A technology partnership announced today between Ember and Tendril Networks will enable companies to quickly and easily build applications that draw information from ZigBee™ networks. ZigBee is a wireless, standards-based radio technology that addresses the unique needs of remote monitoring and control, and sensor network applications.
Tendril is developing the industry’s first Web Services-based technology for ZigBee networks, called a “service broker,” using Ember’s ZigBee-ready semiconductor and software platform. Tendril’s new service broker will shield developers from having to learn new programming skills or master the intricacies of the ZigBee networking stack.
Instead, they can build applications in familiar, higher-level languages, like Java and Web Services, using the service broker to automatically extract and manage data transactions across the ZigBee network. For example, a company could use Ember’s technology and Tendril’s service broker with BACnet – a popular building automation and control application language – to create a new wireless control and monitoring system for HVAC equipment.
“We’re eliminating the need to ‘node code’,” said Tim Enwall, Tendril CEO. “With the standardization of ZigBee, we saw an opportunity to help the larger community of developers accelerate the market by easing the system-wide application development. Similar to the way WebSphere and WebLogic middleware accelerated application development for the Internet, we envision building a comprehensive set of Ember-enabled wireless network services enabling rapid application development using languages/environments like Java, Web Services and .NET.”
