EMAIL INTERVIEW  Phil Bomrad & Ken Sinclair

Phil Bomrad is Director of Marketing, Tridium

The Niagara Summit

Sinclair:  What is the Niagara Summit?

Bomrad:  Tridium has been experiencing exceptional growth over the last five years, and in fact was named the 34th fastest growing technology company in the U.S. by Deloitte and Touche. The Niagara Framework, has become synonymous with open systems, and continues to be recognized as a leader in the automation industry. Today, there are over 20,000 instances of the Niagara Framework installed globally.

We have been asked for quite a while to do more to cultivate the Niagara community and the summit has been developed in response to this need. The summit will assemble hundreds of professionals to share ideas, identify opportunities, and investigate complimentary products and technologies. We will have intensive workshops and panel discussions with respected industry experts, focusing on fueling new ideas.

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Sinclair:  Who do you anticipate will be at the event?

Bomrad:  The summit will assemble business leaders and technologists from leading systems integrators, equipment manufacturers, and prominent customers, who wish to learn more about opportunities presented by the Niagara Framework. End users will learn how to realize operational efficiencies by leveraging the framework, while systems integrators will learn of new developments and technologies. Developers and manufacturers will exhibit Niagara-based solutions, and complimentary technologies.

We have organized the workshops and panel discussions into two tracks. The technology track will be geared for technologists and include sessions on running Niagara in IBM's WebSphere application, developing applications on the Niagara Framework, and writing drivers and servlets. We will also provide a Niagara playground, where attendees can sit "behind the wheel" and see how easy it is to develop basic applications.

The Business Solutions track will be targeted at business leaders who are looking for ways to reduce costs, create new business models, and provide new products.

Sinclair:  What makes the Niagara Summit different from other trade shows and conferences?

Bomrad:  There are two basic differences - better networking and better educational experiences. We want to provide an opportunity to have leading integrators, end users, and manufacturers/developers network with one another in a social, somewhat intimate environment. To facilitate this, we are including meals and beverages in the registration fee, which will be served in the exhibit areas.

In addition, we want to provide an exceptional educational and training experience. The fee will cover food and beverage along with some miscellaneous costs for the event, but the content will be developed and delivered at no cost. Tridium personnel and guest speakers are essentially donating their time to support the event.

The Niagara Summit is not intended to be a conventional trade show. We will have a very targeted audience with each attendee involved in some facet of integrating devices with the enterprise. The more targeted audience allows us to be more selective selecting exhibitors, which allows us to keep focus on educating and networking.

Sinclair:  Tell us about the sponsors and exhibitors you have lined up.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]Bomrad:  We have some great supporters of the summit. This is a M2M (Man-to-Machine/Machine-to-Machine) conference as much as it is a Niagara conference. As such, we invited industry leaders in the M2M arena and are thrilled to have commitment from M2M Magazine and Remote Site and Equipment Magazine as media sponsors. AutomatedBuildings.com has been a great supporter of the Niagara Summit and we are thrilled to have this media sponsor, who is dedicated to the buildings market. Because we realize that industry experts often carry an objective, fresh perspective, we are pleased to have Harbor Research and the FocalPoint Group, two leading M2M market analysts contributing.

Because this isn't a traditional trade show, we wanted to limit the number exhibitors. This allowed us to be very selective and strategic in whom we secured. We have a great list of Platinum sponsors including Sun Microsystems, who will be promoting Niagara on the Solaris platform. Millennial Net will be promoting their wireless solutions, Novus Technologies their security systems including a Java-based CCTV application, and Mamac Systems promoting their extensive line of accessory products.

Finally, we have a great list of gold sponsors and exhibitors who will be showing complementary technologies including Staefa, Reliable Controls, Distech, PointSix, Advantech, Pure Choice, Square D, and more.

Sinclair:  How can people research and register for the Niagara Summit?

Bomrad:  For those interested in the Niagara Summit they can log onto www.NiagaraSummit.com. This site provides all the details on who will be exhibiting or contributing to the conference as well as descriptions of the workshops and panel discussions. Visitors to the site can look into the optional social event Sunday May 2, either golf or the wilderness canoe outing. And they can register with a credit card on this site.

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