SAN RAMON, CALIF.—EnOcean Alliance announced that with 50 percent growth in membership within one year, it is currently undergoing the strongest growth rate since its founding in 2008. The independent nonprofit organization now has a membership base of 300 companies worldwide, developing innovative automation solutions for sustainable building projects.
New EnOcean Alliance members include Adura Technologies, Somfy, Telefunken Smart Building, Deuta Controls, Weinzierl, Dooya, Viessman, Waldmann, NEC, Omron, Vimar and NTT. The Alliance’s core technology consists of the EnOcean batteryless wireless technology, which is based on the international standard ISO/IEC 14543-3-10. The technology has been integrated into 1,000 interoperable products. In this context, smart home applications are emerging as a new trend.
Utilizing energy harvesting techniques, EnOcean’s wireless technology requires no cables or batteries. Modules generate the energy required for transmitting a wireless signal from movement, light or temperature differences. The EnOcean Alliance represents an association of companies that implement products or system solutions using this energy harvesting wireless technology. The independent organization aims to make buildings more energy efficient and cost-effective with intelligent automation solutions.
And the market has great potential. “In 2011, wireless sensors accounted for just over 15 percent of the 21 million building automation sensors shipped in the EMEA and Americas markets combined,” said William Rhodes, senior market analyst at IMS Research (recently acquired by IHS, Inc.). “The number of wireless sensors is forecast to increase to over 25 percent in the EMEA and Americas markets by 2015.”
International Success
With the ISO/IEC 14543-3-10 certification, EnOcean wireless technology has been ratified as an international standard. This forms a key basis for the continued development of the already very successful and quickly growing EnOcean Alliance ecosystem: the interoperability of products. Using this standard as a foundation, the EnOcean Alliance develops specifications for respective applications (EnOcean Equipment Profiles—EEPs), establishing a fully interoperable and open wireless technology that allows products to communicate with each other regardless of the manufacturer.
“The success of the EnOcean Alliance shows that we are still a long way from exhausting the application opportunities for energy harvesting wireless technology in buildings and other application fields,” said Graham Martin, chairman of the EnOcean Alliance. “More and more companies worldwide are recognizing the potential of this maintenance-free technology for the development of intelligent and energy-efficient solutions. The international standard and exchange opportunities within the Alliance offer the ideal platform in this regard. In addition to core markets in Europe and North America, we are also strongly committed to Japan and China—a region from which 25 new members joined the EnOcean Alliance within the past six months.”
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