Echelon Corporationannounced a new development kit that could dramatically simplify the process of evaluating and deploying control networks. This development kit is designed for the rapidly growing, price-sensitive "mass" markets of "smart" light switches, thermostats, and other simple devices and sensors. The new tool, called the Mini EVK, is priced at only $345 - less than one-tenth the price of previously-available development kits - making it affordable for virtually any engineer to assess the viability of the LONWORKS platform for his or her control network product or product line. Moreover, the richly featured Mini EVK may be the only development platform many engineers require.