EMAIL INTERVIEW  Anto Budiardjo & Ken Sinclair

Anto Budiardjo is President & CEO of Clasma Events Inc., the organizer of BuilConn held annually in North America, Europe and Asia as part of Clasma’s ConnectivityWeek (www.ConnectivityWeek.com). ConnectivityWeek is a collection of conferences and tradeshows related to smart connected devices, regularly made up BuilConn (www.builconn.com), M2M Expo (www.m2mexpo.com), GridWise Expo (www.gridwiseexpo.com) and Wi-tivity (www.wi-tivity.com).

Please send comments and questions to antob@clasma.com.

 2007 - Looking Back and Ahead

For integrators and contractors, Demand Response or DR means immediate business returns and an opportunity to leverage DR to establish a better value proposition to their customers. For owners, DR will provide a way to reduce energy costs by tapping into the incentives the utilities are providing right now.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Sinclair: It’s been a busy 2007 for you.

Budiardjo: Yes, Ken, with BuilConn Dubai and Riyadh, GridWeek and BuilConn and ConnectivityWeek in Chicago it’s been a very busy spring for us. It has all been very strong and is providing us with a great perspective of the current trends and feel of convergence.

Sinclair: What’s your conclusion from this?

Budiardjo: The increased awareness of the possibilities and applications of convergence is now widespread; it seems that even the traditional players are seeing a change in the air and pondering the shape of the industry. The concept of Buildings 2.0 is resonating very well with owners, and of course energy is the big driver. I am very bullish about the prospects for the industry in the next couple of years.

Sinclair: What are your plans for the remainder of 2007?

Budiardjo: With the excitement and prospect of Demand Response, we are organizing a new event this September 10-11 called DR-Expo. This event is focused at the immediate opportunities with DR in the U.S. We have the support of Constellation NewEnergy as a major sponsor and will have many of the technology and product vendors involved with DR.

Sinclair: Is DR-Expo™ just about technology?

Budiardjo: No, DR-Expo™ is mainly focused on the implementation of DR, and as such will focus on business. The educational sessions will be made up of panels from the nation’s ISO’s and the agenda will be structured to provide integrators, contractors and owners a clear understanding of how they should go about enrolling in the DR programs now available around the country. A separate parallel track will deal with the technology issues of DR.

Sinclair: What’s in it for my readers?

Budiardjo: For integrators and contractors, DR means immediate business returns and an opportunity to leverage DR to establish a better value proposition to their customers. For owners, DR will provide a way to reduce energy costs by tapping into the incentives the utilities are providing right now.

Sinclair: What do these people need to do to get some of this business?

Budiardjo: Learn how to do DR and to do it well with technologies, tools and best practices. All of this will be covered at the DR-Expo event – visit www.dr-expo.com. and read my article DR-Expo™.

Sinclair: You are also organizing Grid-Interop.

Budiardjo: Grid-Interop is being organized for November 7-9, 2007, in Albuquerque. This is a very different event, focused on bringing together technology players to discuss and evolve the need for interoperability between systems that use energy (which basically is everything). Grid-Interop is being organized in partnership with the GridWise Architecture Council who is promoting the need for electricity-centric interoperability.

Sinclair: Is this just for grid technologies and systems?

Budiardjo: No, the scope is broad, and it comes down to this: many systems (e.g. buildings, industrial, homes, etc.) and standards (e.g. LonMark, BACnet, oBIX, OPC, ModBus, etc.) are created to control and monitor systems that utilize power. It is part of the GridWise vision that all these systems and standards adhere to an understood framework for interoperability so that their power demands and needs can be coordinated with each other, with the user and with the electric grid.

Sinclair: And Grid-Interop will bring these people together?

Budiardjo: Yes, the event will be a structured set of conference sessions to understand and evolve what GridWise calls a framework for interoperability. This is not another standard, but a set of principles and guidelines for existing and new standards to be able to co-exist well together.

Sinclair: What type of attendees will be at Grid-Interop?

Budiardjo: Mainly technologists who wish to understand and implement this vision, as well as business development and strategic leaders who will shape the future of interoperability. There will be very interesting speakers who will help define this exciting new area. For more information, visit www.grid-interop.com.

[an error occurred while processing this directive] Sinclair: Are you doing a Call for Papers?

Budiardjo: Yes, the link to the call for paper is on the Grid-Interop web site; we want to invite the broadest set of experts and leaders to this very important event.

Sinclair: Tell me what your plans are in Europe this year?

Budiardjo: BuilConn and the ZigBee Expo will be in Prague October 4-5, 2007. Prague is being chosen to attract an Eastern Europe audience that is increasingly becoming interested in building convergence and technologies such as wireless. Prague is also close enough to most of Western Europe, so we expect a good turnout.

Sinclair: Are you planning to hold a Connected Roundtable in Prague?

Budiardjo: Yes we are; the details will be on the BuilConn web site sometime late July. The Cisco Roundtable is becoming an important venue for evolving Building-IT convergence and the Buildings 2.0 subject around the world. The Roundtables tend to gather key participants to learn from each other and also brainstorm the roadmap forward.

Sinclair: Any insights into 2008?

Budiardjo: Some, though the details are still in the works. ConnectivityWeek for 2008 will be in Santa Clara, May 20-22, 2008. This event is likely going to be a major turning point for buildings, energy and related technologies. GridWeek will return to Washington, DC, next year September 22-25, 2008, and will also be a major event. Additionally, we will be organizing a number of events around the world as in the past; we’re planning on Middle East, India, Russia as well as China, Africa and South America. It should be an exciting year as well.

Sinclair: Sounds like we will continue to be busy!

Budiardjo: Absolutely, Ken, we look forward to your continued participation.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]
[Click Banner To Learn More]

[Home Page]  [The Automator]  [About]  [Subscribe ]  [Contact Us]