1. A hardware module for incorporating an electronic unit into an ad-hoc local area network, the electronic unit having hardware and a communications interface, comprising: a Java virtual machine which supports Java RMI and Jini; at least one interface module to connect to the communications interface on the electronic unit; interface stubs to interface with the hardware of the electronic unit; a service generator to generate Jini services for the hardware of the electronic unit using the interface stubs; and at least one interface to the local area network.