Echelon Takes Another Stab at U.S. Resi Market

By all accounts, LonWorks has always been a reliable, robust protocol for control applications, but it failed to gain traction in U.S. homes because it was simply too expensive. Echelon faded from the U.S. residential scene, not because the company was uninterested, but because its most immediate opportunities lay elsewhere.

"It's not that we weren't paying attention to it, but that the European and Asian markets picked up much, much faster," says vice president of marketing Michael Tennefoss, noting an order for 27 million LonWorks-enabled electric meters in Italy.

But over the years, Echelon has cleared several obstacles to residential adoption--for starters, price. Not only did Echelon reduce the price of its powerline transceivers, the company dropped the price of its developer kits--including preprogrammed powerline devices--from a whopping $4,000 to just $340. Tennefoss believes the price drop will encourage a new generation of developers to create LonWorks-enabled products.

In addition, two new Echelon technologies are expected to rejuvenate interest in LonWorks. The first is Interoperable Self-Installation (ISI)--software that enables the creation of a "self organizing network," according to Tennefoss. Either automatically or at the press of a button, devices on a network recognize each other, without the aid of a standalone processor or tool.

"With other technologies, you need a tool or handheld programmer for discovery and for setting scenes," says Tennefoss. "Ours is true peer-to-peer for every device; each device is responsible for finding every other device in the system."

More importantly, perhaps, is a new Echelon innovation that allows LonWorks powerline technology to operate in switched-leg environments, i.e., where there is no neutral wire in the switch box. Virtually all powerline-based automation technologies require a neutral at the switch location. Many older homes are not candidates for powerline communications because the requisite neutral is located at the fixture location, not at the switch box.
But Echelon's switched-leg technology works without a neutral. The first-generation technology enabled communications over switched-leg circuits only for incandescent lights. The new version accommodates halogen and fluorescent lights, as well.
While U.S.-focused developers work on new LonWorks solutions, Samsung is exporting its existing powerline products to the U.S. from Korea, where the company has exploited Echelon's technology for years.

LonWorks drives Samsung's Homevita line of connected appliances, as well as a line of automated light switches, dimmers and plug-in modules. Many of these products are expected to be installed in the Playa Vista high-tech community west of Los Angeles.
Indeed, the U.S. residential market is "very important to us," says Tennefoss. "The technology we announced for that market represents tens of millions of dollars of investment over several years. We are patiently building a portfolio to make it possible."