Overview of ZigBee

The relationship between IEEE 802.15.4-2003 and ZigBee is similar to that between IEEE 802.11 and the Wi-Fi Alliance. The ZigBee 1.0 specification was ratified on December 14, 2004 and is available to members of the ZigBee Alliance. An entry level membership, called Adopter, in the ZigBee Alliance costs US$ 3500 annually and provides access to the specifications and permission to create products for market using the specifications. For non-commercial purposes, the ZigBee specification is available to the general public at the ZigBee Specification Download Request. Most recently, the ZigBee 2006 specification was posted in December 2006.

ZigBee operates in the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands; 868 MHz in Europe, 915 MHz in countries such as USA and Australia, and 2.4 GHz in most jurisdictions worldwide. The technology is intended to be simpler and cheaper than other WPANs such as Bluetooth. The most capable ZigBee node type is said to require only about 10% of the software of a typical Bluetooth or Wireless Internet node, while the simplest nodes are about 2%^{[citation needed]}. However, actual code sizes are much higher, closer to 50% of Bluetooth code size^{[citation needed]}. ZigBee chip vendors have announced 128-kilobyte devices.^{[citation needed]}

As of 2006, the retail price of a Zigbee-compliant transceiver is approaching $1, and the price for one radio, processor, memory package is about $3.Comparatively, before Bluetooth was launched (1998) it had a projected price, in high volumes, of $4 - $6^{[citation needed]}; the price of consumer-grade Bluetooth chips is now under $3.

First stack release is now called "Zigbee 2004". The 2nd stack release (today, 26 June 2007, the current public one) is called 2006, and mainly replaces the MSG/KVP structure used in 2004 with a "cluster library". The 2004 stack is now more or less obsolete. The ZigBee Alliance has started work on ZigBee 2007, looking to extend the ZigBee 2006 specification capabilities, the main enhancements are optimising certain network level functionality (such as data aggregation). There are also some new application profiles like Automatic Meter Reading, Commercial building automation and home automation based on the "cluster library principle".

Zigbee 2007 is sometimes called "Pro", but Pro is a stack profile, which defines certain stack settings and mandatory features.

ZigBee 2007 at the network level is not backwards-compatible with ZigBee 2004/2006, although a ZigBee 2004/2006 RFD node can join a 2007 network, and vice-versa. It's not possible to mix 2004/2006 routers with 2007 routers/coordinator.