Analyst Blogs

Blog

June 25, 2012, 4:20 p.m.
Peter Cooney Practice Director

Two wireless connectivity technologies reached significant milestones recently.

On May 22 , the ZigBee Alliance announced that the number of ZigBee certified products now available has surpassed 500. This is a significant milestone for the ZigBee Alliance and demonstrates the commitment of its member companies to the technology. See my recent insight for more information .

A quick search on the Wi-Fi Alliance website reveals that 745 products are now Wi-Fi Direct certified (as of May 17, 2012). There's a certain amount of cross-over, with many ICs and end applications (that might use the IC) being certified, but nevertheless it does show that Wi-Fi Direct has a major presence now. See my other recent insight for more information.

It's interesting to see both of these technologies "coming of age"; no doubt both stories are very different. The ZigBee ecosystem has grown from scratch, carving out relatively niche markets such as smart meters. Wi-Fi Direct has an already very well established market to build on, over 14,000 Wi-Fi enabled devices have been announced to date, and hence its growth has been rapid over the last three years.