Zigbee Alliance Certifies 13 Mobile ProductsZigbee Alliance Certifies 13 Mobile Products

The Zigbee Alliance reported that the first wave of products utilizing Zigbee Telecom Services for use in mobile network situations has been certified. The first batch of 13 products features offerings from three companies -- ETRI, OKI, and Telecom Italia.

The free public Zigbee standard certifies providers with products that are fully interoperable and is aimed at ensuring a wide variety of products that can be used with each other with confidence.

"These Zigbee Telecom Services products represent the first step in spurring next generation value-add services technology that will take advantage of existing telecom networks," said Bob Heile, chairman of the Zigbee Alliance, in a statement Thursday. "Zigbee Telecom Services is the single standard delivering a myriad of ways for telecom network operators to drive innovation, expand offerings, and enable new solutions to meet new and existing business challenges."

Heile said the new designations help identify products that are suited for mobile network operators, businesses, and government agencies.

Six OKI products were certified and range from advertising information and base devices for location finding to a means of collecting information on an individual's location. An OKI RSSI location node can be utilized in "mobile devices that will direct people to a specific location as a part of any location finding service network."

Telecom Italia also received certification for six of its products. Two of the products deliver advertising notices to consumers in defined areas, while other products facilitate the identification of certified Zigbee products in a particular area. Another Telecom Italia certified product helps locate hospital instrumentation.

ETRI's VoZ platform was also in the first batch of certified Zigbee products. The platform enables interoperability among headsets, microphones, and speakers.