Partnership Aims To Simplify ZigBee Deployment

MANHASSET, N.Y. — In a deal that will accelerate deployment of ZigBee-based wireless mesh networks, Ember Corp. and Arcom have partnered to link ZigBee networks to IBM's WebSphere MQ Integrator.

In speeding deployment across corporate, industrial and field applications, the partners aim to help companies save money be leveraging ZigBee-based, low-power wireless mesh networks. The nets could be used to monitor pipelines, control automation equipment or track perishable cargo. Networks could then feed remote data directly into their IBM back-office applications.

According to Arcom President Arlen Nipper, the partnership solves one of the thorniest issues slowing adoption of new wireless mesh technology in industrial applications: making data from remote sensors and controllers easy to integrate and useful for business applications.

To do so, Arcom integrated Ember's wireless semiconductors and software into its XScale-based industrial network gateways to provide communications between ZigBee networks and the WebSphere MQ Integrator.

"Bringing information from the field back to the enterprise through ZigBee networks will transform the way many industries do business," Nipper predicted.Arcom's industrial network gateway incorporates Ember's EM2420, a platform that combines a 2.4-GHz radio transceiver chip with an embedded ZigBee-ready networking stack and development environment.

The network gateway is powered by a Viper single-board computer that uses embedded Linux combined with IBM's J2ME embedded Java product to create a platform with integrated MQTT (telemetry transport) and device management support.Combined with Ember's wireless technology, it pumps ZigBee network data from remote devices to IBM's WebSphere MQ Integrator, a publish and subscribe information broker. The gateway can be linked to enterprise networks using a standard LAN connection, 802.11b Wi-Fi or via a digital cellular network.

From the broker, information can be distributed on a "one-to-many" basis and delivered directly to multiple applications using the MQSeries messaging middleware. The scheme supplies event-driven, real-time data to applications within the enterprise.