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Zensys Announces Z-Wave Software Upgrade Offering Unrivaled Support for Battery-to-Battery Communication (12/11/2007)

5.0 Software Upgrade Further Extends Lead of Z-Wave in Wireless Home Control

Zensys, developer of the award-winning Z-Wave wireless home control standard, today announced a major software upgrade that will provide consumer electronics manufacturers developing Z-Wave-enabled products with a number of new enhancements including unmatched support for battery-to-battery communication.

"This is an important development for the Z-Wave standard that further distinguishes it from other control technologies for the home," stated Tony Shakib, CEO of Zensys.

The 5.0 software release contains a number of enhancements and new introductions to Z-Wave. Key features of Z-Wave 5.0 are:

- Battery-to-battery communication - translates into real-time control of battery-operated devices used in home control and automation such as shades and doorbells. This also includes the ability to wake up battery-operated devices to communicate from main-powered devices.

- Z-Wave's new ZensorNet functionality - allows operating not just point-to-point links, but entire networks of battery operated devices. Applications such as advanced smoke detectors where one device wakes up and alerts a whole network of smoke detectors that are reached via multiple hops can easily be implemented thanks to the ZensorNet feature in Z-Wave 5.0.

- Multi-year life in battery-to-battery operation - Z-Wave devices can now run for multiple years without requiring to be serviced.

- Battery-less devices - thanks to the further reduced power consumption in Z-Wave, entirely battery-less devices can be implemented that are powered through solar cells or other forms or energy scavenging.

- Full backward compatibility to earlier Z-Wave generations - new devices that are based on Z-Wave 5.0 are fully interoperable with all previous Z-Wave devices, protecting the investment of OEMs, consumers, and all Z-Wave partners in the market.

- Support for new frequencies - including the 919.82 MHZ band in Hong Kong, and 921.42 MHZ in Australia and New Zealand.

"As the only standard that offers battery-to-battery communication and even battery-less devices, Z-Wave extends its lead as the most mature and successful command and control technology available for the home today," said Mark Walters, chairman of the Z-Wave Alliance. "We continue to grow its capabilities and our success can be seen in the number of Z-Wave-enabled products on the market."

www.z-wave.com