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.

DC to Chicago, the road to Buildings 2.0

The Buildings 2.0 initiative promotes green initiatives and sustainable designs as well as the use of Information Technology to further the vision.

Sinclair: It seems that GridWeek was an incredible success!

Budiardjo:  Yes, for a first time event, we exceeded expectations on all fronts.  The number of attendees was 50% over expectations, the content and lineup of speakers were very strong and more importantly, the mood was very optimistic on the event that is triggering the future of electricity in the U.S.

Sinclair: Congratulations, how does this effect BuilConn in Chicago?

Budiardjo: Very positively, the subject of energy is now center stage, and a great deal of relevance exists for the buildings industry. Much of it relates to Demand Response that I have written about separately in this issue. Let there be no mistake about this, DR is the biggest single opportunity for integrators and contractors.

Sinclair: Yes, in DC it seemed that utilities had problems giving money away!

Budiardjo: The amounts of money they are prepared to spend to avoid peak load is significant; their challenge is implementing these DR programs, which is something that many of your readers can help them with.

Sinclair: How does this help Buildings 2.0?

Budiardjo: Energy works well in the Buildings 2.0 framework, since the new way that we look at buildings needs to be sensitive to energy usage. The Buildings 2.0 initiative promotes green initiatives and sustainable designs as well as the use of Information Technology to further the vision.

Sinclair: Tell me about Buildings 2.0 activities in Chicago.

Budiardjo: As you know we have Cisco on board as a Platinum sponsor, there will be another Cisco Connected Roundtable on the Tuesday of BuilConn. Like last year, we are inviting all of the top system manufacturers to attend this important event. This year, the focus is on Buildings 2.0.

There is also a whole track dedicated to the Roadmap to Buildings 2.0, including talks by many of the companies who are supporting the vision.

Sinclair: Are any owners in support of Buildings 2.0?

Budiardjo: Yes Ken, it is very encouraging to note that owners that have heard of the concepts of Buildings 2.0 have not taken long to get behind it. We have the Director of Missouri FM, Design and Construction who will come speak on his desire for Buildings 2.0 to be used to build a number of buildings today.

I get e-mails constantly about owners wanting to build their facilities in accordance to Buildings 2.0.  To me this shows that there is a great desire from the owner community to look at buildings differently, to design them differently, as well as to build and operate them differently.

Sinclair: Any other IT players who will be in Chicago in support of Buildings 2.0?

Budiardjo: Yes Emerson/Liebert is a sponsor, so is Panduit. We are also expecting speakers from IBM.

Sinclair: How is the ZigBee part coming along?

Budiardjo: Very well Ken, the link between Buildings 2.0, energy/DR, IP and mesh wireless is very strong and relevant. Many have commented that the combination of IP and ZigBee could be the driver as far as future architecture. I’m sure this will become a key subject of debate in Chicago.

Sinclair: How can our readers understand Buildings 2.0 more?

Budiardjo: Come to Chicago, and by the way, it’s not just to learn about Buildings 2.0, but to be part of defining what Buildings 2.0 is all about.

Sinclair: Chicago then seems to be a great place for this milestone BuilConn?

Budiardjo: Yes Ken, BuilConn 2007 will be a very key event, as I mentioned last month, a perfect storm is brewing, and it’s headed for Chicago. It’s a not-to-be-missed event for anyone who intends to be in the buildings space.

Sinclair: Good luck with Chicago!

Budiardjo: Thanks.  For those that need more info, visit www.builconn.com.

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