Marvin,
<Can you imagine dialing in to have the lights in your
house go on ten minutes before you arrive home.
AWESOME...>
Yes, I have imagined just that, and so has Ken Oshman, CEO of Echelon, a company whose LonWorks (open, interoperable, proprietary) is being touted as the solution that will "extend the Internet to everyday devices." There's an interesting video on their web site where Oshman, Judy Estrin from Cisco, and Bill Joy from Sun Micro talk about the consumer market as a key area to fuel growth going forward. Judy Estrin, in particular, spoke about how this ubiquitous communication would change the way we "work, live, play, and learn."
Ken Oshman was referred to as a man ahead of his time. My concern: has his time finally arrived? I've seen four or five mentions of home networking and embedded technology in home appliances over the past month. Consumer Electronics Show early January, and earnings to be announced January 20th. Stock up 34% Friday on heavy trading. Could be a bunch of hot air, but just maybe the genesis of a twister. I'm making a stab at analyzing this as a candidate for the G&K W&W portfolio (no laughing, please). Should it prove unworthy of inclusion, at least I'll have gained the experience. Voluntary Disclosure: I still own this stock.
This description from Echelon's web site:
Echelon Corporation is a worldwide leader in control networks used by over 3,500 companies with millions of nodes installed worldwide that deliver efficiency, safety, and productivity to building, industrial, transportation, home, and other environments. The company?s family of over 80 products and services are based on the LonWorks platform for control networking and are at the forefront of the trend away from closed, centralized control systems. These products and services allow manufacturers and integrators to quickly develop, test, debug and deploy their products. The company is a founding member and sponsor of the LonMark Interoperability Association - an organization that promotes LonMark products, recommends design guidelines for interoperable LonWorks based products, and verifies that products meet the Association's guidelines for interoperability.
Janet
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