About ECHONET Consortium

ECHONET Consortium

ECHONET Consortium is an organization that promotes Communication protocol “ECHONET Lite” for home appliances and housing facilities, which are essential elements of smart homes, to cooperate with each other.
We are standardizing the ECHONET Lite and promoting the spread of smart homes with support for commercialization of devices which support the ECHONET Lite standards and cooperation with related industries.
In addition to the ECHONET Lite standards, we also promote formulation of ECHONET Lite AIF specifications that regulate the behavior of devices and “ECHONET2.0” to contribute to the realization of a prosperous and sustainable society ”Society5.0” and SDGs by creating new added value.
ECHONET Consortium has about 260 managing and general members, their associate members, and academic members participated from the home appliances, electricity, electronics, energy, residential, and IT industries, as well as from academic and research fields. Its managing members are Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Panasonic Holdings Corporation, Sharp Corporation, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc., and Toshiba Corporation.

Directors and Auditor

Representative Director:: Katsuhiko Hiramatsu Panasonic Corporation
Managing director:: Kenji Shiraishi
Director:: Akira Ishihara Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Hironori Nakata Sharp Corporation
Takayuki Amatsu Tokyo Electric Power Holdings, Inc.
Takeshi Saito TOSHIBA Corporation
Auditor:: Nobuhiko Hatta Lawyer

Organization chart

Introduction of each committee

Steering Committee
Chairperson Mr. Ren Sakata

The Steering Committee is engaged in a comprehensive range of activities to ensure the efficient and smooth operation of the ECHONET Consortium as a whole. Its responsibilities include planning, budget management, and administration of general assemblies and forums. It is also responsible for organizing each committee and working group and coordinate overall operation.

Technical Committee
Chairperson Mr. Takashi Murakami

The Technical Committee is engaged in the development and operation of specifications of ECHONET Lite and study of the interoperability including the conduct of Plug Fest as technical activities relating to the basic technology of equipment home network. It also formulates the ECHONET Lite Web API Guidelines, develops and operates the testing environment and tools for service development to follow when services use the ECHONET Lite devices.

Promotion Committee
Chairperson Mr. Masato Nagasawa

The Promotion Committee is engaged in public relations to promote further use of ECHONET Lite and ECHONET Lite Web API developed and standardized by the ECHONET Consortium. It is also involved in the conduct of seminars and symposium, and operation of the exhibiting at exhibitions. It is also working with other standardization organizations and conducting surveys in order to expand the spread of the ECHONET Lite Standard.

Logo

The ECHONET logo represents people as the central player of ECHONET surrounded by systems and the environment. Drawing everything with a single line is symbolic of the cohabitation of people and systems. Blue represents the color of the sea which nurtures life, the color of a clear sky spreading toward the future, and the color of a clean environment which is the target of ECHONET.
The Logo will be marked on home appliances which meet the ECHONET Specification.

, , , , and the logo above are the registered trademark of ECHONET Consortium.

History

Dec. 1997: Voluntary organization ECHONET consortium founded
Jul. 2000: ECHONET standard Ver.1.00 released
Jun. 2006: ECHONET device object detailed standard was internationally standardized (IEC 62394)
May 2008: ECHONET communication middleware was internationally standardized (ISO/IEC 14543-4-1,2)
Dec. 2011: ECHONET Lite standard Ver.1.00 released
Feb. 2012: ECHONET Lite specifications were recommended as a publicly-known standard interface for HEMS
Apr. 2014: General Incorporated Association ECHONET consortium founded
Sep. 2015: ECHONET Lite communication middleware was internationally standardized (ISO/IEC 14543-4-3)
Apr. 2016: ECHONET Lite AIF third party certification system started operation
Dec. 2017: 20th Aniersary
Oct. 2018: ECHONET Lite Web API guideline Ver.100 released
Jun. 2018: ECHONET2.0 vision was announced
Jun. 2020: AIF Specifications between home air conditioners and HEMS controllers were internationally standardized (ISO/IEC 14543-4-301)
Feb. 2022: New ECHONET 2.0 roadmap announced
Jul. 2022: ECHONET device object detailed standard (Release M) was internationally standardized (IEC 62394:2022)
Apr. 2023: AIF Specifications between storage batteries and HEMS controllers were internationally standardized (ISO/IEC 14543-4-302)