The Z-Wave Alliance transition to a Standards Development Organization (SDO) in 2020 marked a significant shift in the operations of our organization, placing greater emphasis on member driven campaigns and support.
The Alliance relies on the input of members to continue to grow the standard and impact change. Contributing to the Z-Wave Alliance can take many forms – you don’t have to be a developer or a C-suite executive participating in board meetings – as long as you are employed by a member company, there are a variety of opportunities to get involved where it matters most.
As a direct result of the work accomplished at the Z-Wave Alliance Summit & Unplug Fest held in May, several new work groups and task force groups were created to ensure that Z-Wave continues to move forward. Let’s take a minute to spotlight a few that you should consider joining.
The FCC Task Force – The FCC Task Force hosted their kickoff call and will be looking to establish their ongoing meeting cadence, join the group to stay in the loop. For those who have not been following this particular regulatory issue here is a quick download. NextNav has petitioned the FCC to propose the use of the 902-928 MHz band, which could lead to interference with Z-Wave’s core frequency usage. Specifically, NextNav requests the 902-907 MHz band for uplink and the 918-928 MHz band for downlink, which could interfere with the frequencies Z-Wave operates in. This task force, lead by Chairperson Avi Rosenthal from bluesalve partners, is engaged in tracking the progress of this petition and working collaboratively with other impacted groups to respond.
The Training Work Group – The Z-Wave Training Work Group is being chaired by Dr. Z-Wave himself and has been established to develop, implement, market, and maintain a comprehensive series of Z-Wave training courses. The team is starting with a training path developed to help the dealer/installer audience gain familiarity and comfort with using Z-Wave on their projects – establishing a clear business case for using Z-Wave. Add the bi-weekly calls to your calendar.
The EMEA Work Group – Prior to COVID, Z-Wave had always enjoyed a healthy engagement with members in the EMEA region hosting Summits and meetings aligned with other industry events. Leading the charge to re-engage this group is Peter Zsak from Smartopert. Join this team to help establish the best ways for Z-Wave to make an impact in this market.
The Cyber Trust Work Group – The Cyber Trust Work Group has already been hard at work fulfilling their mission – analyzing legislation relevant to the Z-Wave Alliance. This group serves as a platform for members to collaborate on unified responses to the legislative proposals, ensuring that the collective interests of the Z-Wave industry are represented through informed commentary. Additionally, the group aims to educate members on the legislative process and the potential impact, fostering a deeper involvement of the legislative landscape, like the implementation of the PSTI Act . Special thanks to Josh Hansen from Nice North America LLC for agreeing to chair this group.
The APAC Task Force – Last but not least, the APAC task force kicked off last week with Charlette Ho from Everspring serving as the chair of this group. Join the next call to bring your input on how Z-Wave can have impact in this market.
This is not an exhaustive list of all the work groups available to members and participants to join, these are just our latest additions. The full list of active work group and task force meetings are available via causeway. As with volunteering of any kind the old saying rings just as true for Z-Wave – you get out of it what you put into it. Plug into your Z-Wave community and see just how much impact you can have.
