New Z-Wave Certification Updates: March 28, 2021
Z-Wave Long Range is now available for Pre-Certification while pending Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Review Period
- From April 1, 2021 OEMs may submit for a Long Range Pre-Certification based upon Specification version 2021A. This means that OEMs can certify a device, obtain a certification number and the right to market, and sell it as Z-Wave Long Range compliant. The Z-Wave Alliance is not accountable for the outcome of the IPR Review Period so Long Range Pre-Certification is at the risk of the OEM. If there are no comments to the IPR Review Period, Pre-Certified devices will automatically be added to the Z-Wave Product Catalog once the IPR Review Period has finished. If comments are received during IPR Review Period, these will be addressed by the Z-Wave Alliance and updates will be made available for re-certification. The IPR Review Period is expected to finish before June 1, 2021.
- Z-Wave Long Range certification is a subset of 6 manual test cases for 700 series US devices. It comes with a new badge logo that must be used if the device is Z-Wave Long Range certified https://sdomembers.z-wavealliance.org/wg/Members/document/folder/54
- 2021A Draft Specifications can be found on the Application Working Group site on https://sdomembers.z-wavealliance.org/wg/AWG/document/
Z-Wave LibS2 tests implemented into the Certification Portal and the Compliance Test Tool (CTT)
LibS2 is a subset of additional S2 tests required for devices that are not based upon Z/IP Gateway. Up until now this was a separate individual test conducted by Silicon Labs and lately by Pepper One. LibS2 is now implemented into the Certification Portal and the CTT which means that OEM can run the tests during self-certification, like any other Z-Wave requirement.
Specification version 2020C in force for new certifications
- As of March 29, 2021 Specification version 2020C is in force for new certifications
- Specification version 2020B will remain certifiable for cases already created in the Portal, until September 30, 2021.
- The 2020C release of the specifications may be found here: https://sdomembers.z-wavealliance.org/wg/Members/home/specifications
Deprecation of the Z-Wave Plus certification program
- From April 4, 2022, all new certifications must be based upon the Z-Wave Plus v2 certification program. Re-certification of Z-Wave Plus-certified devices will still be possible.
- When transferring to the Z-Wave Plus v2 program, users will benefit from the full functionalities provided in the CTTv3 tool, such as 80% automated test cases and direct interaction with the Portal form. The Z-Wave Plus v2 certification program is made more user friendly by automatically pre-selecting the form items that are mandatory based upon product information provided by user.
- Z-Wave Plus v2 provides equal high level of interoperability on any new Z-Wave product brought to the ecosystem in Z-Wave Plus v2 such as:
- Any device type MUST support the same package of command classes,
- SmartStart
- OTA
- Indication mechanism
Interoperability between all Z-Wave products is the cornerstone of the brand.
Certification of devices to Z-Wave standards is required as part of the Trademark and Distribution License agreement and every device must pass a series of tests to ensure that it is compliant prior to the device being marketed or sold commercially.
In order to secure interoperability there is a straight-forward Z-Wave certification program in place that consists of 2 mandatory components:
1. Technical Certification
2. Market Certification
Both components must be successfully completed before a device certification number can be issued and products can feature the Z-Wave interoperability logo badges. The Z-Wave Plus logo on a product or package assures customers, consumers, dealers, integrators and service providers that the products will reliably perform with all Z-Wave certified products, designed for the same region.
Z-Wave Certification Process
1. Membership of Z-Wave Alliance. In order to certify products, companies must join the Z-Wave Alliance at the Manufacturer level or higher. Brander members may brand and adopt certified products and may hold a license to use Z-Wave certification marks, but cannot submit their own products for certification. For full information on membership, please review this page. In order to take advantage of all the Z-Wave Alliance benefits this step should be considered early in your development process. Please be sure to include your marketing team to ensure compliance with the marketing requirements, logos, packaging and paper inlays.
2. Z-Wave Certification Portal. Request access to the Z-Wave Certification Portal by emailing the Z-Wave certification team.
On the Z-Wave Certification Portal, read the information in the “Getting Started” section. Here you will find step-by-step instructions to help you create a certification case.
3. Compliance Test Tool. Download the Compliance Test Tool (CTT) from the Z-Wave Certification Portal and use it during product development to test and verify your Z-Wave implementation.
4. Send your Product to Certification Testing. After ensuring your product is Z-Wave compliant, finalize and submit your form on the Z-Wave Certification Portal. A case number is automatically assigned and once your submission has been reviewed and approved, you can start working with one of our independent test houses.
5. Market Certification. Start your Market Certification with the Z-Wave Alliance as soon as you have a case number. Read more about how to use the Market Certification portal by browsing the help documentation here.
6. Z-Wave Certification is done. Once the device has passed the technical tests AND the Market Certification has been approved by the Z-Wave Alliance a Z-Wave certification number is issued and you can now launch your product into the interoperable Z-Wave ecosystem.
Important Documentation for Z-Wave Technical Certification
Z-Wave Certification Overview (updated December 30, 2020)
Learn More
Device and Role Type Specifications documents
Learn More
Z-Wave Certification Support
Z-Wave Certification Team for questions regarding the overall certification process or questions regarding certification interoperability testing done by the independent test partners: CertAdmin@Z-WaveAlliance.org
The Chip vendor Support Team or local Field Application Engineer for questions regarding the Z-Wave Protocol, Command Class implementation or specification issues..
Z-Wave Certification in the Z-Wave Alliance
Full responsibility of the Z-Wave Certification is being transferred from Silicon Labs to the Z-Wave Alliance
What does that mean to you?
- Same procedure as always! The steps mentioned in above process will still apply
- The Certification Portal will remain but can only be accessed via the Alliance website
- Market Cert will be merged with the Portal so only one access is needed
- Users will still have access to old cases in the Portal and will still be able to clone a case
- The Compliance Test Tool (CTT) will still be part of the Technical part of certification.
- Most of the current links and contacts will automatically be transferred to the new setup for a long period of time, but you will be advised to adopt the new directions when made available.