National Technical Systems, a provider of engineering services, announced that its lab has been qualified by the ZigBee Alliance to offer certification testing of the enhanced version of ZigBee Smart Energy version 1.1 standard.

NTS (News - Alert) has also released an update to its ZigBee Smart Energy test harness – NTS SETest 1.1 – designed to pre-test ZigBee Smart Energy devices before they achieve ZigBee Certified product status.

Leveraging ZigBee Alliance’s ZigBee Smart Energy, a 2.4GHz ZigBee standard, many utilities and manufacturers have already gained by deploying for the design of devices that connect to the Smart Grid. These devices include thermostats, in-home displays, and smart meters.

The enhanced ZigBee Smart Energy standard features metering, demand response and load control, pricing, and text messages, along with standardized over-the-air firmware updates, security and data encryption.

“NTS has been a consistent leader in ZigBee testing and certification services for our members,” said Benno Ritter, vice president of Marketing and Business Development of the ZigBee Alliance, in a statement. “We look forward to continuing work with NTS on new application standards that bring more ZigBee products to market.”Company officials said NTS is the first laboratory qualified to perform testing for certification of these devices.

“NTS is pleased to offer ZigBee Alliance members testing and certification for the enhanced version of the ZigBee Smart Energy standard, and we look forward to helping them bring their latest products to market quickly,” said Osman Sakr, CTO of NTS. “We are also glad to be able to assist our customers in getting their products ZigBee Certified with greater ease and efficiency with the use of our NTS SETest test harness.”

Recently, National Technical Systems announced the expansion of its Silicon Valley Operations via a new 30,000-square-foot Environmental and Dynamics testing laboratory. The laboratory will feature NEBS testing, and will offer multiple services designed to meet testing and certification needs of the region's hi-tech product manufacturers.

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