As LEEDARSON set out to become an ODM powerhouse, they looked to Zigbee to meet their need for a highly reliable, low-power, affordable networking solution.
About LEEDARSON
LEEDARSON is a leading IoT ODM. They specialize in R&D, production, sales of IoT products, LED light sources, LED lamps, and fluorescent energy-saving lamps. Founded in the 1990s in Xiamen, China, LEEDARSON set the goal of becoming the largest lighting IoT supplier in the world. They began connected lighting research in 2011, and the company grew dramatically in the lighting industry through manufacturing light sources, light fixtures, and offering complete lighting solutions. LEEDARSON also continued to grow in the greater IoT, expanding their product lines to gateways, sensors, smart plugs, switches, dimmers, and IP cameras, which constitute a complete smart home solution. Today, they are known as a high-quality, efficient one-stop shop ODM focused on helping organizations develop proven, reliable, and interoperable smart products for the home automation, entertainment, security, and video surveillance categories.
The Challenge
With the goal of becoming the largest lighting IoT supplier in the world, it was vital that LEEDARSON chose a dynamic networking solution that was able to meet their core needs for realizing this vision. The technology they chose had to be:
- Reliable with a self-healing network
- Low-power
- Affordable
- Capable of being quickly deployed at a high volume
- Secure
- Compatible with their other deployments
At the heart of their values, LEEDARSON believed (and still believes today) that their products should enhance the lives of their customers and that interoperability should be at the core to deliver on that value.The company also saw the importance of power consumption; even though many of the devices they were shipping were small, they knew that effective power consumption was the key to a long battery life and a happy end consumer.
The Solution
Because of its open, low power, self-healing mesh network, LEEDARSON saw Zigbee as the answer to effectively delivering connected products that added value to their customers’ everyday lives and in turn helped them to set out on a path to reach their vision.
| What LEEDARSON Needed | What Zigbee Offered |
| Reliable, self-healing network | The Zigbee mesh network is capable of carrying up to 65,000 nodes, and is built to self-heal if a node happens to go down. |
| Low-Power | Zigbee runs on an 802.15.4 network, and sends frequent, small packets of data. The network also recognizes “Sleeping End Devices so that energy is not wasted on devices in the network that aren’t in use. This structure ensures that the lowest possible energy is consumed to run devices. Additionally, Zigbee PRO’s Green Power feature enables the development of self-powered, battery-less products. |
| Affordability | The openness of the Zigbee standard supports a competitive marketplace of multiple platform and silicon vendors, which keeps costs low. |
| Quick deployments at a high volume | Zigbee Alliance members gain access to the latest specifications so they can go to market quickly. The various paths to certification also mean that there are quick, effective ways to get many products Zigbee Certified in a short period of time. With multiple silicon vendors to choose from, Zigbee is an ideal choice for ODMs like LEEDARSON who require predetermined chip quantities quickly in order to meet their deployment goals. |
| Security | Zigbee is built on the Zigbee PRO networking layer, which enhances 802.15.4 by adding in security layers. |
| Compatibility with other deployments | By certifying to the Zigbee standard, products are able to count on device-to-device interoperability. Because Zigbee is a full-stack solution, it provides a single application language that is ideal for multi-vendor ecosystems. The standard is also designed for backward- and forward-compatibility, meaning devices will continue working as the standard is built upon and improved. |
The Results of Choosing Zigbee
LEEDARSON had no doubt that Zigbee was the right choice when joining the Zigbee Alliance, after which they promptly launched the very first Zigbee 3.0 Certified bulb. As LEEDARSON looked to the future and began expanding their connected product portfolio, Zigbee remained the right choice. The technology offered a total solution for commercial building and smart home solutions, including smart lighting, home automation, home security, and home entertainment. Now, with the use of Zigbee, LEEDARSON has met the following milestones as they evolve into an IoT product manufacturing powerhouse:
- LEEDARSON now carries Zigbee Certified lighting products with CCT tunable, dimmable, and RGBW functions.
- Their products are also compliant with the Zigbee Alliance Green Power Proxy Basic, meaning they can seamlessly work with Green Power energy-harvesting devices in the same network.
- LEEDARSON quickly expanded their production line beyond lighting; they now develop gateways and sensors. Their multi-protocol gateway supports both a cloud service and phone app that can control devices remotely and gather data for analysis.
- LEEDARSON continuously experiences a high volume of customers interested in Zigbee who seek them out specifically for their growing portfolio of Zigbee Certified products.
- With Zigbee, LEEDARSON evolved into a total solution provider. They now have a full portfolio of IoT devices and software for a complete smart home.
- In addition to the home, LEEDARSON also now provides solutions security, as well as commercial spaces (i.e. supermarket, office, or warehouse).
“After years of experience in the Zigbee Alliance and contributions to the standard, we believe Zigbee to be the most important common language between intelligent devices, and that lighting is a springboard for the IoT movement,” said John E. Osborne II, VP of IoT at LEEDARSON and Chairman of the Board for the Zigbee Alliance. “As LEEDARSON continues to move forward with cutting-edge solutions for smart lighting, smart home, and connected commercial buildings, our success confirms that Zigbee was the right technology to propel us forward as a leading IoT ODM, and we look forward to a bright future using the standard.”
LEEDARSON’s Involvement in the Zigbee Alliance
LEEDARSON is actively involved in the Zigbee Alliance. In 2016, they upgraded their membership to the top Promoter level, and sponsored the 2017 Asia Member Meeting and public Zigbee Forum, which attracted over 300 attendees. As a board member of Zigbee Alliance, LEEDARSON constantly supports and promotes Zigbee technology and development—they even have an experienced R&D team that is devoted to analyzing and improving the standard. At CES 2019 in Las Vegas, LEEDARSON hosted an interoperability wall for Zigbee Alliance members. The display featured their Zigbee-based products that utilize the new Arnoo Intelligent IoT platform, which helps customers streamline development and go-to-market efforts.