Can Digi's XBee ZB modules communicate with other manufacturer's zigbee modules?

Yes they can, however by default, they are not configured to do so.

In order for the ZigBee devices from two different manufacturers to communicate with each other, it's required that they both are operating on a similar ZigBee Stack Profile.

By default, Digi's XBee ZB modules operates on Digi's proprietary "Drop-In Networking" ZigBee Stack Profile. Therefore, the modules would not be able to communicate as expected with another manufacturer's ZigBee device. Changing the ZigBee Stack Profile on these modules is quite convenient with the software selectable "ZS" parameter. Using the AT commands below and with help of X-CTU software, one can change this parameter to appropriate value. See the table below in order to select the appropriate value for your ZigBee network:
 
 "ZS" value                  Description 
      0     Digi proprietary "Drop-In Networking" ZigBee stack profile
      1     ZigBee 2006 featureset
      2     ZigBee 2007 (aka ZigBee PRO) featureset

"ZS" parameters 1 and 2 represent standard ZigBee stack profiles as described by the ZigBee Alliance. If a 3rd party ZigBee device supports any of the public ZigBee Stack Profiles, then your XBee module can be configured to communicate with it using the commands described above.


For XBee ZB adapters:

Access to XBee ZB adapter's configuration parameters is directly not available 
(except for RS232 and USB variants). Hence, user must first connect XBee adapter to XBee ZB Coordinator on "Drop In Networking" stack profile using appropriate PAN ID and then change "ZS" parameter to suitable featureset accordingly.  Alternately, the XBee ZB through-hole modules found in some of our XBee Adapter products can typically be removed and mounted in a Digi XBIB development board or 3rd party XBee adapter.  In this way, XCTU can be used to communicate with the module/send AT commands and make any changes directly.
Last updated: Aug 23, 2017

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