EMAIL INTERVIEW – Anto Budiardjo and Ken Sinclair

Anto Budiardjo, CEO, Anka Labs

anto@ankalabs.com

Sinclair:  Congratulations on your new role as CEO of Anka Labs.

Budiardjo:  Thanks, Ken. Anka Labs was founded earlier this year by Alper Üzmezler as a new company to produce game-changing software for the BAS industry. Anyone who knows Alper has seen some of the innovative products that he has created; I was happy to have been asked by Alper to join him on this journey as Anka’s CEO.

Sinclair:  People know you from BuilConn, but what you’re doing with Anka goes back a while.

Budiardjo:  Yes, way before organizing BuilConn conferences, back in 1988 in fact, I led the creation of a product called the CdC Engine in the UK. It was the first product in the industry to provide gateway, integration and graphical UI for BAS systems. While the technology available back then was very “primitive” (we used Windows 2.03!), it’s interesting how many of the issues today are eerily similar.

Sinclair:  Tell me what is similar and what has changed.

Budiardjo:  Many of the industry dynamics are similar. The BAS industry today is still being held back by incumbent players with proprietary mindsets finding it hard to innovate, and many of the systemic problems you have seen discussed on AutomatedBuildings.com were prevalent back then. The desire to connect building systems to the enterprise was also there 30 years ago, but today we actually have the technology and infrastructure to make it possible. From open source to the cloud infrastructure, APIs, and small, powerful processors, what we see today around the Internet of Things is enabling a great deal to be done, if the industry is bold enough to innovate.

Sinclair:  That sounds like a challenge to the industry!

Budiardjo:  Sure Ken, let’s challenge the industry! With what is available to us now, we collectively can really make a difference in how people plan, build, commission and maintain buildings.

Sinclair:  OK, game on! How is Anka Labs helping with this?

Budiardjo:  Anka Labs is working to create a platform we call AnkaDOS (Anka Device Operating System). AnkaDOS is built around the highly successful Haystack semantic model and embeds the Sedona control engine, SkySpark as an analytics engine and the Visualytik graphical UI. We have created a unique comms engine that leverages tagging in a unique way to bring value to control contractors, system integrators, and analytics consultants.

Our vision is that AnkaDOS will run on a new class of devices we call EAC (Edge Analytics Controller), which will replace the current class of DDC devices. These can be general-purpose programmable controllers, unitary controllers, as well as edge devices like VAV’s, sensors, and thermostats.

Sinclair:  What is the value of AnkaDOS for contractors and SI’s?

Budiardjo:  EAC devices running AnkaDOS will reduce engineering and commissioning cost significantly, we think in the order of a 50% reduction of labor cost.

Sinclair:  That’s a game changer, how is this achieved?

Budiardjo:  The simple answer is that we leverage the Haystack way of doing things, using tags, but there is, of course, a lot of secret sauce under the hood. So far, the people who have seen our technology are highly impressed.

But this is only half the story. EAC devices running AnkaDOS are also inherently data friendly, meaning that they are built to tag and capture data in a way that they become ready for analytics. You can use the SkySpark analytics that is included in AnkaDOS or installs other analytics systems. The AnkaDOS stack can also be extended to analytics hosted on other devices or on the cloud.

Sinclair:  Tell me how you plan to bring AnkaDOS to users?

Budiardjo:  A Community Edition of AnkaDOS will be available for a free download once released. This edition will have all of the functionality of the commercial editions of AnkaDOS, but will rely on community support and will not include any SkySpark point licenses.

A commercial edition of AnkaDOS will be available to license to include different levels of support and different amounts of SkySpark point licenses. The commercial edition will also include hardened security options necessary for real-life applications.

Lastly, we are providing AnkaDOS for OEM manufacturers who wish to upgrade their controller technology to be ready for the needs of the market demanding data-centric solutions.

Sinclair:  What about hardware, is Anka Labs selling controllers?

Budiardjo:  We do have a range of EAC devices with different IO configurations, which we created as a reference design for the industry to use in projects, as well as to create and customize their own EACs. Beyond this, the main source of devices running AnkaDOS will be device manufacturers who embed AnkaDOS as their software stack for their future looking product lines.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]To enable people to get up and running quickly, they can also run AnkaDOS on mass-market single-board computers like the BeagleBone and Raspberry Pi, available for $50 or less online.

Sinclair:  How does this relate to BACnet?

Budiardjo:  We feel that BACnet is here to stay as a base standard for many devices for a while, AnkaDOS and EAC will include both MSTP and IP interfaces and drivers. AnkaDOS actually helps BACnet devices become more analytics friendly through Haystack tagging.

Sinclair:  Is Anka Labs ready for IoT? (this month’s theme is “R U IoT Ready”)

Budiardjo:  In many ways AnkaDOS is what IoT needs to look like for buildings; open controls, modern and secure IP-based connectivity, data-centric architecture that enable analytics, and enablement of new class of cloud-based services to maximize the value of BAS for building owners.

Sinclair:  This can be a revolution in the industry!

Budiardjo:  Yes, we think a 21st century DDC replacement that significantly reduces installation cost and makes data inherently ready for analytics can be a revolution, especially as the industry gets behind this movement.

Sinclair:  What is the timeline for this revolution?

Budiardjo:  We will have an early Alpha version of AnkaDOS available at AHR next month, for those keen to understand the technology. Beta and general release will follow.

Sinclair:  How can people learn more?

Budiardjo:  Those interested can sign up for updates at www.ankalabs.com or follow us on Twitter @AnkaLabs. I’m sure that there will be regular articles on AnkaDOS on AutomatedBuildings.com in coming months.