Connecting Machines and Devices
Company Size
1,000+
Region
- America
- Asia
- Europe
Country
- China
- France
- Germany
- Japan
- Netherlands
- United Kingdom
- United States
Product
- LonWorks platform
- LNS management system
- Versant embedded object-oriented database
Tech Stack
- Object-oriented programming
- C++
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Brand Awareness
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
Applicable Industries
- Electronics
- Transportation
- Utilities
Applicable Functions
- Discrete Manufacturing
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Building Automation & Control
- Fleet Management
- Predictive Maintenance
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Echelon Corporation is a pioneer and world leader in control networks and embedded control networks, which connect machines and other electronic devices. They created the LonWorks platform, an extremely robust, flexible, and expandable standards-based control networking platform and ecosystem upon which manufacturers can build products and applications with unparalleled reliability, security, operational integrity, flexibility, and bottom-line value. LonWorks is the world’s most widely adopted standard for automating everyday devices and systems. Hundreds of millions of people have experienced a LonWorks based control network. They’re used everywhere – from the Louvre to the New York City subway system to Rhoponghi Hills in Tokyo – to create control applications that make our lives more comfortable, convenient, and safe.
The Challenge
Echelon is a pioneer and world leader in control networks and embedded control networks, which connect machines and other electronic devices. They needed an embedded database compatible with the object-oriented application model. A predecessor of LNS was introduced in 1991, using procedural code and an embedded record oriented/ relational data storage toolkit. As object-oriented programming began to emerge, the team realized that using object-oriented programming was the most productive way to add features and power to the system. At the same time, the team realized that the record oriented storage toolkit was an obstacle to object-oriented development and a big usability problem because it exposed the embedded database structure to their broad OEM programmer community.
The Solution
Versant embedded object databases are capable of handling the 70+ application classes, with up to 32,000 device instances on one network, including deep inheritance hierarchies, complex relationships among application objects, and high performance to store and retrieve a persistent network size of several hundred megabytes. Echelon estimates that using the Versant database resulted in a six month advantage in time to market, and saved several “developer years” while simultaneously enabling the team to implement more powerful features. In addition, there are significant ongoing developer productivity gains when enhancing and maintaining the code base.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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