Echelon Corporation was an American company which designed control networks to connect machines and other
electronic devices
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using Electronic component, electronic devices. Electronics uses Passivity (engineering), active devices ...
, for the purposes of sensing,
monitoring
Monitoring may refer to:
Science and technology Biology and healthcare
* Monitoring (medicine), the observation of a disease, condition or one or several medical parameters over time
* Baby monitoring
* Biomonitoring, of toxic chemical compounds, ...
and control. Echelon is now owned by
Adesto Technologies.
History
Echelon was founded in February 1988 in
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...
by
Clifford "Mike" Markkula Jr. The chief executive was
M. Kenneth Oshman.
Echelon's
LonWorks
LonWorks or Local Operating Network is an open standard (ISO/IEC 14908) for networking platforms specifically created to address the needs of control applications. The platform is built on a protocol created by Echelon Corporation for networking d ...
platform for control networking was released in 1990 for use in the building, industrial, transportation, and
home automation
Home automation or domotics is building automation for a home, called a smart home or smart house. A home automation system will monitor and/or control home attributes such as lighting, climate, entertainment systems, and appliances. It m ...
markets. At their
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
on March 31, 1998, their shares were listed on the
NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
exchange with the symbol ELON.
Started in 2003, Echelon's Networked Energy Services system was an open metering service. Echelon provides the underlying network technology for the world's largest
Advanced Metering Infrastructure
A smart meter is an electronic device that records information such as consumption of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor. Smart meters communicate the information to the consumer for greater clarity of consumption beha ...
(AMI) in Italy with over 27 million connected electricity meters.
Based on the experiences with this installation, Echelon developed the NES (Networked Energy Services) System (including
smart meter
A smart meter is an electronic device that records information such as consumption of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor. Smart meters communicate the information to the consumer for greater clarity of consumption beha ...
s, data concentrators and a head-end data collection system) in October 2014 with about 3.5 million devices installed.
In August 2014, after quarterly revenues dropped from $24.8 million to $15 million, Echelon announced it was leaving the smart-grid business, shifting its entire corporate focus to the
Internet of things
The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
as a market for its technology. Echelon committed to only support existing customers, but not grow the grid business, and to potentially seek the sale of its grid business.
Echelon is based in
Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...
, with international offices in China, France, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
On June 29, 2018,
Adesto Technologies announced its intention to acquire Echelon for $45 million. The acquisition completed on September 14, 2018.
References
{{reflist
External links
About Echelon CorporationLonMark International
Networking companies of the United States
Computer companies established in 1988
1988 establishments in California
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
Companies based in San Jose, California
Companies based in Santa Clara, California
Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Power-line communication Internet access
1998 initial public offerings
2018 mergers and acquisitions