Echelon strikes network deal with Cisco and Sun

NEWS Echelon Corporation, a company that sells network control equipment for building infrastructure devices, is to strike a deal with Cisco Systems and Sun, according to reports in today's San Jose Business Journal. Echelon's latest technology allows everyday devices such as lights, security systems and industrial processes, to be networked and controlled over the Internet. Echelon's products are operated over their open LonWorks standard. The report states that Sun will use the product to promote its own Jini technology, an architecture that allows appliances to talk to each other. Cisco hopes to gain by increasing the market for its networking hardware.