ControlTalk Now : Sales, Marketing, Products and Technical Tips for HVAC and Smart Building Controls Professionals

ControlTrends is delighted to bring you our 200th episode of ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending October 9th, 2016, while covering DAY 2 of the Johnson Controls' CBC16! Providence would have us at Nashville's Gaylord Opryland, which was an ideal venue — full of special people to help us celebrate our momentous occasion. Special thanks to Roger Rebennack, Jenny Stentz, Chris Eichmann, Rick Van Buren, Russ Carfagna, John Donahue, Dave Gottfried, Jeff Hurwitz, Joe Chandler, Jim Hayman, Pete Walsh, Paul Burke, and the too numerous to name well-wishers and supporters of ControlTrends, that helped make this milestone happen!

CBC16, DAY 2: Full of immense energy and insight, Johnson's CBC16, DAY 2, kicked into high gear with Chris Eichmann's hearty welcome, followed by Jenny Stentz, who told the 700 plus audience the revitalized and compelling Johnson Controls' story, a story that creates value with partnership; is proactive, and predictable; and one with assigned account managers that will be the new key to success, because they are incentivized as a team — to share insights and best practices for results. Johnson Controls has intentionally organized this approach to deliver new solutions. Read more about DAY 2 and the rest of ControlTalk NOW below!

CTN 200 The Smart Buildings Video Cast from Eric Stromquist on Vimeo.

Keynote Address by Clay Nesler. Smart, Green and Resilient – Market Trends in Sustainable Buildings: The 2016 Johnson Controls Energy Efficiency Indicator survey of 1,248 energy and facility management executives provides insight into current and planned investments, key drivers and organizational barriers for improving energy efficiency across their facilities. The presentation continues with a near-future vision for a day in the life of a smart, green building and closes with a discussion of potential implications for the HVAC distribution and contracting community. Clay ended with reference to famed fiction writer, William Ginson's view of the future: "The future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed."

Second Keynote Address was by Dr. Alan Beaulieu, President of ITR Economics. A prodigious economics expert and author, Alan engaged the audience with economic analysis punctuated with humor as he discussed the serious economic forecast for North America and discussed ways to recognize trends and economic indicators well enough to understand how they are likely to impact your business.

The amazing DAY 2 was rounded out with afternoon Product Breakout Sessions, Cocktails and Dinner, followed by Live Entertainment. Stay tuned for ControlTrends' Night Lights coverage of the CBC16 evening activities!

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month! Marc Petock Warns Cyber Incidents are Disruptive and Potentially Catastrophic! Lynxspring's Cyber Security expert, Marc Petock reminds us that October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, which is an annual campaign to raise awareness about cyber security. From Marc Petock: "We live in a world that is more connected than ever before. The Internet touches all aspects of our business and personal life. From a business perspective, the negative consequences that cyber incidents can cause are disruptive and potentially catastrophic. The value of taking additional measures and procedures to increase the cyber security posture of your systems, far outweigh the risk of not making them secure."

Belimo Innovation Contest — Internal Leakage in Zone Valves Causes Loss of Energy and Money. Let's Fix This! Internal leakage in zone valves causes loss of energy and money! Zone valves are used for room temperature control for heating or cooling. Leaky zone valves lead to significant energy losses. Help Belimo find a simple method for detecting and measuring internal leakage in zone valves. Fixing the leakage problem will improve energy efficiency and reduce operating costs. The sought-after solution shall be user-friendly, non-invasive, portable and applicable to an operating heating or cooling system in a building.

DOE's Better Buildings — September's Top-10 Solutions. Better Buildings is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) designed to improve the lives of the American people by driving leadership in energy innovation. Through Better Buildings, DOE partners with leaders in the public and private sectors to make the nation's homes, commercial buildings and industrial plants more energy efficient by accelerating investment and sharing of successful best practices.

HVAC Control Valve Training with Tim Chamblee. Sit in on this valve trying class taught by Tim Chamblee at Stromquist & Company. Tim is a master trainer and in this class he breaks down different HVAC control valve and actuator types and gives you information that will help you select.install and troubleshoot HVAC valves and actuators.

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ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Sep 25, 2016 features Intelligent Buildings' Director of Cyber Security, Fred Gordy, who details the exposure and vulnerability of Operational Technology, which run our buildings. Watch as Fred reviews, step by step — the hacker's modus operandi. Sameer Pradhan, Director of ControlTrends India, updates the ControlTrends Community on India's colossal Smart City imitative; Schneider Electric releases their new MG350 Smart Actuators with alarming features; Contemporary Controls' newest network solution offers greater speed and diagnostics; Larry Andriunas takes the helm at Kodaro, LLC; and this week's ControlTalk Rewind takes us back to the future with Ecorithm's Dr. Igor Mezic and artificial intelligence.

CTN 199 Controltalk Now -The Smart Buildings Video Cast from Eric Stromquist on Vimeo.

MG350 SmartX Actuator offers great havoc control

Schneider Electric Has a Hit with The New MG350 SmartX Actuators. Awesome video and cool new actuator series from Schneider Electric. The SmartX MG 350 is the first NEW SmartX Actuator released globally. It is designed to control two and three-way globe valves in a wide range of applications. The MG350 SmartX Actuator is the platform for the future, acting as the foundation of both a SmartStruxure solution and SmartStruxure Lite solution. The critical information delivered by the actuator helps the BMS operate at optimal efficiency.

ControlTalk NOW's first interview is with Fred Gordy, Intelligent Building's Director of Cyber Security. As our industry's leading cyber security expert, Fred focuses on the specific vulnerabilities concerning Operational Technology, controllers on building networks that control the HVAC equipment and building systems and equipment versus Information Technology. Operational Technologies were designed for availability and comfort, which was suitable at the time, but when the need to share information across subnets made Broadcast BACnet Management Devices necessary, as well as using a public IP address, the security imperative was not factored into the equation. Watch this video! and, visit the NIST Cyber Security Framework website for basic recommendations to protect your Operational Technology.

Larry Andriunas Larry Andriunas announces the launch of Kodaro, LLC, a software development company which he will lead from California's Bay Area. Operating in the building automation industry, Kodaro is hard at work creating ways to connect building controls through software drivers, software applications, and enterprise solutions. "I'm very excited about launching Kodaro," said Andriunas, a 28-year building controls expert. "The building automation industry is at an interesting time where new technologies are finally converging. Kodaro will lead the way for innovation in support of contractors and integrators."

ControlTalk NOW's second interview is with Director, ControlTrends India, Sameer Pradhan. Sameer Pradhan is also the Managing Director of CICC Automation Technologies, a leading international building automation systems provider. Sameer recently chaired a panel discussion on Smart Connected Intelligent Buildings — The Foundation for Smart Cities," that discussed in great detail, the critical aspects of the smart city standard and its core component, the intelligent building. India has presently identified 60 cities that will be included in this massive initiative. Great update!

Contemporary Controls: The Need for Speed and Diagnostics. Contemporary Controls is introducing the unmanaged EISK8-GT/H 8 port gigabit Ethernet switch with hub functionality. Yes, we purposely "broke" the address learning functionality of the switch so that all messages – directed, multicast, broadcast – are flooded to all ports on the switch allowing a protocol analyzer tool such as Wireshark® the ability to observe all traffic on the network.

How Using Artificial Intelligence in Smart Buildings will make them smarter

ControlTalk Rewind: Using Artificial Intelligence to Make Smart Buildings Smarter. Last Spring Ken and I had the opportunity to interview a couple of very interesting characters, who put a new spin on how to make smart buildings smarter through the use of artificial intelligence. This is next-gen analytics! Dr. Igor Mezic, Ecorithm's Chief Scientific and Technology Advisor & Co-Founder, and John Morris, VP Marketing and Sales. Ecorithm is able to provide faster and more accurate results that other analytics companies, and why Ecorithm's SaaS is necessary for the entire lifetime of the system.

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ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Sep 18, 2016 highlights the trends impacting our industry: CGNA's Fall Meeting; New ControlTrends Awards category will recognize the top women in the HVAC Industry; Josh Bradshaw's Smart Clock interview; Honeywell Release of WEBs-N4.1 Software; Johnson Controls Upcoming ABCS Meeting in Nashville; KMC's Upcoming Genius Summit 2016 in Chicago; JCI's VP of Products & Distribution Jenny Stentz's Rewind; Tridium's Pranay Prakash's IoT Presentation; Belimo's Energy Savings Tool; KMC's Block Programming Series; DOE's Development of Offshore Wind Energy; and ControlTrends People CTP 004, with Automation Integrated's Chris Farve.

CTN 197 ControlTalk Now The Smart Buildings Video Cast from Eric Stromquist on Vimeo.

Josh Bradshaw Interview: Fans of tech meet fans of Harry Potter. This clock is the closest thing to the Weasley clock technology can provide. I just signed up as a backer on Indegogo and so should you! In this video Anton Zriashchev, CEO at Glance Clock gives a demo and I even ask him about the Weasley clock so you can hear what he has to say. Best of luck with your crowdfunding launch today Anton & team!! #smarthome #smartclock #iot #harrypotter #indegogo.

Stromquist's Young Gun Rob Allen gives us a tour of Eric's office and his fashionable standing desk. ControlTrends update: Rob Allen and Chris White are about to launch the Next Generation Innovation series, which is all about our industries' bright young superstars and their careers — and their insights into the evolution of our industry and what we need to do — to enhance the image of the HVAC and BAS as an important and meaningful career.

NATIONAL OFFSHORE WIND STRATEGY: FACILITATING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. Offshore wind energy holds the promise of significant environmental and economic benefits for the United States. It is an abundant, low-carbon, domestic energy resource. It is located close to major coastal load centers, providing an alternative to long-distance transmission or development of electricity generation in these land-constrained regions.

Honeywell Releases WEBs-N4.1.27.20 (N4.1.1) Software Packaged Release with Tools. Honeywell is pleased to announce the release of the WEBs-N4.1.27.20 (N4.1.1) software packaged with Spyder, Stryker and Venom programming tools. Main Features: Packaged release with Honeywell tools within Niagara N4.1.27.20 software build; Supports both the newer WEB-8000 and legacy WEB-300E/600E/700 controllers; and Supports Windows 10 operating system on Supervisors & Workbench.

BELIMO Releases New Damper Actuator Energy Savings Estimator Tool. Just Released: Damper Actuator Energy Savings Estimator Tool! Belimo Damper Actuator Energy Savings Estimator is now available online. The Damper Actuator Energy Savings Estimator Tool was developed to help quantify the cost savings verses other brands. Belimo damper actuators provide significant energy savings from their low power consumption.

Tridium's Pranay Prakash on how the Internet of Things, Big Data, and the Cloud will Help Smart Buildings. If you missed the 2016 Niagara Summit, you missed Pranay Prakash and his take on how the Internet of Things, Big Data and the Cloud. Learn how these will affect the way we do smart building controls. For more than 15 years, Tridium's Niagara Framework® has fundamentally changed the way devices and systems connect. In 77 countries, from leading corporations to the latest startups, a large and active community has formed around Niagara.

KMC Announce Block Programming. As of September 2016, KMC Controls has released block programming via the Control Basic Block editor, supported in Connect, Total Control and Niagara. The KMC Control Basic Block editor provides a simple drag-and-drop interface to program BACnet Controllers, specifically KMC Conquest® products: BAC-5901, BAC-9001, BAC-9021, BAC-9301 & BAC-9311. By giving customers the freedom and choice to program controllers the way they want, block programming is a natural extension of KMC's commitment to provide open, secure and scalable solutions from single-building to enterprise-level installations.

Control Talk Rewind: Johnson Controls Jenny Stentz: Could Johnson Controls Enable the First Battery Powered Building? If you missed the August 7th episode of ControlTalk Now The Smart Buildings Video Cast and Podcast you missed our interview with Jenny Stentz, VP of Products & Distribution North America, at Johnson Controls, the world's largest building controls provider and battery maker. Jenny gives ControlTrends fresh insight into Johnson Controls' realigned sales and the leadership role Johnson Controls has taken in the building and energy storage space. Johnson Controls offers the latest innovations in renewable technology, efficiency technology, controls technology, and battery storage technology and is focused on the ease of doing business with its channel partners.

CTP 004 ControlTrends People Takes a Deep Dive into the Life of Automation Integrated's Chris Favre. On this episode of ControlTrends People, the life stories of the great people in the building automation controls industry,that make smart buildings smart, we learn about Automation Integrated's Chris Favre. Chris is the Executive Vice President at Automation Integrated. Automated Integrated is based in Oklahoma City, but as a true master systems integrator and co-winner of the 2015 ControlTrends System Integrator of the Year Award, work on Smart Buildings projects all over the world.

Other people mentioned in this episode: Pat Marsala and Paul Burke from M & M Controls, Dan Flaherty from Distech Controls , Eugene Mazo from DGLogik, Tony Fadell from Apple, Mike Sackett and Jim Hayman from Controls Group North America, Chris Eichmann from Johnson Controls, and Anna Stromquist from Team Stromquist.

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ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Sep 11, 2016 comes from Chicago, IL, where ControlTrends attended the 2016 Controls Group North America Fall Members Meeting, as 46 of North America's top Distributors and Systems Distributors met and welcomed Johnson Controls into the Industry's Elite as a preferred vendor. See Dubai's Floating Seahorse — incomparable underwater luxury; Thermokon Sensortechnik partners with Belimo Americas; Don't miss OPTIGO Networks Webinar: I Can Hack into Your Building. Try'n Stop Me; Tridium Releases Niagara 4.2 and Niagara Analytics 2.0; Mike Marston is interviewed in CTP 3 ControlTrends People, Life Stories of the People that Make Smart Buildings Smart; and Lynxspring"s Onyxx® BACnet® to Haystack Data Pump helps to overcome the data organization challenge.

Room with an Underwater View: The Floating Seahorse — A New Smart Beach Home. Our friend Marc Petock, from Lynxspring, showed us the new definition of a beach home. ABOUT THE PROJECT: Having successfully sold out phase one and two of The Floating Seahorse in just eight months, The Heart of Europe is proud to launch the third phase! The Tzar Edition of The Floating Seahorse is the third phase of Seahorses available at The Heart of Europe. The Tzar Edition will be located on St Petersburg Island which is designed in the shape of a heart and takes inspiration from The Maldives.

Thermokon Sensortechnik GmbH Germany Announces Belimo Americas as New Distribution and Support Partner. Thermokon Sensortechnik GmbH Germany is pleased to announce that Belimo Americas will take over the distribution and support of our EasySens® EnOcean product range and high-tech Room Operating Units in the Americas as of 1st of October 2016 for existing Thermokon Americas customers. EasySens®, the leading, self-powered, intelligent wireless system, has been a great success in the American markets and is currently enjoying a steady growth.

OPTIGO Networks Webinar: I Can Hack into Your Building. Stop Me. Thursday, Sep 15th, 11AM PDT| 2PM EDT. 6 million commercial buildings in the US are believed to be secure. Every single one has exposed building controllers, security cameras and access control systems that an entry level hacker can hack into. Join Fred Gordy, Director of Cyber Security at Intelligent Buildings, and Ping Yao, CEO of Optigo Networks as they discuss the incredible vulnerabilities in our buildings' systems, and what to do about it.

Tridium Releases Niagara 4.2 and Niagara Analytics 2.0 — Real-time Business Intelligence, Enabling Users to Make Smarter, Swifter Decisions. Integrated release allows for real-time business intelligence, enabling users to make smarter, swifter decisions leading to less waste and expense! Richmond, Va., Sept. 7, 2016 – Tridium Inc., a global Internet of Things (IoT) software technology leader, today announced the release of Niagara 4.2 which includes integration of Niagara Analytics 2.0. Together, these new releases bring the benefits and efficiencies of data-driven performance to users.

CTP 3 ControlTrends People, Life Stories of the People that Make Smart Buildings Smart Meet EasyIO's Mike Marston. ControlTrends People is a new PodCast series that focuses on the life stories of the people in our industry that make it great. As we strive as an industry to reach full recognition and parity, we deeply believe that if we capture and share the persona of the great leaders and visionaries of our industry, we will continue to build a compelling image that will draw more young talent needed to sustain our industry. Our third episode features Mike Marston, VP Worldwide Sales at EasyIO Holdings.

Lynxspring Announces Release 1.0 for the Onyxx® BACnet® to Haystack Data Pump. Release 1.0 adds additional features, performance improvements, and UI enhancements for greater ease-of-use. Lynxspring is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Release 1.0 of the Onyxx® BACnet® to Haystack Data Pump. With this new release, we have improved the performance and incorporated new features and functions as requested by our fast-growing customer base.

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ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending September 4, 2016 was a newsworthy week indeed. Tridium's highly effective and successful President and General Manager, Nino DiCosmo, has been recruited away to a leadership position in another industry. Honeywell's Jeff Tolnar will step in as the interim president. More information to follow. ControlTrends People PodCast was launched this week featuring, Nino DiCosmo and Marc Petock, and our in-depth interview with industry oracle, Ken Sinclair, delivers real deep-dive insights into what direction our industry is moving, at an accelerated IoT pace. Therese Sullivan's ReWind reviews emerging technologies; Honeywell WEBs-AX 3.8.111 (3.8.u1) software package is released; and we get a macro view of energy savings from BTO's David Nemtzow.

Smart Building Controls Rewind: Therese Sullivan. Revisit Building Context's Therese Sullivan interview on ControlTalk Now:The Smart Buildings Video Cast and Podcast. Therese gives us an update on Haystack Connect, the 2016 RealComm|IBcon show, the right way to use twitter, and much more! Therese is a writer/technologist and marketing professional that provides news and analysis for commercial building system integrators, facilities managers and real estate professionals about innovations in building automation with emphasis on data analytics, mobile apps, cloud services and wireless networking.

Honeywell WEBs-AX 3.8.111 (3.8.u1) Packaged Software Release with Spyder, Stryker, Venom, and BACnet FF Programming Tools. Honeywell is pleased to announce the release of the WEBs-AX 3.8.111 (3.8.u1) software package with Spyder Tool (version: 6.4.5), Stryker Tool (version: 4.0.18, supporting Stryker BACnet VAV, Venom and BACnet FF programming tools. This release supports the new WEB-8000 based controllers, Java Web Start Applications, Windows 10 operating system, and Auto-download of Java security policy files.

CTP 1 ControlTrends People, Life Stories of the People that Make Smart Buildings Smart. ControlTrends People is a new PodCast series that focuses on the life stories of the people in our industry that make it great. As we strive as an industry to reach full recognition and parity, we deeply believe that if we capture and share the persona of the great leaders and visionaries of our industry, we will continue to build a compelling image that will draw more young talent needed to sustain our industry. We chose Nino DiCosmo, as our first Podcast because of his genuine passion and leadership — and for the enormous success he has brought to Tridium, the leading industry framework in Smart Buildings. Here's Nino DiCosmo up-close and personal.

Ken Sinclair's Automated Buildings September Theme — "The Self Learning Edge Revolution." ControlTrends Community, hold onto your hats and meters! Because in this September edition of Automated Buildings, owner, editor — and oracle, Ken Sinclair, proposes that there is a edge controller revolution underway (right now, under our noses) that will completely disrupt the industry as we know it. Not only are these gadgets more open and more powerful, but they will be created and run by tinker kids in millennium maker culture.

Building Technologies Office — A Word from BTO'S Acting Director: 140 Million Places to Save Energy. David Nemtzow: "There are currently some 130 million residential units in the United States – which most of you think as homes. We at the Building Technologies Office (BTO) are prone to think of them as energy consumption structures. The 5+ million commercial buildings that make up our offices, schools, hospitals, and grocery stores? They also represent a huge opportunity for energy savings. Together, all of these buildings represent 40% of the energy consumed within the U.S., 76% of all electricity, and are responsible for 34% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. That makes for a lot of space for improvement."

CTP 2 ControlTrends People, Life Stories of the People that Make Smart Buildings Smart. ControlTrends People presents inspiring and motivational stories that open our eyes to the many paths taken to the prominent positions in our industry. Many accounts offer endearing insights and self-told anecdotes about the triumphs and setbacks that molded their careers and shaped ControlTrends People throughout their professional journeys. Our second ControlTrends People PodCast features Marc Petock, VP of Marketing for Lynxspring and Connexx Energy. Marc is a highly accomplished Global Technology Marketing Executive known for positively impacting the growth and performance of the organizations he has managed during his 30+year career.

Nino DiCosmo — Makes His Mark at Tridium, and is Moving on. Nino DiCosmo, the highly successful President and General Manager at Tridium, is moving on. ControlTrends learned of Nino's decision to take another position last week. Nino's visionary leadership was punctuated by the successful development and launch of next generation software Niagara 4, a complete brand refresh and re-positioning of Tridium's Niagara software from a buildings controls focus to IoT innovative software company, while achieving over 37% revenue growth over past 3 years. During the transition period, Honeywell's Jeff Tolnar, will serve as interim president of Tridium

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ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending August 28, 2016 — Is aptly referred to this week as "The Show that Almost Was," because of travel constraints and preparations for the 2016 CTA Awards. Still, we are able to present an abbreviated time-lapse preview of the ControlTrends People, a new PodCast series that focuses on the life stories of the people in our industry that make it great. Special thanks to Tridium's Jenny Graves, Nino DiCosmo, Pranay Prakash, John Sublett and Ed Merwin for their hospitality and support. Also, this week, Contemporary Controls' introduced their new EIA-485 Terminator; an Updated Ken's Calendar; and a Heads-up on two important Webinars: Belimo's Webview and OPTIGO Networks' Visual BACnet.

CTN 193 The Show That almost Was from Eric Stromquist on Vimeo.

Contemporary Controls' New EIA-485 Terminator Provides Fail-Safe Biasing for BACnet MS/TP and Modbus RTU Networks. New EIA-485 Terminator Provides Fail-Safe Biasing for BACnet MS/TP and Modbus RTU Networks. Contemporary Controls' 485-TER is a standalone active terminator that is used on popular EIA-485 networks such as Modbus RTU and BACnet MS/TP providing sufficient termination and biasing for stable operation. Fail-safe bias ensures that an un-driven line assumes a defined state.

ControlTrends Keeps an Eye on 2016 Events with Ken's Calendar. While it has been an amazingly busy and productive year so far, many more events are on the horizon. ControlTrends will continue to post the event information as we receive notice or become aware of the event. Please note that the information is gathered from various sources, and the times, dates, and locations may have changed. Be sure to visit the appropriate website or contact the event coordinator to ensure the most up-to-date information.

Belimo — Communicating with the Energy Valve through WebView, the New Data Analysis Tool, and BACnet Webinar. Join us for a 30 minute webinar on the communication features of the Belimo Energy Valve. We will review connecting to the Energy Valve's web server TCP/IP from a laptop or PC and discuss how to download data files using the New Belimo Data Analysis Tool. You will also learn how to use the Belimo ZTH US tool to easily adapt the flow settings of the Energy Valve as well as information on the BACnet features of the Energy Valve will be discussed.

OPTIGO Webinar: Troubleshooting BACnet in Wireshark — Featuring Steve Karg, Sep 8th, 2016, 11AM PST. Not sure what is happening in your building network? Dealing with poor network performance? Use Wireshark, a free network packet analyzer, to dig into the network traffic to uncover the root cause of the issue. Wireshark is a free network packet analyzer that helps troubleshooting by capturing network packets and allowing you to browse the network traffic to isolate the issues in a network. OPTIGO Networks provides advanced visualization tools to help you gain insight into the health of your BAS deployments.

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ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending August 21, 2016 introduces the ControlTrends Community to the executive forces now driving Distech's redoubled efforts to deliver maximum synergy and value within the building space. Gain some invaluable insight into the innovation at work inside Acuity Brands Inc. Scott Muench and J2 Innovations at Realcomm| IBcon; Updated Honeywell software and contractor releases; Lynxspring reveals their JENEsys® Edge 100 Controller; Intel's influence on the Smart Building; NexDefense SANS Institute Fictional Cyber Attack; and BASSG — Getting Better all the Time!

J2 Innovations on using data to make buildings smarter.

The Easy Way to Move and Use Data in a Smart Building. Data, data everywhere! Big data is in vogue in the building automation and smart buildings controls industry, but like everything else that is new and exciting, there are lot's of things that have to be dealt with once the initial buzz of excitement is replaced with "how the heck do we implement this?" For one thing, the cost… data might be free, but moving it around and using it can get expensive quickly.

You Missed the VFD Training Live Stream… We will post a copy of class soon! Tim Chamblee conducted Variable Frequency Drive training and provided an in-depth explanation of the application benefits, the potential energy savings, and the importance of proper grounding and wiring methods — and then demonstrates of the standard VFD applications, and highlighted the tremendous energy savings opportunities — available using a VFDs. Look for many more live training events from the Stromquist & Company in the near future.

Honeywell | Home 3rd Quarter 2016 Residential Partner Update. Please join us as we introduce Honeywell's latest residential products designed to better serve your business. FROM THE HONEYWELL NEWSROOM: A recent study from Honeywell found that 9 in 10 Americans long for a connected device to automate and control features in their home when they're out of town. In fact, more Americans (39%) worry about locking their doors than about packing essentials like toothbrushes, underwear or mobile phone chargers (36%), and one-third of Americans with a security system can't even remember if they turned on the alarm before leaving.

Honeywell Releases MAXPRO Driver for WEBs-AX Software. Availability of MAXPRO driver for WEBs-AX Software. Honeywell is pleased to announce the release of the MAXPRO driver for WEBs-AX Controllers and WEBs-AX Supervisors which is based on the Niagara AX framework. The MAXPRO driver has been tested and qualified on WEBs-AX 3.6.407.2, WEBs-AX 3.7.108.2, WEBs-AX 3.8.41.2, WEBs-AX 3.8.111 and on the latest MAXPRO NVR software version (v.3.5.0 build 81).

Lynxspring Announces Immediate Availability of the JENEsys® Edge 100 Controller. New Controller Delivers the Niagara Framework® to the Edge! Dear Lynxspring Business Partner: We are pleased to announce the release and availability of our new JENEsys® Edge 100 Controller (JENE-EG100). Purpose-built, this Niagara-based controller is the first of its kind. Delivering the Reliability of Niagara to the Edge! JENEsys® Edge products are a new generation of controllers combining the Niagara Framework® with Lynxspring's Onyxx® platform.

Distech Announces New VP of Global Sales. Controls people never die they just change companies… This just in from Martin Villeneuve, President, Distech Controls: Acuity Brands continues to position itself as the global market leader to deliver high-performance and innovative solutions to our customers. Acuity Brands is committed to building an infrastructure designed to extend our leadership positon; intensifying our efforts around our tiered solutions strategy is an essential component to accomplish our breakthrough objectives. To successfully execute our strategy, I am pleased to announce Dan Flaherty as the new VP of Sales for Distech Controls reporting to me. Dan has over 20 years of experience leading sales and marketing organizations that go to market through distribution, contractor, and agent channels in the HVAC, Security, and Fire Suppression industries.

ControlTalk NOW interview with Martin Villeneuve, President at Distech Controls, Dan Flaherty, Distech's VP Global Sales, and Eugene Mazo, Eugene Mazo, VP — IoT, Customer Experience. While Acuity is deciphering and translating all the possible value synergies it now has available, these three top industry experts will help to set new standards in the HVAC, BAS, and a host of other emerging markets. Each of these executives is a formidable expert in their fields and with their combined talents, they are confident that they will deliver the next generation of innovation and technology — because they have the talent, engineering, and the resources needed — to get it done. Don't miss this great video interview!

How Intel is Influencing the way we do Smart Buildings. If you want to see how you might be doing smart buildings in the future, look at what Intel is doing using IOT strategies now…. once Pandora's box is open… As human beings we like consistency ….."if it's not broke " …. and other adages that pass as wisdom, influence us whether we like it or not. This kind of thinking will get you killed in today's smart buildings controls market. We have been doing building automation controls since the death of pneumatic controls. We know what works — and we don't mess around with what works… because it works!

NexDefense SANS Institute – Fictional Cyber Attack. CAUTION: Regardless of your position in the world, this video should almost ruin your day, and linger long enough to bother you… for at least a week… but, will it motivate you to allocate the resources and processes your organization's needs to deal with this kind of cyber incident? Therein lies the cyber security rub. This NexDefense SANS Institute module provides a demonstration of a fictional cyber attack against a control system reliant infrastructure. It is a learning tool for educational purposes and designed to help organizations better understand and develop exercise scenarios. While the module was played during a large industry exercise, it was utilized to provide cybersecurity training awareness for the participants.

BASSG — Getting Better all the Time! We saw the original "Young Gun", Alper Üzmezler, managing partner and chief innovator at BASSG Graphics, showed us his new Edge controller at the 2016 Niagara Summit Product showcase. Alper, never one to sit still, has made some improvements since New Orleans. His Edge controller packs a powerful punch. Among other things it includes: Visualytik (HTML5 drag and drop visualization engine with block programming), EAC Engine (Optimization engine in which it will consume live, historical and analytics data and write to real-time controls), Analytics Engine, and a Sedona Realtime control engine.

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ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending August 14, 2016 features interviews with two well-recognized industry leaders: Scott Cochrane, president of Cochrane Supply, a multi-award-winning distributor, and Acuity Brands, Inc's. new VP — IoT, Customer Experience, Eugene Mazo, who updates the ControlTrends community on the exciting future of DGLogik. Learn about the upcoming SmartGrid.GOV meeting in Washington, DC; Webinars by Belimo, ACI, and Lynxspring; and EasyIO's EasyStack, a software platform that leverages tagging and data modeling.

ControlTalk NOW first interview with Scott Cochrane, president of Cochrane Supply, an multi-award-winning company and a leading source of building controls products, technology,and information. Scott summarizes the evolving role of distribution and what the future might bring. Distributors need to remember that they deliver hardware, software, and knowledge in a people-to-people business, and serve as enablers in the market. Scott suggests, perhaps we are over-serving the building markets with technology as an industry, because the solutions are determined in the conversations that identify what the problems are and expectations are and "We're still missing the right conversations with the right people."

Please Help DOE Set Smart Grid Communications R&D Priorities August 30-31 in Washington, DC. The DOE Office of Electricity Smart Grid Communications R&D Roadmap meeting in Washington, D.C., on August 30-31, 2016, provides an opportunity for you and your organization to participate in the development of a roadmap intended to address gaps in research and development and current options that utilities have to solve their communications needs today.

Webinar on Belimo Energy Valve Data Analysis Tool, Wednesday, August 17 at 1:00 PM EDT. In this 30 minute webinar you will learn how the Energy Valve Data Analysis Tool is used in conjunction with the Belimo Energy Valve to provide analysis of stored data to deliver efficiency, and cost savings for your system. This tool can seamlessly import up to 13 months of trended data, along with performance metrics of a system—which all can be viewed graphically.

LIVE ACI Gas Sensor WEBINAR August 24th, 10:00 AM, CST, with Brant Kasbohm. GAS SENSOR WEBINAR, 8/24/16 10:00 A.M. CST. Brant Kasbohm, ACI's Webinar Presenter will conduct a brief, educational overview of ACI's Gas Sensors including "How To" videos and product demonstrations. A "Q & A" session will conclude Brant's 30 minute presentation. Questions? Send Brant an email: [email protected]. Want more information?

What is EasyStack? EasyIO's Software Platform that Leverages Tagging and Data Modeling. EasyStack is a complete BMS/EMS software platform that leverages tagging and data modeling based on the Project Haystack open source initiative. (If you're not familiar with Haystack check it out here. The EasyStack Framework is agnostic in the sense that it incorporates built in drivers allowing for connection to BACnet, Modbus, sql, etc. You can pull in data from just about anywhere.

Change Ahead: Forget about Wire! The Pen that Draws Electric Circuits! Another example of the new technologies and trends that will change the way we design, build and run smart buildings. I am blown away by this technology from the Japanese from Kandenko. Kandenko has grown to become one of Japan's leading general infrastructure firms, and earned high acclaim and a solid reputation for its contributions to the creation of comfortable living environments, pleasant yet cutting-edge workplaces, and safe and functional local communities.

.30 Minutes with Lynxspring Webinar Series — A Look at Variable Frequency Drives The next "30 Minutes with Lynxspring", our monthly webinar series featuring Lynxspring subject-matter experts and special guests, continues Wednesday, August 17th at 11:00 AM CDT. August's Webinar looks at Variable Frequency Drives. Variable Frequency Drives play a critical role in the efficiency and performance of a building. They help increase system reliability, maximize equipment lifetime value, contribute to saving energy, lower maintenance costs and add to overall smoother operations.

An Excited Eugene Mazo, VP — IoT, Customer Experience at Acuity Brands,Inc., Explains DGLogik's Future. During our second ControlTalk NOW interview with Eugene Mazo, VP — IoT, Customer Experience Acuity Brands,Inc. (Formerly CEO, DG Logik), the ControlTrends Community gets a firsthand update on the major developments and the future of DGLogik and its technology. In summary, it's a win for Acuity Brands, Inc.; a win for DGLogik: and a win for DGLogik's OEM partners, Distributors, Resellers, and Systems Integrators — as DGLogik moves forward with a lot more scale and resources.

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ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending August 7, 2016 features interviews with Jenny Stentz, VP of Products & Distribution North America, at Johnson Controls, the world's largest building controls provider and battery maker; Ken Sinclair, owner and editor of Automated Buildings, his August theme: Low Cost Powerful Hybrid Edge Controllers that move control and data analytics to the edge; and CityZenith's Michael Jansen with amazing insight to big city solutions. Also this week: NexDefense's call for action presentation at the Greater Atlanta Cyber Security for Control Systems Meetup; Lee Company deploys wearable technology for remote support; Vykon announces EOL for legacy JACEs, Honeywell's Home Connectivity promo, and NREL's Dylan Cutler uses Haystack tagging to reduce energy consumption.

Ken Sinclair's Automated Buildings August Theme — Low Cost Powerful Hybrid Edge Controllers. In this August edition of Automated Buildings, owner and editor, Ken Sinclair, comments on how data will be alternating some its direction from the cloud to edge devices — where the data might be better served and for faster and greater effect. In Ken's own words, "My five decades in the building automation industry have made it crystal clear that we are always moving towards or away from centralization and I love this month's theme that sees us moving in both direction at the same time. This is important because the success of our industry and all other industries is embedded in the balance of cloud, edge and self learning devices."

Control trends called the use of smart glasses in the smart buildings controls industry over 3 years ago

Tennessee's Lee Company Technicians use Smart Glasses to Receive Remote Support. ControlTrends has been anticipating the adoption of smart glasses in our HVAC industry and learned that the Lee Company, a contracting firm servicing Middle Tennessee, has already fully adopted the innovative use of wearable technology, which is revolutionizing the Facilities Services Industry. As Lee Company's marketing states, "Telepresence is not a thing of the future, it's the way of today. Information is power. Move forward with Insight."

Controltrends.com helps promote bringing young talent into HVAC and smart buildings industry

An HVACR Open Letter to Graduates: NEWS editor-in-chief Kyle Gargaro explains the benefits of an HVACR career to recent high school graduates. This is a great video that delivers a straightforward message to high school graduates. As we read in the Johnson Controls' white paper written by Renee Joseph entitled "Elevating the HVACR industry: Promoting exciting careers to diverse prospects can help address staffing shortages," we are facing a double whammy: While our HVACR Industry is experiencing a 21% increase in HVACR mechanic and installer jobs through 2022, a survey by The Friday Group, an international firm providing facilities management consulting services to commercial business and government, projected that up to 60 percent of facility management staff – electricians, plumbers, HVAC mechanics, operations and maintenance workers and others – will retire in the next five to seven years.

ControlTrends Interviews Johnson Controls on Solar Smart Buildings

ControlTalk NOW interview with Jenny Stentz, VP of Products & Distribution North America, at Johnson Controls, the world's largest building controls provider and battery maker. Jenny gives ControlTrends fresh insight into Johnson Controls' realigned sales and the leadership role Johnson Controls has taken in the building and energy storage space. Johnson Controls offers the latest innovations in renewable technology, efficiency technology, controls technology, and battery storage technology and is focused on the ease of doing business with its channel partners.

VYKON Announces End Of Line of Legacy JACE Platforms 700, 300E, and 600E. The performance, flexibility and range of accessory options offered by the JACE® 8000 surpasses that of the legacy JACE platforms, and components of the legacy platforms are becoming obsolete. With the introduction of Niagara AX version 3.8u1 featuring JACE 8000 support, VYKON's next-generation hardware platform that's optimized for Niagara 4 now optimizes the features of Niagara AX.

SAVE NOW: Honeywell's Make the Connection Fall Promotion. Grow Your Connected Home Sales! Take advantage of the industry's hottest trend — home connectivity — with Honeywell's Make The Connection promotion. You can save on Honeywell connected home products, and you'll gain store traffic as contractors connect with you for their chances to win. Get all the details in the attached promo brochure.

Controltrends.com hosts cyber security event to educate smart building control professionals

Atlanta Cyber Security Meet Up: Breaking Down Two Major Control System Cyber Attacks. Thanks to our friend, Fred Gordy, we got to participate in an eye opening event.Stromquist & Company had the privilege of hosting the Atlanta Cyber Security meet up. The speaker, Doug Wylie, CISSP VP Product Marketing & Strategy at NexDefense was amazing. Doug explains several different types of cyber attacks and breaks down blow by blow two major cyber attacks on control systems that caused major disruptions. If you are interested in joining a cyber security meet up group on your area please let us know in comments and we will connect you.

"Bright Lights, Big City" Data Analytics for Big Cities, by CityZenith. "Bright Lights, Big City done gone to my baby's head," is a blues song by Jimmy Reed. If you are like me, somewhere along the line you had a break up that left you dazed and confused, hearing Jimmy's song lets you know that there was someone who understood, could relate, and help you make sense of it all. When it comes to big cities, big data, and big time analytics, Michael Jansen and his team at CityZenith, understand, relate and can help city managers and planners make sense of the massive amounts of information and data that go into making a city run smoothly and efficiently.

NREL's Dylan Cutler Works to Help the Navy Reduce Energy Consumption! NREL's Dylan Cutler describes his work on NREL's Energy Intelligent Campus project and ways that can translate to industry. Through an energy management and information system, Cutler looks at ways to bring together a variety of buildings data into a software platform where users can make intelligent decisions on how to manage their buildings and generation assets.

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