Programmable network control component and system of components

An electrical power component for use in a networked system, the component comprising:

• an electric power device adapted to regulate or monitor electrical power supplied to a load in the system;
• a dedicated memory object including memory blocks for storing system designation data representative of the system, device designation data representative of the device, and physical location data representative of a physical location of the component in the system, the physical location data including data descriptive of physical coordinates of the component in the system and data descriptive of a physical size of a portion of the system in which the component is installed;
• a network interface for transmitting data to and from the component via a data network;
• and
• a processor coupled to the device, the memory and the network interface for accessing data from the memory object and transmitting the data via the network interface.

A system of programmable electrical components, the system comprising:

• a plurality of components, each component including an electric control or monitoring device having a plurality of operational states, a network interface coupled to the device for communicating operational state data between the component and a data network and a programmable object including memory allocated for device data representative of a function of the device and physical location data representative of a physical location of the device in the system, the physical location data including data descriptive of physical coordinates of the component in the system and data descriptive of a physical size of a portion of the system in which the component is installed;
• a data network linking the plurality of components for transfer of data to and from the programmable objects;
• and
• a monitoring station coupled to the plurality of components via the data network, the monitoring station being configured to poll the programmable objects to access data stored therein.