Weaving Powerful Web Services.  We just returned from New York City where we attended and participated in both the B2G Summit and AHRExpo 2008. Although both were very different events there was a common cry for a significant change that would provide a path to sustainability. The underpinning of both was Building Automation utilizing web communications and web services are a large part of this. I have often maintained that Building Automation coupled with web services or software as a Service (SAAS) is the greenest of glues and holds tremendous power to bring radical and rapid change to our industry. Our February issue is stuffed with interviews, reviews, articles, columns and new products that suggest this is true.

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Anto takes a lead in telling us The Energy Revolution is Here! and advises us about “Empowering the Energy Revolution”
Tom Hartman in his interview What is Performance Based Building Design & Operations? and his developing position paper advocates performance based building design and operations to expedite moving our industry to a more sustainable position in terms of its energy use.
George B. Huettel, PE, President Cyrus Technologies, Inc. Tells us How to implement The Virtual Building Operations Center
John Greenwell, CEPORT, LLC explains how to REALIGN Where People, Space, Time and Energy Interact
Julian Smith explains; The culture of multi-vendor integration is the future in The Multi-Vendor Integrator

These observations are followed up with an issue that is full of related ideas on why and how to weave powerful web services. Be sure to read all the interviews, reviews, articles, columns and new products

Of interest Clay Stevens, Manager, AHR Expo writes; "Your readers might be interested in knowing that the 2008 AHR Expo in New York set a new all-time record for registered visitor attendance at 39,298. Included in that number is a record number of folks from 132 countries outside the US: 6,778."

In response to the common answer at both events in New York of “Just Google It” we have moved our AutomatedBuildings.com Google Search dialog box to our home page. I must admit that I have become the greatest fan of the change.  Although it was always just a click away this is an easier way to find what you want on our web site. May 2008 will be the 10th anniversary of our online magazine and every article, interview, review, news release and new product is still online so the search engine becomes the quickest method of making our valuable information useful to you.

Substance for Sustainability

To achieve sustainability in our industry we must start with adding substance to the sustainable dialog that is going on. I am extremely pleased that this month's articles, interviews, reviews and AHR Expo New York previews do just that.  We have borrowed Quality Automation Graphics', graphic for our front page. They are a provider of control systems graphic design for the building automation industry and are assisting building controls companies, building owners, and others convey their green message (be sure to read Dan McCarty's article). In addition to providing the substance of change we must effectively communicate our achievements. January is also our AHR Expo 2008 issue with lots of previews, articles and interviews about what you will see in New York. Jack McGowan starts with Buildings at the Epicenter… Don’t miss B2G in New York. and then follows with Opportunities to learn Smart Buildings and the Smart Grid at AHR   As part of the AHR Educational panels there will be two free sessions that are must attend sessions for anyone who wants to learn more.  Steve Widergren invites us to Join the Interoperability Crusade  Please hear this message as a call for arms and join us in the crusade to improve integration and enable an ever-smarter electricity system. Mike Schell tell us ironically, that outdoor air introduction to buildings is one of the few major energy consuming features of a building that is typically not measured or controlled on a real-time basis in his article Using CO2 Feed-Back Control To Stop Costly Over Ventilation

Looking forward Jim Sinopoli provides Eight Predictions for Smart Buildings in 2008 While Paul Ehrlich & Ira Goldschmidt tell us about a New Year, New Beginnings  “We don’t plan to fail, but often fail to plan”. Jim also provides a second article IP Innovation: Clock, Paging and Messaging Systems. How does this industry move forward into the 21st century? Anto Budiardjo, asks in his 4 Questions To Ask & 4 Tasks for 2008 then I chirp in with a reflected review of a very exciting year in the Building Automation Industry as well as providing some crystal ball gazing into what to expect for 2008 with Building Automation Reflections and Projections a feature article from Engineered Systems January AHR issue. In a further preview of 2008 Events Anto and I talk in an interview about a great deal of what’s been talked about related to the future of buildings will start to unfold in 2008.

In addition to our ongoing to show time AHRExpo New York Preview, we have a great collection of interviews adding further substance to this special issue.

Wireless Valve Actuators? Alex Leneveu, Director of Operations, Spartan Peripheral Devices  The market is missing the end devices and we wanted to be the first to introduce this wireless valve actuator.
Controls Vendor Free Edmund B. Richards, President and CEO, Richards-Zeta  Building owners and facility managers now have the ability to select building systems, components, smart equipment, and applications and services by a "best of breed" approach.
Converting Engineered Services into a Deliverable Product  Nathan F. Rothman , President, Optimum Energy, LLC  In the pursuit of clean technologies for industry I came across Tom Hartman and his work and immediately saw an opportunity. The concept was obvious to me. Take what was an engineered service and convert it to a deliverable product.
Innovation Award Winner AHR 2008 Tom Checksfield, General Manager, Tek-Air Systems, Inc  The AccuValve is an air flow control valve used in labs and critical environments for accurate air flow measurement and control.
A North American Trend? Todd Cowles, Americas Sales Manager, Trend Control Systems  Trend grew up in the UK. They’re the dominant player in the controls industry in that country by far, and have been for many years. They are well established in Europe and the Middle East, and the Americas are a huge growth target at the moment.
Russia is Open to Open Protocols Andrey Golovin, Executive Director BIG-RU (BACnet Interest Group Russia) Like everywhere in the world open protocols are dominating in Russia.
Insufficient Marketing  Ron Caffrey, Partner BCS Partners  With all the attention to energy conservation, air quality, occupant productivity and green buildings, why do you feel the market won't grow at a faster rate?

Steven R. Calabrese shares his Tricks of the Trade in Short on I/O? Try This Out!   

Also Paul Ehrlich is organizing a Jan 23 Building Intelligence Tour at AHR Expo 2008 New York, NY check out our event calendar for this and other events.

And of course as always lots of new products

Also as usual lots of new products and our constant flow of industry news.

We have added a new Blog tab to our navigation menu which links to related industry blogs of interest.  We created an Industry online Forum many years before blogging was conceived and have combined these.

Of course the news just keeps flowing thru our web site and RSS feeds daily, and of course the only way to truly find what you are looking for in the vast quantity of information on our site is with our site search engine http://www.automatedbuildings.com/search/sitesearch.htm

Be sure to check our event calendar to see the number events we have in our future.

Lots of information and links in this issue use the menu on your left to explore.

We have been working on improving our web site by reorganizing how we handle the great number of news release we receive daily.  We now provide a News Feed ( Which Needs a RSS Feed Reader ) and have provided a New Our RSS news feed rendered into HTML

Tell our sponsors you saw their ad on the AutomatedBuildings.com web site and thank them for supporting your free access to evolving Automated Building Industry information. Click on their ads and view their valuable products and services. Please review all Our Sponsors. 

Be sure to check our event calendar to see the number events we have in our future.

As I always say, it is a great time to be in the news business for our industry. 

Send comments and suggestions to news@automatedbuildings.com

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