless communications standard based on IEEE® 802.15.4 specifically addressing monitoring, control and sensor applications. ZigBee technology enables simplicity, long battery life, reliability and low system cost.
Joining the ZigBee Alliance
There are three levels of membership in the ZigBee Alliance with different entitlements:
Adopter: Offers access to final, approved specifications, use of the ZigBee Alliance logo, participation in interoperability events, and access to application Profile Task Group documents and activities.
Participant: Offers full participation in ZigBee Alliance working groups and member meetings, ability to earn voting rights in work groups, and early access to ZigBee Alliance specification.
Promoter: Offers automatic voting rights in all working groups, final approval rights on all specifications, and a seat on the Alliance Board of Directors.
Benefits of Membership
As a ZigBee Alliance member, you can:
Use ZigBee Alliance intellectual property for commercial gain, royalty free.
Leverage the global marketing efforts promoting the use of ZigBee technology.
Depending on the membership level selected, you can participate in member meetings, committees, and working groups that shape the future of ZigBee technology.
ZigBee Membership Requirements At-A-Glance *
Organization Scenario
ZigBee Membership Required?
Companies creating/designing products for sale using the ZigBee Alliance specification
yes
Companies offering services and reselling ZigBee products
no
Companies using ZigBee certified products designed by others
no
Homeowner
no
Retailer
no
Installer
no
Architect
no
Interior Designer
no
Sub-contractor to ZigBee member company
no
*not representative of all situations, see ZigBee™ Membership, Designations and Logos Policy Document
When should my organization join?
We recommend joining the ZigBee Alliance prior to your creation or development of a product using the ZigBee Alliance specification (but prior to selling or offering for sale such product) so you can take advantage of ongoing innovations, stay abreast of technical information, benefit from marketing support provided by the Alliance and acquire the legal rights necessary to sell your product with the ZigBee Alliance specification.
Some companies not required to join the ZigBee Alliance may choose to join in order to gain inside knowledge, position themselves as experts and make valuable contacts within the Alliance. These might be installers, service providers, contractors, etc.
What are ZigBee Certified Products?
The ZigBee Alliance promotes the development of products that are fully compliant with the ZigBee standard. Through certification testing, you can ensure your products successfully co-exist or interoperate with other ZigBee Certified Products. ZigBee products are certified with either a Public Application Profile or a Manufacturer Specific Application Profile. A Manufacturer Specific Application Profile is an application developed and owned by a member company. A Public Application Profile is developed by members of the Alliance and is available to all members.
Both Manufacturer Specific and Public Application Profiles must be implemented on ZigBee Compliant Platforms.
Application profiles define the roles and functions of devices in a ZigBee network. There are two types of application profiles administered by the Alliance:
Public Application Profiles are developed by members of the ZigBee Alliance to assure devices from different manufacturers can interoperate.
Manufacturer Specific Application Profiles are developed by product developers creating private networks for their own applications where interoperability is not required.
If you develop a product based upon your own private application profile, the ZigBee Alliance requires you to make use of a unique private profile identifier to ensure the product can successfully co-exist with other products. The ZigBee Alliance issues unique private profile ID's to member companies upon request at no charge. ZigBee Members can contact the Application Framework Group. Non-members should contact for more information on this topic.
Use of the ZigBee Name and Logo
"ZigBee" is a trademark of the ZigBee Alliance. Most use of the ZigBee name and related logos in reference to an organization or a product is contingent upon membership in the ZigBee Alliance. The ZigBee logo may only be used on products and packaging when those products have been certified by the ZigBee Alliance. There are specific procedures and requirements to achieve this product certification. For guidance, please refer to the ZigBee Alliance document titled ZigBee Membership, Designations and Logos Policy.
