The Connected Lighting Alliance (TCLA), the primary advocate of wireless lighting connectivity, announced that is has accomplished its goal of converging the lighting industry in support of the use of open protocols for wireless lighting solutions.

Having looked at a wide variety of open protocols, TCLA has now endorsed ZigBee 3.0 for consumer applications and identified the Thread Group as the organization to develop a suitable network-layer protocol for indoor professional lighting applications. As such, the members of TCLA have agreed to dissolve the organization by the 31st of December 2016. Their work and vision for interoperable wireless lighting solutions will continue at TCLA's partner organizations: the ZigBee Alliance, the Thread Group and the Fairhair Alliance. 

The Connected Lighting Alliance logo. (TCLA/LEDinside)

“When TCLA was created, consumers and users faced a confusing landscape of wireless lighting connectivity standards, which posed potential confusion to consumers and a threat to growth in this young market” said Pekka Hakkarainen, Vice President at Lutron Electronics and Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Connected Lighting Alliance. “By bringing together the leading companies in the lighting industry to develop the technical market requirements for wireless lighting applications and identifying key organizations to adopt its recommendations, TCLA has accomplished its primary mission, and is comfortable with its partner organizations continuing to drive the market forward.” 

“TCLA has been a very effective forum for the lighting industry to enable the connected lighting market to grow”, Frank van Tuijl, Secretary General of TCLA, agreed. “Now that we have successfully achieved our objectives, it is time to wind down our activities so that our members can focus on taking up new challenges.” 

Tobin Richardson, CEO of the ZigBee Alliance stated that “The TCLA’s endorsement of ZigBee 3.0 and lighting standards has helped to propel the convergence of standards enabling the Internet of Things. We congratulate the TCLA on its role in accelerating value to consumers in the smart home, commercial buildings and industrial applications, and further we look forward to continuing the good work in solidifying and expanding this work in the ZigBee Alliance.”

“TCLA has played an instrumental role in enabling the market for connected lighting, by representing a unified voice of the lighting industry in the complex and diverse world of connectivity standards, and we applaud them for their great work” said Jan Denneman, President of the Global Lighting Association.