Echelon recently announced a number of new initiatives, such as McDonald's use of LonWorks to network its restaurant kitchen equipment, a trial in the U.K. to remotely control and monitor streetlights, and a partnership with EnerNOC to control supermarket lighting, refrigeration and air conditioning units.

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As valuable as is the tinkering with thermodynamics and mechanics, the revolution that the hardware suppliers are complicit in enabling comes from the addition and full integration of microprocessors--making dumb hardware smart, and most importantly, adding the native ability to connect to communications networks via BlueTooth and Zigbee, LONworks, Ethernet and the Internet.

FORBES: Magazine Article