The ZigBee Alliance has approved new features for the ZigBee specification that significantly expand the capabilities of this short range wireless technology. 
ZigBee uses self-organizing and self-healing mesh networking over the globally available 2.4 GHz frequency, with 868/915 MHz technology available in select countries. The technology is designed for ultra low-power nodes, such as sensor networks.
The original set of features published in 2006 is now known as the ZigBee Feature Set. An expanded set of features known as ZigBee PRO maximizes all the capabilities of ZigBee and facilitates ease-of-use and advanced support for larger networks. The newly released Feature Sets are designed to interoperate with each other, ensuring long-term use and stability.
Highlights of the expanded ZigBee PRO Feature Set include:
- Network Scalability -- Improved support for larger networks offering more management, flexibility, performance choices
- Fragmentation -- New ability to divide longer messages and enable interaction with other protocols and systems
- Frequency Agility -- Networks dynamically change channels should interference occur
- Automated Device Address Management -- Optimized for large networks with added network management and configuration tools
- Group Addressing -- Offers additional traffic optimization needed for large networks
- Wireless Commissioning -- Enhanced with secure wireless commissioning capabilities
- Centralized Data Collection -- Tuned specifically to optimize information flow in large networks
