Eclipse Zenoh 1.9.0 "Longwang" released — Regions, QUIC multistream, Go binding (RMW Zenoh impact inside)

The Eclipse Foundation has launched Zenoh 1.9.0, codenamed 'Longwang', marking a significant leap for the data-centric protocol widely used in robotics and IoT. The headline feature is 'Regions', which replaces the old fixed network hierarchy with configurable, arbitrarily deep topology trees (like mesh or star). For the Robot Operating System 2 (ROS 2) community using the RMW Zenoh middleware, this is a game-changer: it allows scaling to massive, multi-site deployments—think warehouse or delivery robot fleets—by dramatically slashing the compute and network overhead previously required for such distributed systems.

Beyond scaling, version 1.9.0 delivers critical networking optimizations. It introduces QUIC multistream, dedicating one stream per Zenoh priority level to eliminate head-of-line blocking in mixed-priority traffic—crucial for ensuring real-time control messages aren't delayed. It also adds a reliable UDP mode for trusted environments where TLS overhead is prohibitive. The release is rounded out by a fully-featured, official Zenoh-Go binding (sponsored by SoftBank) for building fleet-side tools, and an async executor for Zenoh-Pico, bringing advanced pub/sub capabilities to microcontrollers. Accompanying tools like an updated Wireshark plugin for protocol analysis further solidify Zenoh's position as a robust, modern middleware alternative to traditional DDS for demanding distributed systems.