IoT Ready Alliance Dissolves and Capitalizes on the Breadth of the NEW Zhaga Consortium

In summer 2018, the Zhaga Consortium and the IoT Ready Alliance entered into a dialogue to explore the possibility of aligning their standardization activities for sensor-to-luminaire integration. At the beginning of 2019 the organizations agreed that it was best to harmonize their efforts with the objective of easing the adoption of a singular set of interface specifications and of removing any confusion in the Industry.

As IoT Ready Alliance President Neeraj Purandare points out: "The best way forward was to capitalize on the breadth of the NEW Zhaga, to encourage them to carry the standard forward, and to dissolve the IoT Ready Alliance with the intent that its members join Zhaga."

Background to this decision was the fact that the NEW Zhaga went live in December 2018 with a widened scope of work to address new growth areas in IoT and the service economy. The NEW Zhaga focuses on interoperability and executes a.o. a strong program to address interfaces for smart components, such as sensors and communication modules.

"Zhaga invites all members of the IoT Ready Alliance to sign up for Zhaga membership and to participate in our working groups," says Dee Denteneer, Secretary General of the Zhaga Consortium. "The harmonization will bring a clearer and stronger voice to the market and will fuel the adoption of smart lighting innovation. I look forward to strengthen the promotion of our new scope in the US market."

Zhaga has experienced a strong interest in their latest specification, the Book 18, defining interoperability between outdoor luminaire and smart sensing / communication nodes. Another specification which is close to approval is Book 20 about a smart interface for indoor luminaires and sensing/communication modules.