EMAIL INTERVIEW  Anto Budiardjo & Ken Sinclair

"Anto Budiardjo is President & CEO of Clasma Events Inc., the organizer of BuilConn Europe in Amsterdam, November 8-10, 2005 (www.builconn.com) and the co-located M2M Expo & Conference (www.m2mexpo.com)."

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

BuilConn:  Next Stop Amsterdan

"In Amsterdam, wireless will be the strongest single subject covered"

Sinclair:  What are the plans for Europe this year?

Budiardjo:  Convergence goes back to Europe this fall, specifically at the Amsterdam RAI, November 8-10. Again this will be a combination of BuilConn and M2M, and this year there will be a significant amount of wireless covered in partnership with the ZigBee Alliance.

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Sinclair:  What subjects are going to be covered at BuilConn Europe?

Budiardjo:  We will cover an update of the core fundamental BuilConn material, such as basics of our industry, updates on key standards such as LonWorks, BACnet, oBIX and Konnex as well as discussions about where the whole XML/Web services is in its evolution and adoption cycle.

But more importantly, as we did in Dallas in March, we will cover new opportunities that are coming up on the application of convergence technologies. Everything I hear from experts suggests that new product categories and business models will need to be developed and understood when we talk about integrating buildings with the enterprise. We will have a lot of these discussions in Amsterdam

Sinclair:  How about IT subjects

Budiardjo:   We cover a great deal of this at the pre-conference day on Tuesday November 8. We are also working with IT-centric organizations such as oBIX and OASIS as well as vendors to bring the correct level of IT perspective to BuilConn in Europe.

Sinclair:  And how about Wireless Sensor Networking?

Budiardjo:  In Amsterdam, wireless will be the strongest single subject covered. Here we are talking specifically Wireless Sensor Networking, the applications of this exciting new dimension of building systems as well as the implication to product development and strategy. We also have a whole day’s worth of sessions to discuss how wireless mesh solutions can fundamentally change the building systems industry.

Sinclair:  You think wireless is that significant?

Budiardjo:  Yes Ken, it’s just an issue of when. I am confident of this from my observations, and more importantly, from seeing the investment dollars the wireless industry is putting behind the premise that wireless networks of sensors and other devices will provide a number of benefits in buildings. First is that they will work well, second that they will save a bunch of money in cabling and lastly, wireless will bring about new ways of doing things to better our ability to control and monitor the building system.

Sinclair:  Any idea what time frame?

Budiardjo:   I think that within 3-5 years the picture will be much clearer and people will start to have the level of confidence in Wireless Sensor Networks to start to deploy them. I am aware of large players that are in the late stage of development or actually starting to deploy wireless today.

Sinclair:  And this is an important agenda item for Amsterdam today?

Budiardjo:  Yes, as we all need to understand today, how wireless will change what we do in the future.

[an error occurred while processing this directive] Sinclair:  What is the agenda for M2M in Amsterdam?

Budiardjo:   Obviously the wireless subject will be key to M2M. But it is becoming clear to me that M2M is more about how business will change as all manner of devices become smart and connected. It is a change from a product mentality to a service (recurring revenue) mentality.

Sinclair:  Explain what you mean there?

Budiardjo:  Manufactured widgets are becoming extremely commoditized. Savvy companies are figuring out how not to rely only on product sales, but instead use products as a mechanism to generate life cycle revenue. I bought an iPod this past weekend; while it is a very cool device, the really cool business perspective is the revenue that Apple will guarantee for themselves with people (me) buying their music online. The convenience of clicking on a track, and having it downloaded and available to listen in minutes is incredible. Ten years ago when I bought a Sony Walkman (similarly cool for the time) Sony had little assurance of continued revenue from me. What a difference technology makes!

Sinclair:  And you see this model coming to buildings?

Budiardjo:  Yes I do, and the opportunity is abound for those innovative players.

Sinclair:  Sounds like Amsterdam will be very interesting

Budiardjo:   I believe so Ken, the combinations of the content will expose attendees to a great deal of new perspectives and opportunities.

Sinclair:  And information will be on the web site as normal?

Budiardjo:  By the time this reaches your readers, the web site (www.builconn.com and www.m2mexpo.com) should have been updated.

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