Panasonic Launches Ember-Enabled ZigBee Module.BOSTON -- Panasonic Industrial Europe GmbH (PIE) today unveiled a ZigBee(TM)-based modem module powered by Ember's semiconductors and software for OEMs wishing to enter the fast-growing ZigBee market. ZigBee is a global wireless industry standard designed for remote monitoring (protocol) remote monitoring - (RMON) A network management protocol that allows network information to be gathered at a single computer. Whereas SNMP gathers network data from a single type of Management Information Base (MIB), RMON 1 defines nine additional MIBs that provide a , control and sensor networks. The new Panasonic PAN4570 module is one of the first products to employ Ember's EM250(TM) "ZigBee system-on-a-chip (SoC)." The PAN4570 is a low-power transceiver designed to embed wireless mesh networking (1) A network that relies on all nodes to propagate signals. Although the wireless signal may start at some base station (access point) attached to a wired network, a wireless mesh network extends the transmission distance by relaying the signal from one computer to another. capabilities into products for applications in industrial controls, home automation, inventory management, automatic meter reading Automatic meter reading, or AMR, is the technology of automatically collecting data from water meter or energy metering devices (water, gas, electric) and transferring that data to a central database for billing and/or analyzing. and environmental monitoring. The EM250 is an 802.15.4/ZigBee semiconductor system that packs a programmable microprocessor, RF radio, ZigBee protocol stack The set of protocols used in a communications network. A protocol stack is a prescribed hierarchy of software layers, starting from the application layer at the top (the source of the data being sent) to the data link layer at the bottom (transmitting the bits on the wire). and memory into a tiny, single-chip solution smaller than a shirt button. The EM250 enables PAN4570 customers to rapidly bring to market new wireless-enabled products while enjoying dramatic reductions in component size, cost and power consumption. The PAN4570 module was designed by Panasonic's Wireless Components team at the European Technology Center (EuTC) (www.panasonic-eutc.com) in Germany. "Ember is the ZigBee platform of choice, and offers the industry's most mature, feature-rich platforms of integrated hardware, software and development tools," said Ulrich Rittner, development manager at Panasonic-EuTC. "We believe the Ember-enabled PAN4570 will help our OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and customers create ZigBee-compliant wireless products significantly faster, easier and more profitably than current first-generation offerings." Key features of the PAN4570 include: --Ember's EM250 system-on-chip, 128 kilobytes of flash memory, 5 kilobytes of RAM, 16-bit microcontroller, 2.4GHz CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Pronounced "c-moss." The most widely used integrated circuit design. It is found in almost every electronic product from handheld devices to mainframes. radio semiconductor system; --EmberZNet 2.0, Ember's second-generation ZigBee-compliant network stack; --Ember's reliable application programming interface (API) for ease and speed in developing ZigBee applications; --An on-board, low-power regulator and three different power modes for increased battery. --Small size (20mm x 26.5mm x 3mm); --Very high sensitivity (-98 dBm) with low packet error rate (1%); --Operating temperature range of -40 degrees to +85 degrees Celsius. "ZigBee enabling a world-renowned brand like Panasonic is a great design win for Ember," said Bob Metcalfe, chairman of Ember. "Panasonic's participation will bring a big boost to the embedded networking market." The PAN4570 module will publicly debut at Embedded World 2006, in Nurnberg, Germany, Feb. 14-16, in Hall 12, Stand 346 of Atlantik Elektronik GmbH, Ember's distributor. Engineering samples of the module are already available. ZigBee: Wireless Control That Simply Works The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wirelessly networked, monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. The ZigBee Alliance is a rapidly growing, non-profit industry consortium of leading semiconductor manufacturers, technology providers, OEMs, and end-users worldwide. Membership is open to all. Additional information can be found at www.zigbee.org. About Panasonic Best known by its Panasonic brand name, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electronic products for a wide range of consumer, business, and industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded consolidated net sales Net Sales The amount a seller receives from the buyer after costs associated with the sale are deducted. Notes: This amount is calculated by subtracting the following items from gross sales: merchandise returned for credit, allowances for damaged or missing goods, freight of US$81.44 billion for the year ended March 31, 2005. The company's shares are listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :MC), Euronext Amsterdam and Frankfurt stock exchanges Frankfurt Stock Exchange The largest of Germany's eight securities exchanges, operated by Deutsche Borse AS. . For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand, visit the company's Web site at http://panasonic.co.jp/global/index.html. About Ember Corporation Ember enables communication among embedded microcontrollers with standards-based wireless mesh networking semiconductors and software. Ember helps its customers to automate home appliances, lower energy consumption in buildings, keep borders and infrastructure secure, and control industrial processes, just to name four of the many diverse applications being developed by Ember's more than 100 customers. Spun out of MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001, Ember is headquartered in Boston and has its radio development center in Cambridge, England, and distributors worldwide. Ember is a lead member of the ZigBee Alliance, and its platform is the National Technical Systems' (NTS NTS National Technical Systems NTS National Trust for Scotland NTS Nevada Test Site NTS NT Server (Microsoft Windows) nts Not the Same NTS National Traffic System (amateur radio) ) "Golden Suite" for 802.15.4/ZigBee interoperability testing. For more information, please visit www.ember.com. |
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