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Modular Building Institute

EnOcean Alliance Reports Strong Growth

Sept. 5, 2012
Organization now has 300 members and 1,000 interoperable products

EnOcean Alliance reports it is experiencing its fastest growth rate since its founding in 2008. With 50-percent growth in membership between July 2011 and July 2012, the independent non-profit organization now has a membership base of 300 companies worldwide.

EnOcean Alliance members develop automation solutions for sustainable building projects. 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.

EnOcean's wireless technology uses energy-harvesting techniques and 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.

The wireless controls market has great potential, according to EnOcean. “In 2011, wireless sensors accounted for just over 15 percent of the 21 million building automation sensors shipped in the Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) and Americas markets combined,” William Rhodes, senior market analyst at IMS Research, said. “The number of wireless sensors is forecast to increase to over 25 percent in the EMEA and Americas markets by 2015.”

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 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 or 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,” Graham Martin, chairman of the EnOcean Alliance, said. “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.”

For more information, visit www.enocean-alliance.org.