NTS Qualified to Certify ZigBee Remote Control Products
Product Certification Testing Starts Today. Test Harness Ships This Month.
CALABASAS, Calif. -- National Technical Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTSC) (NTS), a leading provider of engineering services, announced today that it has been qualified by the ZigBee Alliance to begin offering testing of the ZigBee Remote Control public application profile. In addition, NTS is also releasing a ZigBee RF4CE test harness product - RCTest - designed to simplify and expedite ZigBee RF4CE development, debugging and certification.
ZigBee RF4CE is a 2.4GHz ZigBee protocol that replaces infrared in consumer electronics such as TV, remote controls, DVD players, etc. Some of its advantages include non-line of sight operation, long battery life and omni-directional, two-way communication.
ZigBee Remote Control is the first public application profile for ZigBee RF4CE. It allows for low power RF-based remotes that deliver non-line-of sight operation, along with better range and battery life than traditional infrared based remotes. During certification, products will be tested to verify that they comply with the ZigBee Remote Control standard and offer interoperability with other ZigBee Remote Control certified products from other ZigBee members.
"NTS has worked closely with the ZigBee Alliance from the very beginning to provide our members with certification testing at an affordable price," said Benno Ritter, vice president of marketing and business development of the ZigBee Alliance. "We look forward to continuing to work with NTS on new control standards that bring more innovative and green ZigBee products to consumers."
In addition to performing testing for certification, NTS has also designed a custom test product, RCTest, using a Freescale platform validated by the ZigBee Alliance for use in testing and certification. NTS RCTest is designed to be used by manufacturers to pre-test their ZigBee RF4CE devices to verify they meet the ZigBee Remote Control requirements. Additionally, RCTest is an automated test tool supporting full design debugging capabilities and custom test script development to allow for more detailed testing and validation of products during its design lifecycle, as well as the easy expansion of the scope of that testing by manufacturers, if needed.
"We are pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with the ZigBee Alliance, and look forward to helping them bring more ZigBee products to the market," said Osman Sakr, NTS CTO. "We are also glad to be able to assist our customers in bringing their products to market more quickly and efficiently through the use of our Test Harness product and certification services."
ZigBee Remote Control - The standard for advanced remote controls
ZigBee Remote Control is the global standard for advanced and easy-to-use RF remotes that delivers non-line-of-sight operation, two-way communication, longer range of use and extended battery life for a variety of consumer electronic (CE) devices including HDTV, home theater equipment, set-top boxes and other audio equipment. ZigBee Remote Control is the public application profile for the ZigBee RF4CE specification. For more information, visit: www.zigbee.org/remotecontrol.
ZigBee: Control your world
ZigBee offers green and global wireless standards connecting the widest range of devices to work together intelligently and help you control your world. The ZigBee Alliance is an open, non-profit association of approximately 400 members driving development of innovative, reliable and easy-to-use ZigBee standards. The Alliance promotes worldwide adoption of ZigBee as the leading wirelessly networked, sensing and control standard for use in consumer, commercial and industrial areas. For more information, visit: www.zigbee.org.
About National Technical Systems
National Technical Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of engineering services to the aerospace, defense telecommunications, automotive and high technology markets. Through a world-wide network of resources, NTS provides full product life-cycle support, offering world class design engineering, compliance, testing, certification, quality registration and program management. For additional information about NTS, visit our website at www.ntscorp.com or call 800-270-2516.
SOURCE National Technical Systems, Inc.
CONTACT: corporate, Aaron Cohen, aaron.cohen@ntscorp.com, or technical, Derek Coppinger, dcoppinger@ntscorp.com, +1-818-591-0776, both of National Technical Systems
Web Site: www.zigbee.org
