EMAIL INTERVIEW  Anto Budiardjo & Ken Sinclair

Anto Budiardjo is President & CEO of Clasma Events Inc., the organizer of BuilConn Americas 2006, Palm Springs, CA May 16-18, 2006 (www.builconn.com) and the co-located M2M Expo & Conference (www.m2mexpo.com) and the 2006 GridWise Expo (www.gridwiseexpo.com)

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

Why Palm Springs is Important

Today we’re standing at a very significant watershed of change; this is not only my prediction but represents the billion dollar actions of companies from major traditional players to new IT entrants. This is also being driven by the demands of owners, now inquisitive (and willing to spend money) about how IT can better their buildings.

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Sinclair:  Why should our readers care about Palm Springs?

Budiardjo:  For almost 20 years since DDC came about, there has been a trend toward integration and convergence; I’m reminded of this recently looking at old papers from past business I had in the late 80s. There have been many things preventing this convergence from happen, significantly from the lack of technology and tendency to keep the status-quo.

Today we’re standing at a very significant watershed of change; this is not only my prediction but represents the billion dollar actions of companies from major traditional players to new IT entrants. This is also being driven by the demands of owners, now inquisitive (and willing to spend money) about how IT can better their buildings.

There is a point when the pressure is so huge that things will change. All of the indication points to that change happening now, and many of the discussions in Palm Springs will define that direction.

Sinclair:  How is this going to affect contractors and integrators?

Budiardjo:   If I had the answer I would tell you, but the fact is that the future is being shaped by people who will be participating in Palm Springs. One thing I can say is that convergence is going to affect how owners look at buildings very significantly. This is probably the most important facet of what is going on, to understand the change in how owners view their buildings, and for buildings industry to prepare to deliver what they need.

Sinclair:  Can’t readers just read about it after the event?

Budiardjo:  Sure, if they want half the story and be passive in determining their future. The real benefit of attending is the discussions, both formal in sessions and informal in hallways and networking events. Over and over people have told me this of previous BuilConn events and this year is going to be even more critical.

Sinclair:   I see LonMark and Echelon have decided to join BuilConn.

Budiardjo:  Yes, both see enormous opportunities for their constituents to leverage what’s happening with IP convergence, and see BuilConn as an important event for that to evolve. Both OASIS and oBIX are also there with significant discussions and demonstrations on the status of Web Services.

Sinclair:  So how does a contractor directly benefit?

Budiardjo:  First of all they will see the magnitude of the trend and force behind convergence and IP. If you see a big wave coming, you can decide to run or jump on a surfboard; if you don’t see it coming you’d be swimming for survival before long.

[an error occurred while processing this directive] Sinclair:  OK, so you see a wave, then what?

Budiardjo:  At BuilConn, attendees find opportunities to turn the wave into a money-making machine, to find partners they can work with to leverage the change and to band together to affect the change into something that’s more palpable to their circumstances. This is the key benefit of being involved right now.

Sinclair:   Many say the subjects are too abstract and irrelevant!

Budiardjo:  From the beginning of time major changes would seem irrelevant; I’m sure that the dinosaurs thought the meteor shower was some abstract and irrelevant aberration in the sky. And we know that IBM, DEC, Wang executives and re-sellers thought the PC was abstract and irrelevant. While we don’t know how Building-IT Convergence will play out exactly, we do know it is major.

Sinclair:  Also, M2M and GridWise seem hard to figure out in how they relate to buildings.

Budiardjo:  The hardest thing to understand (and I’m not sure I or anyone else is quite there yet) is that most buildings people see themselves as being in a business that is separate from everything else. Tomorrow this will not be the case with the pervasive Internet reaching all corners of the universe (including building systems); everything will be connected together. M2M and the electric grid are just two of the things that buildings players will need to understand.

Sinclair:  Everything connected seems to be the theme.

Budiardjo:  Yes, connectivity will change building systems industry for the better.

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