@wolfmanUK - thank you for the spark suggestion. Just ordered one to play with. Looks awesome!!
@PeterH - Yes, unfortunately that is the most important requirment. I think the spark might work. and if not, I found this article that talks about using an arduino yun and all the software needed to do it: http://tavendo.com/blog/post/arduino-yun-with-autobahn/
any other ideas are most welcome