Alektrona and Itron worked closely during the development of their respective Smart Energy products to ensure interoperability. Additionally, the Z-Aperture is utilized by Itron's Smart Energy HAN test suite for its OpenWay® electric and gas meters, which demonstrates the versatility of the Z-Aperture and the flexibility of the Smart Energy standard.

The Z-Aperture allows utilities, energy retailers and third part energy management providers an unprecedented amount of remote access and localized intelligence. Acting as an ESP, it is capable of forming and managing Smart Energy wireless networks. Utilizing the upcoming, ZigBee IP gateway web services standard, the Z-Aperture can be a centerpiece in demand response and load control systems, electric meter read systems and other utility or third party energy management systems. The Z-Aperture is also the only unit with sub-meter mirroring capability making it ideal for fronting gas, water or in meter farms, multi-dwelling units or commercial buildings.

» Alektrona to teach ZigBee and demonstrate Gateway at TI Tech Day Boston, Friday September 14 2007

» Gateway demonstration Embedded Systems Conference Boston 2007 TI booth

» Gateway demonstration TI Bethesda Tech Day Wednesday October 3rd 2007

» Gateway demonstration in TI booth Thursday May 3, ZigBee Open House, Paris

» Alektrona to teach ZigBee™ at ESC Silicon Valley 2007

» Alektrona represents ZigBee™ Alliance at IEEE meeting

» ZigBee™ for Mosquito Magnet® by Alektrona

Robust and Flexible Architecture

"The combination of enterprise class security, standard web services interfaces, full remote upgradeability and system intelligence expansion make the Z-Aperture uniquely capable of controlling emerging Home Area Networks in the GREEN energy space," said Christopher Leidigh, president of Alektrona. "It really puts the power into the utilities hands to get the most out of these emerging technologies."

The flexibility of the Z-Aperture provides both autonomous Smart Energy network control and allows utilities to access and extend the full Smart Energy network. Since HANs and Smart Energy are new technologies, the Z-Aperture can grow and adapt to the inevitable changes during deployment.

"Alektrona's expertise in IP networking and ZigBee infrastructure are clearly demonstrated in their Z-Aperture IP-ESP," said Bob Heile, chairman of the ZigBee Alliance, "Alektrona has been one of the key contributors to Smart Energy and its Z-Aperture device highlights the existing connectivity capabilities between IP and ZigBee."

The Z-Aperture is built on Texas Instruments technology including TI's Z-Stack and CC2430 RF System-on-Chip. "Our relationship with TI goes back to the beginning of Alektrona. As a charter member of TI's low-power RF developer network and a collaborator with TI in the ZigBee Alliance, Alektrona works very closely with TI and its other customers in both the ZigBee and IEEE 802.15.4 wireless space," said Leidigh. "Working with TI and the powerful and flexible Z-Stack PRO has enabled the Z-Aperture to achieve a rich feature set."

Quote from Texas Instruments

"TI is pleased that the Alektrona gateway has become a certified platform for the smart energy profile," said Mark Grazier, TI Low-Power RF Developer Network Manager. "End users that don't have the resources to connect their ZigBee sensor system into a long-haul device will find the Z-Aperture provides an integral solution to their system."

About Alektrona

Alektrona Corporation focuses on ZigBee infrastructure devices including ZigBee-IP gateways and broadband access for ZigBee Smart Energy networks. Additionally Alektrona offers OEM design services with specialization in systems that leverage IP protocols and low data rate wireless networks such as ZigBee. As an active ZigBee Alliance member Alektrona is co-editor of the ZigBee Gateway Working Group and a key member of the Smart Energy profile group. More information can be found at www.alektrona.com.

About ZigBee

The ZigBee Alliance is currently more than 260 Alliance Members strong and has a presence in 28 countries spanning six continents. ZigBee is the only standards-based technology designed to address the unique needs of low-cost, low-power, wireless sensor networks for energy management and efficiency, home and commercial building automation, plus embedded network applications in the industrial and consumer markets. Companies who want to have input on developing the ZigBee specification and create ZigBee products can join the Alliance by visiting www.zigbee.org/en/join. The ZigBee Specification is available for free download from the ZigBee website.