基于LONWORKS 网络的智能化家庭
Topic:
The Smart Home is Wired with LonWorks NetWorks
Author :Red Herring
date: May 1, 2001
Echelon is one of the pioneers in connecting everyday devices to each other and the Internet, with over 13 million devices installed in buildings, factories, transportation systems, and homes worldwide. Their success stems in large part from the flexibility and utility of the LonWorks platform which provides the quiet foundation of interoperability, the means to assure that differ-ent products "talk" to each other. Recently the LonWorks system has made major strides into the home networking market. Enel, the world’s largest publicly traded electric utility, will network over 27 million Italian homes with new energy meter that will save the utility and consumers money and provide a platform for offering value-added services to smart devices within each home.
"Projected increases in broadband Internet access—although not essential to home controls applications—will have the benefit of educating consumers about home networking in general," said Reza Raji, Director of Business Development at Echelon. However, he is convinced that low-band-width applications in the form of energy management, enhanced home security, and increased management of the homes systems are a winning combination — right now.
"Because Echelon works with a variety of appliance and device manufacturers, energy service providers, and players in the residential gateway space, it is able to provide a complete end-to-end approach that differentiates it from other players," said Bea Yormark, Echelons Vice President of Marketing and Sales. "The thing that Echelon has done that nobody else has is that we have solved the problem of interoperability, reliable, worldwide power line communications, and a full network architecture that allows for the scalability of devices from three to millions and millions of nodes," Yormark asserts.
Echelons emphasis on its end-to-end solution has quietly paid dividends. Its announcements with service providers such as Enel are truly ground-breaking. And its recent announcements with major home products manufacturers including Merloni, Sampo, Invensys, and Samsung will bring smart appliances and products into the mainstream.