Johnson Controls M-Web 2.0 Provides Graphical Internet Link to Metasys Building Automation System

MILWAUKEE - (April 24, 2000) - Johnson Controls, Inc. has released its Metasys® M-Web 2.0 software with user-friendly graphical Internet or Intranet access. Since the only software needed to access the M-Web Server is a common Internet browser, Release 2.0 is an economical solution for the casual user to dynamically monitor and control a Metasys Building Automation System. 

Accessibility is open to and easily initiated with any arrangement of LAN, direct connect or remote dial-up networks. A user simply points and clicks to access any Metasys network associated with the M-Web server. 

Three versions of the software offer companies a range of options including text and graphical based interfaces as well as access for a number of simultaneous users. All versions provide access to the system from any Internet connection in the world. Graphical based interfaces utilize M-Graphics, a flexible, easy to engineer and technology-leading graphics package that is also used on the company's M-Series Workstations. In addition, M-Web allows users to integrate their company logos, own custom web pages as well as links to other web sites within the overall user interface. 

Summary information can also be customized through M-Trend, a powerful sampling, storage, viewing and analysis trending system. Contents of a summary can include any combination of objects and attributes that report to the Metasys system and tailored to the user's preferences. 

While competitive product offerings generally require custom page design to view any information, M-Web 2.0 automatically provides predefined Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages. This eliminates the need for dual engineering, special software translations and configuration procedures, and reworking as an enterprise expands or goes through periodic changes.

ADC Telecommunications Builds New Headquarters Around Johnson Controls Personal Environment

Facility design to offer individual workspace flexibility

MILWAUKEE - April 14, 2000 - ADC Telecommunications Inc., a global manufacturer of telecommunications systems and software, has designed its new $100 million world headquarters and technology campus near Minneapolis around individual workspaces. This reverse style of engineering places the Johnson Controls Personal Environments® at the heart of each workstation to attract and retain outstanding high-tech employees. 

Inclusion of the Personal Environments system in the state-of-the-art facility creates a productive work environment because it offers individual flexibility and control. Research shows that environmental comfort and individual control in open office settings can have a significant impact on workplace productivity. In recent studies, when employees were given personal control of their environment, productivity gains reached up to 15 percent, which translates into millions of dollars of savings.

"The facility will provide a highly productive engineering, customer service, training, and corporate facility for our employees so that ADC can continue to innovate and compete in today's high-technology global marketplace," said William J. Cadogan, chairman and CEO of ADC. 

Personal Environments features an easy-to-use desktop control unit that gives each person the flexibility to adjust temperature, lighting, air flow and acoustic characteristics as often as necessary to maintain personal comfort levels. Individual workers can adjust the air temperature at their desktop, as well as control the amount and direction of air flow. A heating panel under the desk is available for adjusting temperature to the legs and feet. Personal Environments also allow for individual control of task lighting and background noise masking, which helps enhance a sense of privacy. All units are integrated with a sensor that turns off all functions when the workstation is unoccupied for more than 10 to 15 minutes.

Beyond increased productivity, personal control nearly eliminates environmental complaints to building managers, which can significantly reduce maintenance costs. Energy savings occur because only occupied workspaces use the system, reducing the demand from the central air conditioning system.

The ADC design team, including architects Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc., Minneapolis, visited other buildings with Personal Environments, including West Bend Mutual, an insurer in West Bend, Wis. The design team discovered that employee satisfaction at this location and others correlated with the individual control and comfort of their workplaces.

"Personal Environments is a revolutionary system that can satisfy all needs and gives employees the freedom to concentrate on their tasks rather than the distractions of an uncomfortable office," said Brian Stark, president of the Controls business at Johnson Controls. "It's another way that Johnson Controls uses innovation to provide the very best solutions." 

In the first phase of construction at ADC, Johnson Controls will install more than 1,100 Personal Environments in three buildings with almost 500,000 square feet. In phase two, 350 Personal Environments will be installed in a fourth building. To complete the final phase of construction four years from now, another 1,400 Personal Environments will be installed in the remaining four buildings encompassing approximately 600,000 square feet. Upon completion of all the phases, the total value of the contract will exceed more than $5 million, making this the largest Personal Environments job in the world. 

Construction of the eight building campus includes installation of a Johnson Controls Metasys® (M5) Building Automation System, integrating boilers, chillers, air handling units and a variable air volume system for under-the-floor ventilation to the Personal Environments.

The new headquarters, a 91-acre site in Eden Prairie, Minn., will house ADC corporate, engineering and divisional offices and include office space, labs, light manufacturing areas and parking facilities. The complex also will have a 280-seat auditorium, on-site fitness center and expanded corporate training facilities, all joined by skyways and underground walkways.

Johnson Controls Earns Green Building Designation for its New Brengel Technology Center

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Green Buildings Council today recognized the Johnson Controls Brengel Technology Center as one of the nation's first Green Buildings under a new comprehensive environmental certification system. 

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED^TM) rating system, administered by the U.S. Green Buildings Council, challenges building developers to combine environmentally conscious design, energy efficiency, resource conservation and dedication to indoor air quality. The council, a nonprofit coalition of leaders from throughout the building industry, announced the Green Building designation at ceremonies in Washington D.C. 

The newly constructed Brengel Technology Center, located in downtown Milwaukee, provides office space for about 400 Controls business employees and serves as a working showcase for Johnson Controls technologies. 

"When increased business in the past decade meant expanding our worldwide headquarters, we were met by the difficult decisions of location, design and function. Above all, we wanted to develop a functional building that in itself would exemplify Johnson Controls leadership," said Tom Gannon, Controls business vice president and general manager. "The philosophy we followed in designing this building corresponds with the goals of the LEED rating system." 

The Brengel Technology Center earned LEED certification by using innovative, cost-effective environmental design and construction techniques in the areas of site selection, energy efficiency, water conservation, occupant comfort and health, materials usage and indoor environmental quality. Johnson Controls was cited specifically for:

• Selecting light colored concrete and roofing materials as well as landscaped surfaces to decrease heat islands.
• Including an open courtyard to provide green space for employees in the middle of a downtown area.
• Installing a Metasys® Building Automation System to optimize efficiency and performance of the building's mechanical and electrical systems and provide fully integrated energy monitoring.
• Encouraging less automobile dependence by locating the facility near existing bus lines and providing cyclists with showers
• Ensuring that more than half of the building materials contained more than 20 percent recycled content.
• Sustaining employee comfort by providing Personal Environments,® a technology that allows individual adjustment of temperature, lighting, background noise and air flow. · Installing a permanent indoor air quality monitoring system.
• Using daylight to provide 10 percent of the building's potential energy use.
• Forecasting the building's energy system load with a rooftop mounted weather station.
• Including water efficient landscaping that requires no irrigation system.

"We're in the business of helping customers achieve environmental and operational efficiency. The Brengel Center shows that efficiency begins at home - our home. We're also demonstrating that green does not have to cost more," Gannon said. The Brengel Technology Center, a $16.9 million, 130,000-square-foot facility, is named in honor of Fred L. Brengel, retired Johnson Controls chairman and chief executive officer. The building will be fully occupied by year-end.

Johnson Controls Extends Technology Leadership With Enhanced Metasys® M3 Workstation Software

MILWAUKEE - Managers of small facilities can now quickly react to conditions at multiple sites with the second revision of the Metasys® Building Automation System M3 Workstation software from Johnson Controls, Inc. 

The M3 Workstation is already a proven, economical way for building operators to manage environmental comfort and energy usage with ease and efficiency. Johnson Controls continues a tradition of technological leadership with Release 2 by allowing users to work at one site while checking conditions at other locations. Meanwhile, a flexible password feature lets facility managers determine how, when and where users can interact with the building automation system. 

This affordable facility management solution is particularly well suited for small commercial office buildings, schools, health clinics, retail centers or municipal buildings. 

Compatible with Microsoft Windows 95® Windows 98® or Windows NT® 4.0, the M3 Workstation Release 2 allows users to run a single building or a series of buildings located anywhere. 

Built on Microsoft ActiveX standards, the new software facilitates effective decision-making by giving users a variety of ways to access, view and interact with pertinent information in real time. Color-coding lets users easily view and react to alarms and other conditions that require special attention.

Users gain additional flexibility from a new graphical scheduling control that lets them view and modify daily scheduled activities.

The M3 Workstation is great for troubleshooting or system fine-tuning thanks to its ability to automatically upload trend data from building controllers and to coordinate real-time data snapshots in periods as short as one second. Stored information is viewed through M-Trend, the controls industry's most comprehensive sampling, storage, viewing and analysis package. 

Southern Oregon University to Save $3.1 Million in Energy and Operational Costs Through Upgrades with Johnson Controls

ASHLAND, Ore. - Southern Oregon University (SOU) will save more than $3.1 million in energy and operational costs during the next 15 years by making key improvements to its physical plant through a performance contract with Johnson Controls, Inc. 

SOU will make major improvements to its cooling system, retrofit fire alarm and lighting systems and update the campus-wide automated mechanical controls. Under a performance contract, the cost of the project is paid for over a number of years by the energy and operational cost savings the project generates. The SOU campus includes more than one million square feet of building space on 175 acres.

"The campus has grown beyond what our present cooling system could handle," said Bruce Moats, SOU director of physical plant. "To keep the right comfort levels in the classrooms and office, we needed new equipment to handle the load." 

"We found the idea of a performance contract with Johnson Controls very attractive," said Ronald Bolstad, SOU vice president of administration and finance. "The savings we'll realize through enhanced systems and reduced energy and operational costs will pay for a significant amount of the improvements. We'll be doing something positive for the environment, as well, because our energy efficiency will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Johnson Controls estimates that increased energy efficiency in the SOU projects will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.8 million grams of carbon dioxide, 15,250 grams of sulfur oxide and 6,573 grams of nitrogen oxide. These reductions are the equivalent of planting almost 5,000 acres of trees. 

Johnson Controls will work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help the university become an ENERGY STAR Buildings^SM partner, a national program recognizing businesses and institutions that help reduce emissions. The EPA named Johnson Controls the ENERGY STAR Buildings Ally of the Year in 1999. 

"Helping our customers serve their customers by maintaining quality indoor environments is what we're all about at Johnson Controls," said Brian Stark, president of the Controls business at Johnson Controls. "We are glad to be able to help Southern Oregon University make system enhancements that are largely paid for through energy efficiency, as well as become a partner in ENERGY STAR Buildings." 

The total amount of the various projects and support services is estimated at less than $4.5 million. Included is installation of a new chiller, cooling tower, water-side economizer, and a retrofit to the variable-speed pump equipment. A Johnson Controls building automation system, Metasys®, will replace the existing system and help the maintenance staff better control classroom and office climates from any location any time of day. By working with the Oregon Office of Energy, Johnson Controls helped SOU obtain a major portion of the funding.

Johnson Controls, Inc., is a global market leader in automotive systems and facility management and control. In the automotive market, it is a major supplier of seating and interior systems and batteries. For nonresidential facilities, Johnson Controls provides building control systems and services, energy management and integrated facility management. 

[Click Banner To Learn More]

[Stay Informed - Subscribe to our Update Mailing List]
[Home Page] [Contact Us] [The Automator - Current Issue]
[News] [Systems] [Products] [Resources] [About]

Visit Home Toys to Learn about Home Automation

Web Design by HomeToys
©Enviromation 1999