Re:Erm... Important how? (Score 1)

Zigbee is a wireless communications standard targeted at applications with low data rates and low power consumption. Zigbee utilizing a communications technique called Mesh networking in which each device forwards messages to devices within a given proximity. Zigbee overcomes the two biggest barriers to wireless adoption: reliability (people can move when wireless reception is poor; machines typically cannot) and lack of wireless expertise (customers do not want to become wireless experts). Zigbee is an example of a mesh network. Mesh networks improve reliability by ensuring that there are multiple routes between nodes and reduce power by only requiring the a node can broadcast as far as its closest neighbor (in a point-to-point network, doubling the communication distance requires 8 times the power). Zigbee devices support the creation general purpose inexpensive mesh networks and find application in areas such as industrial controls, medical devices, smoke & intruder alarms, building and home automation and asset tracking of high value shipments. As a wireless system, Zigbee can be as easily retrofitted to existing structures as designed into new buildings. As a low-cost device ( $3) it can be integrated into many systems and run for over a year on a single AA battery. And for those who yawn and say wait for the silicon. Cover your mouth, it's shipping. I've got a Freescale part in front of me.