Echelon Broadens its Technology Platform to Jumpstart the Emerging Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) Market

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ARM TechCon -- Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON), the world's leading control networking platform provider, today outlined its plan to broaden its award-winning embedded control technology platform—bringing its 25 years of experience in networking and controlling more than 100 million industrial devices to the emerging Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market. In the first phase in its strategy, Echelon is introducing its IzoT platform (see http://iiot.echelon.com) for the IIoT and releasing beta versions of its IzoT multi-protocol stack for the ARM architecture.

Available now are example reference implementations for the popular Raspberry Pi development platform. In January 2014, the software stack will be available as part of Marvell's Easy Connect software development kit (SDK) for the Marvell Wi-Fi Microcontroller platform, and later in 2014 Echelon will release a range of IzoT-enabled chips, modules, routers and software (see separate release http://www.echelon.com/company/news-room/2013/Echelon-and-Marvell-Spur-Development-of-Interoperable-Wireless-Devices.htm).

The IIoT refers to industrial objects, or "things," that automatically communicate over a network—without human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction—to share information and take action, often autonomously. Because of the unforgiving environments in which these industrial devices exist—including harsh physical conditions and mission-critical processes—IIoT solutions must meet the challenging requirements of industrial-strength reliability, hardened security, wired and wireless connectivity, and backwards compatibility with large installations of legacy devices.

Echelon's IIoT offerings focus on enabling both existing and new "things"—including small, low-powered sensors and actuators—to connect and take action among themselves in a peer-to-peer fashion, with or without interaction with the centralized client/server "Internet" portion of the IIoT. Echelon's open, multi-protocol, multi-application IzoT platform will support both wired and wireless connections, freeing developers from worrying about compatibility, protocol or connectivity issues as they design or integrate IIoT devices and applications.

"Echelon's control networking platform has always been about connecting 'things' in environments where reliability, flexibility and scale are paramount, and now we are extending that platform to more protocols and more connectivity types," said Ron Sege, Echelon's chairman and CEO. "We have 25 years of experience connecting and controlling more than 100 million devices in a wide range of applications, from lighting to building controls to industrial automation. By 2020, the Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to represent almost 40 percent of all Internet-connected devices, a share higher than either mobile phones or PCs/tablets—and the IIoT is expected to reach 500 million units per year. We believe that our IzoT platform can facilitate that growth and bring great benefit to many existing and new industrial applications."

"The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is drawing attention and investment from major technology providers throughout the industry, and Echelon is positioned to provide important foundational solutions for this emerging market," said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst of Moor Insights & Strategy. "The kind of control networking expertise that Echelon has amassed will be crucial for turning the promise of the IIoT into tangible, transformative solutions."

Echelon Platform Designed to Speed Adoption of the IIoT

By adding protocol support for legacy and emerging devices to its platform, and by adding short-range wireless capabilities to its existing best-of-breed wired offerings, Echelon will offer customers the easiest, most reliable way to build large-scale heterogeneous networks of industrial-grade devices that can self-install and interoperate within a peer-to-peer community. Because the Echelon platform supports legacy as well as emerging IIoT protocols, customers will not have to strand assets or engage in wholesale system upgrades.

In January 2014, Echelon plans to release IzoT Cloud software, enabling remote access, monitoring and control of IzoT-enabled communities of devices. In addition to access through REST services, the cloud software will also provide data archival services to store key data from IzoT-enabled communities for trending and other analytics.

Developers can take advantage of the software being released today to rapidly prototype new IIoT devices and applications on standard ARM-based hardware platforms such as the Raspberry Pi, while having the option of creating industrial-grade and purpose-built products based on IzoT-enabled chips, modules, routers and software that Echelon will introduce throughout 2014.

About Echelon Corporation

Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON), a pioneer in developing open-standard control networking platforms, delivers all the elements necessary to design, install, monitor and control industrial-strength 'communities of devices' within the lighting, building automation, grid, Internet of Things, 'maker' and other markets worldwide. Echelon develops and sells complete systems and subsystems for target applications, plus system-on-chips (SoCs), embedded software, and commissioning and management tools for OEMs. With more than 100 million Echelon-powered devices installed worldwide, the company helps its customers easily and safely migrate existing control systems to the most modern platforms, while bringing new devices and applications into an ever-growing global Industrial Internet. Echelon helps its customers reduce operational costs, enhance satisfaction and safety, grow revenues and perform better in both established and emerging markets. More information about Echelon can be found at http://iiot.echelon.com, or www.echelon.com and at the company's blog at blog.echelon.com.

Echelon and the Echelon logo are registered trademarks of Echelon Corporation registered in the United States and other countries. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

This press release may contain statements relating to future plans, events or performance. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties, the risk that Echelon's offerings by themselves or combined with other applications or offerings do not perform as designed or do not offer the expected benefits and savings; risks associated with international sales; and other risks identified in Echelon's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Echelon undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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SOURCE Echelon Corporation