by Greg Shank, Principal, Altura Associates Does the next phase in building controls have to take on the dynamic of Betamax vs. VHS or Android vs. iOS? First, let’s acknowledge that commercial buildings are a different beast than the consumer marketplace, so analogies to video equipment and smartphones are limited. The goal of this little exercise … Continue reading Building Controls Beyond Protocol Wars
Tag: Control System Integrator Persona
Buildings IoT Industry Gives Industrial Internet Consortium Something to Reference
On June 17th the Industrial Internet Consortium, with companies like Cisco, Intel, GE and IBM at the core, formally released its IoT Reference Architecture Document, making it available for complementary download. When I wrote about the first public showcasing of the reference model at the IoT World Forum in Chicago in October, the resulting BuildingContext post was … Continue reading Buildings IoT Industry Gives Industrial Internet Consortium Something to Reference
GSA Researcher Sparks Discussion About Tridium and What ‘Open’ Means
Don’t expect a yes/no, black/white, right/wrong answer to the question ‘Do you think Tridium's Niagara AX platform is the sole source for creating a true open system?’ when posed to experienced system integrators. But, you can expect to learn a lot. I definitely recommend reading over the answers given to John Beadle, MBA, Building Services Specialist … Continue reading GSA Researcher Sparks Discussion About Tridium and What ‘Open’ Means
Taps Open for Energy Efficiency Retrofits
And its up to System Integrators, Equipment Operators and Facilities Managers to Make the New Financing Models based on Energy Savings Work. In recent weeks, there has been a wave of announcements about new models for energy efficiency retrofit financing. Schneider Electric’s Chris Hummel cites four reasons that energy efficiency financing is back. But, it’s not … Continue reading Taps Open for Energy Efficiency Retrofits
Sound Bites, Surprises and Solid Advice from the Smart Building Integrator Summit (SBIS) at IBcon 2014
Big-brand tech companies and Rock Star-caliber personalities in real estate management and data security came calling on the buildings industry at the Smart Building Integrator Summit (SBIS) on June 17th, the day before IBcon 2014 opened in Las Vegas. Their common message was that open-architected, interoperable building automation systems (BAS) are at the nucleus of the next phase of … Continue reading Sound Bites, Surprises and Solid Advice from the Smart Building Integrator Summit (SBIS) at IBcon 2014
Nobody Wants to Be Left Hanging By Their Carrier — That’s Whatsapp
A recent ski day reveals the power of WhatsApp accessed on a Gigabyte-speed, Enterprise-Owned Wi-Fi network, as well as the significant impact 802.11n/ac will have on the wireless infrastructure choices of building owners. Like everyone else, I was surprised by Facebook's purchase of WhatsApp yesterday for $19 Billion. But, I did have a foreshadowing experience last … Continue reading Nobody Wants to Be Left Hanging By Their Carrier — That’s Whatsapp
Google Bought Nest to Catch Up in the Contextual O/S Race
Last month I felt secure in describing Nest as a company comfortably traveling along in Apple’s orbit. I even linked to Matt Turck’s November TechCrunch article “Battle for the Connected Home”, wherein he suggests that Nest — a Lilliputian among Gullivers — needed to be acquired by Apple before it was crushed. Today we see that … Continue reading Google Bought Nest to Catch Up in the Contextual O/S Race
Almost Viral – McKenney’s Eglin Story
How high is the bar in my chosen niche, storytelling for buildings professionals? Spreading word through their highly fragmented industries and markets is hard. So winning pick-up by more than a handful of cross-discipline hub-influencers is 'viral'. Recently, McKenney’s, a well-established building systems integration and contracting firm out of Atlanta, achieved that goal with its story … Continue reading Almost Viral – McKenney’s Eglin Story
Building Automation eBook in the Making
Another new ‘Content Hero’ among my list of buildings professionals using social media to share their industry insight is Zach Denning, currently a Sales Engineer work in the Building Automation Division of Western Allied Mechanical. Per his Linkedin profile, Zach has recognized a gap between mechanical engineering firms that design sophisticated energy-efficient systems and automation … Continue reading Building Automation eBook in the Making
Controls Freak
In the category of building industry personalities and brands that are leading their peers in how to do Content Marketing, Abel Ramirez II, creator and author of The Controls Freak blog is a stand-out. He typifies the kind of 'jack-of-all-automation-systems' personality that populate the world of buildings controls. He writes: "Many times when I am thinking of … Continue reading Controls Freak
Building Context 