Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ:ELON)
today unveiled the
Echelon Control System (ECoS), a new open software platform for
intelligent distributed control of the smart grid. The announcement was
made at a special event with industry consultants, such as KEMA,and
Echelon customers and partners including Duke Energy, Oracle, SEAS-NVE,
and Telvent. ECoS will run throughout the edge of the grid on the
new Edge Control Node (ECN) 7000 series of open and extensible
hardware solutions. Echelon also announced
today that Duke Energy will be the first customer for the ECoS.
“Like all utilities, we are seeing new demands placed on the grid from
the increased number of intermittent generation sources, such as wind
power, and the introduction of electric vehicles”
Industry veteran Ron Chebra, Vice President at KEMA, Inc, framed the
situation at the edge of the grid, which represents the space between
distribution and end user, saying, Utilities today face a complex set
of interrelated challenges. Increasing peak demand, the proliferation of
renewable energy sources, and the emergence of electric vehicles are
creating new uncertainties. Intelligent distributed control at this edge
is necessary to make the smart grid a reality.
ECoS and the ECN 7000 family represent an important step forward for
Echelon as a company and the smart grid as an industry, said Ron Sege,
President and CEO of Echelon. ECoS will move the grid beyond
centralized reading of meters to a truly open, intelligent and
distributed system that can monitor and react to an increasingly dynamic
and demanding environment. Even as demand for electricity grows and its
supply becomes increasingly distributed, utilities can now enhance
customer experience through improved reliability, accelerated response
times and increased efficiencies. We are excited by this vision and
extremely pleased at the strong interest among our customers and
partners.
Built on Echelons 20 years of proven, trusted and unmatched experience
in control networking and software innovation, ECoS provides an open and
secure application framework for monitoring and controlling devices at
the edge of the grid the critical point where the distribution network
connects to customers. ECoS enables developers to easily build
applications, or ECoS apps, to make local, autonomous control
decisions in near real-time for maximum reliability, survivability and
responsiveness.
For example, utilities have minimal warning of outages because they
cannot completely monitor the conditions on the grid that can cause
these service interruptions. With ECoS and the ECN, utilities have
unprecedented visibility at the edge of the grid, so anomalies like
voltage fluctuations, power quality and line signal strength can be
quickly identified, giving utilities the potential to see where their
next outage may strike and take corrective action before it occurs.
With investment in one open platform, ECoS allows utilities to meet next
generation demand response challenges, optimize local grid efficiency,
predict power outages before they occur and rapidly restore service, and
implement other smart grid services. In a separate news release, Echelon
announced today that Duke Energy will be the first customer for the ECN
7000 series.
Like all utilities, we are seeing new demands placed on the grid from
the increased number of intermittent generation sources, such as wind
power, and the introduction of electric vehicles, said Peter Iversen,
CTO at SEAS-NVE, the second largest utility in Denmark. By distributing
intelligent control into the grid, ECoS and the ECN 7000 will raise
system reliability and survivability to the next level by eliminating
central points of failure and vulnerability. ECoS will deliver the near
real-time responses utilities need to increase efficiency, create
balance and increase our control at the edge of the grid.
The ECoS software platform and Edge Control Node 7000 provide an
applications and data sharing model that complements Oracles smart grid
solutions, said Guerry Waters, Vice President, Industry Strategy and
Marketing, Oracle Utilities. Sensing, control and intelligence
distributed throughout the grid will help utilities to serve their
customers needs with the reliability, efficiency, scalability, and
security essential to the smart grid.
Ignacio GonzÃlez, CEO at Telvent, a leading real-time IT solutions and
information provider for a sustainable world, and a supplier of a
comprehensive Smart Grid Solutions Suite to electric utilities
worldwide, remarked, From our view, the ECoS and the ECN series of
products will clearly compliment the already successful relationship we
have with Echelon in providing integrated smart metering, smart network
and smart operations solutions for our customers. Combined with
Telvents advanced SCADA, DMS, Meter Data Management, GIS, Outage
Management solutions and substation automation products, customers can
realize significant efficiency, reliability and security improvements in
their operations while meeting pressing smart metering program
objectives. Echelons ECoS powered products provide a welcome open,
modular framework that can be used to create an innovative and cost
effective utility smart grid applications for now and the future.
Read what other industry leaders such as Accenture, Badger, Capgemini,
Convergys, Coulomb, Duke Energy, eMeter, iControl, KEMA, Kinects,
Oracle, Plug Smart, S&C Electric, SEAS-NVE, Streetlight. Vision,
Telvent, Tollgrade, Vattenfall, and Verizon have to say about Echelons
new applications platform for distributed control at the edge of the
grid. Visit, http://www.echelon.com/smartgrid/ecos_testimonials.htm.
Frequently asked questions about todays announcements can be found at http://www.echelon.com/press/2010/ecos_platform_faq.htm.
About Echelon Corporation
Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ:
ELON)
is leading the worldwide transformation of the electricity grid into a
smart, communicating energy network, connecting utilities to their
customers, enabling networking of everyday devices, and providing
customers with energy aware homes and businesses that react to
conditions on the grid.
Echelons NES System the control networking infrastructure for the
smart grid enables intelligent distributed control applications and
devices that deliver maximum reliability, survivability and
responsiveness. Through the ECoS platform, the NES system enables any
device, speaking any protocol, connected over any network to be
integrated into local decision making and connected securely to
enterprise IT systems through virtually any IP network. The NES System
helps utilities compete more effectively, reduce operating costs,
provide expanded services and help energy users manage and reduce
overall energy use.
Echelons LonWorks Infrastructure products extend the smart
grid in to smart buildings factories, homes and other systems, powering
tens of millions of energy aware, everyday devices made by thousands of
companies connecting them to each other, to the electricity grid and
to the Internet. LonWorks based products work together to monitor and
save energy; lower costs; improve productivity; and enhance service,
quality, safety, and convenience in utility, municipal, building,
industrial, transportation, and home area networks.
More information about Echelon can be found at http://www.echelon.com.
Echelon, LonWorks, 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, including risks associated with uncertainties pertaining
to market acceptance of the Edge Control Node, including ECoS software,
and the timing and level of customer orders; risks that the Edge Control
Node, including ECoS software, does not perform as designed and that
liability may accrue as a result; the risk that third parties will not
become interested in developing ECoS apps for the Edge Control Node that
would expand the market for this product; and other risks identified in
Echelons 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: Business Wire
