Connectivity Standards Alliance
Formation2002; 22 years ago (2002)
Type501(c)(6), trade association
38-3655436
HeadquartersDavis, California, United States
Websitecsa-iot.org

The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), formerly the Zigbee Alliance, is a group of companies that maintain and publish the Zigbee and Matter standard, along with several others.[1]

Alliance

The name Zigbee is a registered trademark of this group, and is not a single technical standard. The organization publishes application profiles that allow multiple original equipment manufacturer (OEM) vendors to create interoperable products. The relationship between IEEE 802.15.4 and Zigbee[2] is similar to that between IEEE 802.11 and the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Over the years, the Alliance's membership has grown to over 500 companies, including the likes of Comcast, Ikea, Legrand, Samsung SmartThings, and Amazon.[3] The Zigbee Alliance has four levels of membership: associate, adopter, participant, and promoter.[3][4] Associate membership is free. However, it only allows the member to white-label certified products. The adopter members are allowed access to completed Zigbee specifications and standards, and the participant members have voting rights, play a role in Zigbee development, and have early access to specifications and standards for product development.

The requirements for membership in the Zigbee Alliance cause problems for free-software developers because the annual fee conflicts with the GNU General Public Licence.[5] The requirements for developers to join the Zigbee Alliance also conflict with most other free-software licenses.[6] The Zigbee Alliance board of directors has been asked to make their license compatible with GPL, but refused.[7] Bluetooth has GPL-licensed implementations.[8]

On May 11, 2021, the Zigbee Alliance announced its rebranding to Connectivity Standards Alliance.[9]

References

  1. ^ "IOT Technologies and Solutions | The Alliance - CSA-IOT". Connectivity Standards Alliance. Connectivity Standards Alliance. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Wireless Sensor Networks Research Group". Sensor Networks. 17 November 2008. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Our Members". Connectivity Standards Alliance. 30 September 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Become a Member | The Future of IOT". Connectivity Standards Alliance. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  5. ^ "FAQ for BEN WPAN". en.Qi-Hardware.com. Qi Hardware. "Innovation" section. ZigBee is only royalty-free if not used for commercial purposes
  6. ^ "Zigbee, Linux, and the GPL". Freak Labs. Archived from the original on 16 February 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  7. ^ McCarthy, Kieren (21 May 2015). "The Internet of Things becomes the Game of Thrones in standards war". The Register. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  8. ^ "Common questions". Bluez - Official Linux Bluetooth protocol stack. BlueZ Project. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  9. ^ "The Zigbee Alliance Rebrands as Connectivity Standards Alliance". Connectivity Standards Alliance. 5 November 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2023.

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