By John Holdstock, and Dave Baker, Developer & Platform Group, Microsoft

Leviton Manufacturing dates back to the dawn of the electrical era in 1906. Originally engaged in the fabrication of mantle tips for gas lighting, the company quickly saw the potential in the newly harnessed source of energy and converted to production of an electrical pull-chain lampholder. Today, Leviton offers more than 20,000 products and is a leader in the electrical industry, serving the industrial, commercial, OEM, and residential markets.

Consistent with its mission to apply the latest technologies to the development of new products that satisfy the needs of emerging markets, Leviton engineers and designers have been at the forefront of delivering trusted residential home automation products to installers, builders, and homeowners. The company's vision to provide consumers with powerful levels of control and customisation for home lighting and appliance automation has led it to pioneer new technologies and expand the potential of "smart" controls for the home.

Leviton saw in the advent of the Z-Wave technology standard a means of offering its customers advanced, next-generation home automation that provides greater flexibility and convenience while moving beyond the limitations inherent in older, wire-based household power-line systems.

A New Protocol Changes the Game

Z-Wave, which was codified through an industry alliance in 2005, is a wireless radio frequency (RF)-based communications standard that makes remote control effective and practical for homes of any size. The protocol, which is embedded in a microprocessor chip and built into a module or device along with memory – flash memory, RAM, or both – transforms a stand-alone appliance into an intelligent networked device that can be controlled and monitored wirelessly. Z-Wave delivers high-quality networking at a fraction of the cost of other similar technologies by focusing on narrow bandwidth applications and negating the need for costly hardware by employing innovative software solutions.

The Z-Wave standard offers a combination of technical and practical advantages that render it superior to conventional home control systems. The benefits include a wide signal range, making remote-control functionality possible for even the largest homes; simple integration that makes it easy to expand the network; low power consumption for deployment in battery-operated devices; two-way communication for remote confirmation of device or systems status; and low cost, making full home automation more affordable than ever before. Moreover, because Z-Wave operates on a narrow band of radio frequencies that aren't affected by other wireless devices such as the very popular 2.4 and 5.8 Gigahertz cordless phones and increasingly prevalent home Wi-Fi networks (a, b, g and n standards), there is no interference like that typically encountered with power-line solutions such as UPB.

Historically, home control systems cost tens of thousands of dollars. Leviton saw an opportunity for innovation in the home automation industry through the cost efficiencies created by Z-Wave devices. Because it's wireless, Z-Wave technology can be installed in a new home that's under construction just as easily as it can be retrofitted to an existing home. However, even with all the lights and appliances in a home enabled on the new standard at substantially lower costs, there is still the need for a central controller, connecting the home to the Internet for remote access. Such controllers have been, until now, among the most expensive components of a home automation system.

Solution

Looking for a solution path to reach the goal of innovation in home automation on the Z-Wave standard, Leviton found that the Microsoft .NET Micro Framework provided the development environment best suited for its product development and integration needs. Lightweight embedded control technologies are central to the .NET Micro Framework because it combines the reliability and efficiency of .NET with the productivity of Microsoft Visual Studio®. The .NET Micro Framework extends the power and richness of .NET development into the realm of the smallest of devices, where there are typically constraints on cost, memory, processor capabilities, or battery power.

"Among the factors that made the .NET Micro Framework attractive to us was Microsoft's position in the marketplace," says Ian Hendler, Director of Automation Products for Residential Technologies for Leviton. "Having a common set of libraries that developers can write to in the .NET Micro Framework was also very, very attractive."

Leviton judged the .NET Micro Framework as being able to offer several advantages over other platforms. These advantages include reduced hardware and licensing costs, direct hardware access at the managed code layer, and the simplicity and high up-time of the platform. "It just seemed like a better fit for a serious embedded device and enabled a lower, mass-market, end-user price," says Chris Walker, President and Chief Technical Officer of ControlThink, Leviton's software partner. ControlThink was tasked with writing the required applications and providing additional, enhanced functionality based on its own IP.

According to Walker, Leviton would have incurred higher development costs if it used proprietary tool chains rather than the .NET Micro Framework. He also stated that "other development tools are not nearly as refined or efficient as the Microsoft tools." In addition, he saw the framework's ability to run on inexpensive processors as a significant additional benefit.

A New Product Is Developed – Fast

Leviton worked with Microsoft, which provided the .NET Micro Framework, as well as with its hardware and software partners to develop the Vizia RF Foyer, the industry's first Z-Wave-compliant Ethernet gateway. The Vizia RF Foyer connects to an Internet-linked PC or laptop through the computer's Ethernet port and transmits signals to a Z-Wave home control network. Peer-to-peer mesh networks based on the .NET Micro Framework, the Vizia RF Foyer, and the Z-Wave protocol overcome the performance issues and high cost of earlier generations of wireless home control systems.

Each Vizia RF Foyer module is equipped with a two-way radio chip that it uses to communicate with modules, called nodes, in the network. Z-Wave command signals travel from node to node along the network to their final destination. If any form of interference blocks the signal along the way (for example, a wall or a large appliance such as a refrigerator), the signal is automatically rerouted through other nodes until it reaches its destination. The "self-healing" feature of the Z-Wave mesh network lends it unparalleled reliability.

An embedded application, such as the one in the Vizia RF Foyer, customarily takes approximately one year to develop. However, with the .NET Micro Framework, Leviton's software partner ControlThink was able to produce a working proof of concept in three days and, porting its existing .Net code base, completed the final application within three months.

"Since .NET Micro Framework is basically standard C# code for embedded devices, it was easy to use Visual Studio Rapid Application Development tools to craft a 'working prototype' very quickly," says Walker. "We have some great .NET skills in-house, so for us the tools and the platform are a perfect match."

Easy Integration of Hardware and Software

Leviton's hardware partner, Digi International, produced the processor for the Vizia RF Foyer. It also found the .NET Micro Framework hospitable to its work on the project. The Digi Ethernet module, with plug-and-play functionality and comprehensive development tools for custom applications, further simplified the design and manufacture of the Vizia RF Foyer. "What we brought to the project and the .NET Micro Framework really came together with the ControlThink application," says John Leier, Product Manager for Embedded Solutions for Digi. "Everything worked well and easily scaled up to the application for Leviton's new product. This project shows how you can really reduce the amount of time it takes to get your product to market with the .NET Micro Framework."

"Because the .NET Micro Framework is designed to be implemented with hardware solutions, it's an ideal system for us to use in the Vizia RF Foyer," says Grant Sullivan, Product Marketing Manager, Automation Products for Residential Technologies for Leviton. "This has been a little different kind of process for us. Given that Leviton is a manufacturing company, we tend to like to build our own products. But Z-Wave is still a new technology and we felt there was an opportunity to work with Microsoft and our partners to create a better home automation system. Both the process of collaborating to develop this product and the response we're getting to it have been very positive."

Benefits

The Vizia RF Foyer, which will reach the market in the third quarter of 2007, allows connectivity to a home automation system locally and remotely. It makes possible use of a PDA, smart phone or either home-based or office PC to command and control dimmers, switches and other Z-Wave-enabled appliances.

"This product speeds up the home automation system in comparison to power-line wire-based systems," says Walker. "You plug the Vizia RF Foyer into the wall and connect it into your router. Now your smart home is on the Internet and can be controlled both remotely via our secure ThinkConnect service and also from computers in the house that are on the network. This small, inexpensive device is reliable, has intelligence and makes everything run better – it's basically a low-cost, smart server for the home."

Homeowners can conserve energy during the day by turning on house lights and air conditioning using their cell phone as they approach their home in the evening; dim the lights as they watch a movie in their home theater; run a macro so that an hour after the kitchen lights are turned off, the exhaust fan over the stove automatically switches off; or signal their home to go into a preprogrammed "vacation mode," with lights going on and off in different parts of the house at various times, to make it look like its being lived in for increased security.

"The big advantage here is that I can control my home when I'm not there," says Walker. "I can be home when I'm not."

Roadmap for Future Innovation

The primary focus for the launch of the Vizia RF Foyer is lighting and appliance command and control, but it will eventually integrate with window shades, thermostats, door locks, security systems and touch screens that communicate on the Z-Wave standard.

Leviton is currently developing software around the Vizia RF Foyer to help builders, electricians, professional system integrators and home entertainment system installers deploy the Z-Wave technology faster and more efficiently. The Vizia RF Foyer is fully supported by ControlThink's Z-Wave PC SDK (for desktop and mobile .Net applications) and is a platform for unlimited customisation. It's anticipated that this will lead to third-party development of products to work as plug-ins with the Vizia RF Foyer.

Another key improvement expected in future product releases is increased speed across the network.

Faster, Better, and More Economical

Speed is a central theme of the Vizia RF Foyer story. "We've shown that you can reduce the time it takes to get your product to market with the .NET Micro Framework," says Leier. "That really changes the game for embedded device designers and developers. Now they can very quickly and very easily add wired and wireless networking to their products."

"We want to go to the mass market," says Hendler, "so the .NET Micro Framework was the most cost-effective platform for us to adopt. It also delivers the ability to innovate on and is easy to find developers to program on – and our customers are already comfortable working in the .NET world. The price point is excellent and the value proposition in terms of features and flexibility is great. And based on our testing, it's very reliable."

"There's real benefit to Leviton, our customers, and to consumers from all that .NET Micro Framework does today. But I'm very confident that the Z-Wave technology and the Vizia RF Foyer product line will continue to develop and expand in terms of its capabilities and functionality by using the .NET Micro Framework."

"I see this as a platform for growth for Leviton, beyond just this one product. There are other applications we can use it in; this is a residential technology, but there are applications it can perhaps be used for in light commercial or small business. So we see .NET Micro Framework as a very good platform to invest in, because you get a good ROI immediately and you have good potential for future ROI."

Microsoft .NET Micro Framework

The .NET Micro Framework grew out of the Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) initiative at Microsoft. This framework is a natural extension of Microsoft offerings for creating embedded systems and provides an easy-to-use solution for this type of development.

Though it is used on very small devices, the.NET Micro Framework provides a managed code environment that brings a high degree of efficiency and reliability to the realm of embedded software development. You can find more information about this framework at www.msdn.microsoft.com/embedded/netmf

Many organisations are struggling to drive out the efficiency needed to remain competitive; whether that be in time to market, cost base or realising innovation. Traditionally information technology has been seen as the premier solution to tackling many process inefficiencies.  Experience shows that organisations have invested in large and complex systems to support their businesses. 

Increasingly  though, business leaders are complaining that this approach is no longer working.  Common complaints are:

• the lead time to make changes to these core systems
• the complexity of the interdependencies in changing systems
• the costs of making even the most trivial change
• the difficultly in explaining to technical colleagues what exactly is required

In many respects this approach to IT reflects the common business model of the 1980s to 2000s.  At that time most organisations tended to do everything for themselves and consequently there was little joint ventures, or outsourcing.  Single monolith systems were suitable for work in that kind of environment.

The advent of the internet has facilitated even modest organisations to adopt diverse business models; but in doing so, radical changes are needed to IT.

If we take the  example of a customer complaint – a typical complaints management system would model it as the following industrialised process:

In reality the process is more likely to be:-

The circled areas are areas where the strict structure of the process breaks down and where the process requires unstructured information to complete efficiently.  These processes may be carried out in a circular fashion using Knowledge Worker tools such as email and IM and rarely paper.  They will happen in an unstructured order depending on the nature of the complaint and in order to make the process efficient the support system must be able to accommodate different sequences and requirements

Microsoft Office 2007 System is a collection of free standing solutions, which can be easily integrated together to tackle many of the process challenges facing businesses.  At its core Office recognises that it is the interaction between individuals which can really deliver a strong competitive edge.

The Office Business Application Platform can support this unstructured and creative process with the following capabilities:

1. A Forms Capability that can create and deploy a variety of forms to staff rapidly, that can capture signatures, unstructured content and structured information from existing systems (e.g. core Banking);

2. A workflow engine that can route requests, documents and structured processes on a pre-planned or ad hoc routes, including obtaining signoff;

3. A storage and records management service that can store unstructured information, forms and data according to regulatory and security requirements (some of the data in this example will be confidential), and maintain the links between structured and unstructured data.  This will also provide insight into the status of complaints and enable CPI activity;

4. It can produce compound outputs through its XML document capabilities that can pull information from all of the above sources;

5. A rapid development environment to wire together the relevant infrastructure services to build the composite application.

The resultant process provides the following business benefits:

1. Process efficiency by combing the varied data sources and documentation together;

2. Flexibility by allowing the unstructured parts of the process to be supported without resorting to paper copies, hand based signatures and physical transport, enabling employees to resolve quickly and at minimum cost, reducing the customer service exposure;

3. Comprehensive content capture and management through the process so that decisions can be made on the rapidly and with all information;

4. Reductions in employee training by using familiar tools and applications.

Paradoxically organisations investing a small amount into allowing individuals to easily execute the real steps in the process are becoming more effective in their markets compared to those investing heavily in reinforcing large monolith systems.

Iain Mortimer

Bob Geldof & the BBC recently announced an audacious and inspirational new project – The Dictionary of Man.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2007/04_april/geldof_dictionary.shtml

Its primary objective: To help mankind record every human society on the Planet.

 "This will be an A to Z of Mankind which will catalogue the world we live in now, the people who share this planet, the way we live and the way we adapt to face common and different challenges. Mankind is the world's most extraordinary animal. In an age of globalisation and increasing connection, we face the growing homogenisation of cultures and the disappearance of extraordinary and diverse mechanisms that man has invented in order to survive in whichever environment he has found himself. Culture is a function of survival."  Twenty years ago, Bob Geldof was sitting on a tree stump in Northern Niger with a regional governor, looking out at what Geldof described as "a moonscape". The governor told of how 300 different languages that once existed had disappeared forever in just two years during the famine. Geldof has written, "Even though I never heard those languages, I already miss them. In these ways the lights of human genius wink out." From then on he was determined to record "all those sounds, voices and jokes so they never disappear again".

The internet and the digital world will play a pivotal role in the development and evolution of this fantastic project. If you stop and think about it for a second, this project is not just for Africa, it is for us all. How much of our cultural society today is increasingly being lost in the digital ether as we live our lives online. All the emails, instant messages, web sites, blogs and office documents we compose... what are we doing to capture them for future generations.? Non for profit organisations such as http://www.archive.org/index.php are working hard to archive our digital world.. however this is a massive challenge... Historians will look back to the start of the world wide web with astonishment... Why did mankind let this happen... ? We are living in the "Internet dark ages!"

We still have a long way to go.. From Microsoft's perspective, the submission of Microsoft's Office OPEN XML file format to ECMA & ISO to become a global industry standard will in a small way help to address part of the digital preservation challenge. Documents stored today in Office open XML will be searchable and accessible in 5, 50 and 500 years time!

European Union initiatives with National archives & Libraries such as http://www.planets-project.eu/  are working hard to put standards in place to ensure that our digital society & culture  over the coming years are preserved and accessible for future generations.

 Is 2007 the year  we start to emerge from  the "Internet dark ages". ?

 Geoff Hughes