ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s sponsors: Contemporary Controls, Connect-Air Wire & Cable, ACI, and CGNA. Without their generous support, the ControlTrends Awards would not be possible.

Mike Marston and EasyIO Continue to Raise the Bar! EasyIO’s Mike Marston, nominated for both the 2013 HVAC Controls Executive and ControlTrends Person of the year (PID), provided these exciting EasyIO updates: Modbus Client and Server are now released; BACnet Server over IP is in testing, available 1st quarter of 2014; BACnet Client over IP (can then manage a 30P over IP) Mid-to-late December; and BACnet Server over MSTP will be ready in January, 2014, as will BACnet Client over MSTP (can then manage MSTP devices). APPROVED already: UL, CUL, FCC, CE, CTick. BTL March, 2014.

ControlTalk Now: Announcing The 2013 ControlTrends Awards Finalists. The ControlTrends Awards Committee thanks its world-wide community for its participation in selecting these prestigious nominees. The ControlTrends Awards proudly present the 2013 ControlTrends Finalists.

Johnson Controls Rolls Out New Smoke & Fire Damper Options, Electronic Measurement, Wireless Tester. Ken and I had a chance to see what Johnson is doing to make fire and smoke dampers more efficient. A new customizable Electronic Air Measurement Station is now available and Life Safety Dampers wireless tester that reports pass/fail test information without the ladder and moving ceiling tiles.

WattStopper Hot off the Press – New Product Selection Guide Online + App. Check out the NEW Product Selection Guide and App for iOS! WattStopper has published its new Product Selection Guide (PSG), a comprehensive catalog of energy-efficient lighting controls and services that help enable a net zero future. For the first time ever, WattStopper’s handy PSG is accessible from your iPad or iPhone! Access specifications, wiring diagrams, and coverage patterns of the products WattStopper offers while you’re on the go. Download the “WattStopper Solutions Guide” from the iTunes App Store today!

DGLogik’s DGBox and EnOcean Sensors: Has the Future of Control Arrived? Great job to Eugene Mazo and his team at DGLogik for this innovative hotel room solution interfacing a full compliment of EnOcean wireless and self-powered devices with DG Lux, the industry’s leading visualization and graphic software. Could this be the next high-end hotel room controller? My guess is that it won’t be long before Eugene and his team figure out how to recreate the conventional thermostat with a DG Stat version of what we watched in the video — and make thermostats like the Nest look like a thing of the past. In 2015 could DGLogik, who is up for numerous awards at the 2013 ControlTrends Awards, add the 2015 Thermostat Control of the Year to their accomplishments?

Viconics VT8000: The Perfect Balance Between Simplicity and Sophistication! The VT8000 Series is nominated for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards Thermostat of the Year and here’s why: There has never been a better hospitality solution with as much flexibility and energy savings features built into one elegant device as the Viconics VT8000. Innovative control solutions that feature flexibility, easy installation, and optimized comfort. The Viconics VT8000 series offers Energy Saving Occupancy Strategies, Simplified Installation, Customizable Interface, Scalability and Optimization.

MomentumOnTour Update from Pittsburgh. Honeywell”s Steve Amato and Scott Dixon reviewed the new Sylk Bus products, Zio Lite Wall Modules, Spyder Controller with Relays, Sylk I/O Module, Stryker CVAHU controller, UL 555S DCA’s and valve products. Visit buildingcontrols.honeywell.com to get all the info!

Meet ControlTalk NOW guest Bryan Pike formerly with AIC Wireless. Bryan talk about WattStopper’s BULIT wireless product, which is nominated for the 2013 Commercial Product of the Year. Pete Horton welcomes Bryan to the team.

ACI — Combining Great People with Great Products! Is it a Wisconsin Thing? ACI is nominated for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards for Best Periphery Product from a Small Manufacturer, but ACI is likely to outgrow that category and soon, because ACI is a thriving entity on the move — setting new standards in the temperature, humidity, pressure, gas sensor, interface devices, wireless sensor, and building automation accessories markets. ACI’s two key acquisitions: Advanced Control Technologies’ (ACT’s) Interface Control Components line and Trs Systems Wireless Sensors and Controls give ACI complete application solutions and a much greater reach into every building space.

Honeywell’s Q5020 Linkage Assembly Improvement: Honeywell is pleased to announce that the Q5020 globe valve linkage has been improved. In addition, Honeywell obsoleted the Q5020B and replaced it with the Q5020A model. Product Information: The Q5020 linkage mounting plate has been redesigned to work seamlessly with our 27-300 lb-in actuator models. We extended the existing center channel of the mounting plate to accommodate all actuator sizes and mouniting configurations. The new linkage design greatly reduces the installation time. Q5020 globe valve linkages connect a Honeywell direct coupled actuator (DCA) to two-way and three-way steam or water globe valves up to 3 inches.

Indianapolis’ Contractors of Quality Connection and Electrical Workers of IBEW #481 Present – Circle of Lights Special thanks to Honeywell’s Roger Rebennack for sharing Indianapolis’ Circle of Lights® presented by Quality Connection and IBEW #481: a must-see holiday tradition! Video available. 100,000 spectators. 4,784 colored lights. 52 garland strands. 52 larger-than-life decorations. 51 years. One must-see holiday tradition! For 51 years, thousands of spectators have gathered Downtown at Monument Circle to see the most spectacular holiday display illuminate. Indy’s most beloved holiday tradition is here again. Circle of Lights® presented by the Contractors of Quality Connection and Electrical Workers of IBEW #481 will take place the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 29, 2013.

Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 47: 1. Edison vs. Tesla: Toasting a Rivalry That Drove Innovation. By Marissa Newhall Managing Editor, Energy.gov All this week on Energy.gov, we explored the storied rivalry between two of history’s most important energy-related inventors.

ControlTalk NOW will continue to provide a weekly episode featuring the people, products, and the News of the Week shaping our world of controls, building automation, and the HVAC industry.

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ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s ControlTrends Awards Platinum sponsor Ed Merwin and Vykon. VYKON®, is a comprehensive set of applications that synchronize, manage and control major building system functions required in a facility, such as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, energy, lighting, security, fire, safety, and unitary devices. Built on Tridium’s Niagara Framework®, VYKON integrates diverse systems and devices – regardless of manufacturer, or communication protocol – into a unified platform that can be easily managed and controlled in real time over the Internet using a standard web browser.

Are BAS and SCADA Systems Doomed? Is Blue Pillar’s Digital Energy Network Next? The article “The Move Beyond Building Automation Systems to a More Secure Energy Infrastructure” by Brad Witter, EVP of Technology and Operations at Blue Pillar, Inc., was brought to light compliments of Lynxspring’s Marc Petock, VP Marketing. The implications of this article may cause some discomfort, especially, if you believe your are on or near the top of rung of the BAS technology ladder. Large infrastructures (hospitals, universities, industrial parks, malls, and supermarkets and the like) are shifting their big gears to reduce their security and service disruption vulnerabilities, shifting towards a digital energy network that may leave the customized and inflexible software providers, featuring their “individual-dependent” options — well outside the emerging solutions zone.

The Belimo Energy Valve Returns — Knowledge is Power! Belimo’s Energy Valve won the 2012 ControlTrends Award Commercial Product of the Year. Amongst incredible competition, a Belimo Energy Valve repeat performance is possible. With performance serving as the operative word, the MIT research presentation on the Energy Valve remains one of the most compelling engineering endorsements of product performance to date. Belimo is making more energy valve products available. Learn more.

November 14th, 2013 TridiumTALK — Register Now! The November TridiumTALK will provide an introduction to the Program Services feature in Niagara. This session will focus on the Program Service’s feature that allows users to create customized components. Les Newman, a member of Tridium’s Technical Support team, will lead this session of TridiumTALK.

Tim’s Tech Tips: Understanding Chiller Surge: “Just the Facts ma’am.” No, it’s not Joe Friday from the 70′s television series Dragnet, it’s Stromquist & Company’s,Tim Chamblee. Tim in addition to being a super star salesman for Stromquist & Company is one of the best trainers in the country. In this excerpt, from one of Tim’s chiller classes, Tim gives you “the facts” you need to know about Chiller Surge. Knowledge is power. In this episode of Tim’s Tech tips, he gives you a 357 worth of chiller knowledge to take to a knife fight.

ControlTalk NOW welcomes its first guest, KMC’s Ben Dorsey, Sr. VP, Marketing & Communications at KMC Controls.

ControlTrends Catches Up With Johnson Controls Jim Mangini: We had the pleasure of speaking with Jim Mangini at the 2013 Johnson Controls Business Conference. Jim is Vice President and General Manager of Distribution and Manufacturing at Johnson Controls. The 2013 Johnson Controls ABCS theme was “Building Champion Teams.” We can gratefully assure you firsthand, that Jim Mangini, his entire staff at Johnson Controls, and all the distributors and contractors, are a “Championship Team” indeed.

ControlTalk NOW welcomes its next series of guests from Johnson Controls, Jim Mangini,VP and General Manager, Distribution and Manufacturing, Don Albinger, VP, Building Automation Systems, and Earl Doyle, Director SMART Equipment Systems and Global HVAC and Refrigeration Product Management.

Honeywell Momentum on Tour Update: How The Honeywell Sylk Bus saves Money! Honeywell’s Sylk Bus is all about better contracting and more profitable business. The Honeywell Sylk Bus offers contractors a straight-forward, yet significant competitive edge — because it rewards proficiency. Get more of your project done faster with less wiring and leverage Honeywell’s dependable and potent Sylk Technology. Let the Sylk Force be with you.

Read Navigant Research’s Leaderboard Report on Smart Thermostats: Steadily overcoming the privacy issues and consumer apathy with waves of Incentives, Regulations, and Smart Marketing, the Smart Grid continues to fuel the Smart Thermostat industry. It makes too much sense for those manufacturers with the know how and resources to wax “green and greedy” and get their piece of this enormous and growing pie. This Navigant Research Leaderboard report reviews the contenders and challengers, with a fresh 30,000 feet view down to the name and numbers level.

ControlTalk NOW’s third guest, Laura Conkle, Account Manager at Functional Devices, Inc. provided an in-depth review of FDI’s offering.

CONTEMPORARY CONTROLS: Your Industry Experts in Network Technology: Building on BACnet® George Thomas and Contemporary Controls are the reigning experts in network technology for a wide range of applications. The new EIPR-V Skorpion, is a VPN Router that provides secure remote Virtual Private Network (VPN) access to the Internet via a cellular or Ethernet connection. Contemporary Controls offers an unparalleled range of industrial and BAS solutions (see below). Need answers or ideas? Visit Contemporary Control’s extensive learning resource center and video library.

Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 46: 1. International Facility Management Association (IFMA) December 5, 2013 Webinar: The Lighting Energy Efficiency in Parking (LEEP) Campaign is a recognition and guidance program designed to encourage facility owners and managers to take advantage of savings opportunities from high efficient lighting solutions in their parking facilities. Webinar registrants will learn more about the LEEP Campaign, get a review of lighting controls for parking facilities and see the results of a parking structure retrofit utilizing efficient equipment and multiple controls, resulting in energy savings of 45%.

ControlTalk NOW will continue to provide a weekly episode featuring the people, products, and the News of the Week shaping our world of controls, building automation, and the HVAC industry.

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The post ControlTalk NOW Week Ending November 17, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.

The CTA Awards Committee thanks this week’s Platinum Sponsor EasyIO and Mike Marston for their 2013 ControlTrends Awards Platinum Sponsorship. The EasyIO FG-32 Beast from the East is up for the 2013 Building Automation Controller of the Year.

Honeywell Universal Fire and Smoke Damper Actuators: We saw this product offering at the Stromquist & Company Honeywell Momentum on Tour event in Atlanta. As the video shows it has great features and is easy to set up and install.

Power Metering from Siemens: Siemens recently announced availability of its new MD Power Meter, a submetering device designed to provide real time, accurate electricity metering to enable proper control over energy costs. The meter can capture kWh/kW energy and demand data, as well as virtually all relevant energy parameters for diagnostics and monitoring on three-phase or single-phase circuit installations.

What is Easier to Understand: The IRS Tax Code or Instructions on How to Calibrate a Pneumatic Thermostat? Pneumatic thermostats are still very much in use. Unless you have been around for a while and calibrated one of these devices, they can be a bit time consuming to figure out. The biggest thing to get past is the vocabulary involved. What one vendor calls “proportional band” another calls ” % authority”. Remember these things were state of the art technology when Don Draper and the boys from the TV show Mad Men had three martini lunches and got paid lots of money to make up words to call things.

Read Automated Buildings’ Automated Buildings’ Ken Sinclair: “I am Very Pleased With This Disruptive Issue.””>Ken Sinclair: “I am Very Pleased With This Disruptive Issue.” Check out the Automatedbuildings.com November’s theme – Delivering Disruption. Delivering Disruption seems like an unlikely topic to speak to, but it is exactly the business we all are in today as we provide new solutions that leap over and significantly change our existing marketplace.

Can The Siemens PICV Valve Win The ControlTrends Best Commerical Product of The Year? A very cool product that saves energy and corrects flow problems, the Siemens PICV features a flow limiter, control valve, and automatic pressure differential regulator all in one, and deserves serious consideration for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards Commercial Product of The Year.

Johnson Controls Nominated For 2013 ControlTrends Awards Best Technical Support By A Vendor: We caught up with Johnson Controls Chris Lane at the 2013 Johnson Controls Business Conference. Chris offered some insights into why Johnson Controls does such a great job when it comes to providing technical support. If you think Johnson Controls should win the best technical support award, make sure you register to vote and we will sense you a ballot when it is time to pick your winners for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards.

ControlTrends first two guests, Chris Lane, Johnson Controls and Greg Wilmer, Johnson Controls, provide in-depth insight into one of Johnson Controls’ premiere corporate strengths: Technical Support.

GSA Releases RFI: Innovative Building Technologi​es for GSA Green Proving Ground FY 2014 Program. The General Services Administration (GSA) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gather responses from private sector entities, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and other interested parties on emerging and innovative building technologies in support of its Green Proving Ground (GPG) program. The GPG leverages GSA’s real estate portfolio as a “proving ground” to evaluate emerging building technologies that promise to improve the environmental performance of GSA’s portfolio while reducing operational costs.

Get KMC Controls’ FREE Product Resource Mobile App Now! Check out KMS’s free Product Resource Mobile APP that allows you to: • Quickly and easily find and access detailed information on KMC core products • Download Data Sheets and Installation & Operation Guides directly to your device • Store critical product data natively on your device for offline retrieval at a project site • Email product documentation directly from your device.

Breaking Down 2013 ControlTrends Awards Thermostat of The Year Finalist Entouch Controls: James Walton, from Entouch Controls, shows you all the great things the Entouch Thermostat and control system can do. As you can see Entouch is much more than just a thermostat, and is very deserving as a finalist in the 2013 ControlTrends Awards Thermostat of The Year Competition.

EnTouch Raises $8.5M for Small Commercial Energy Monitoring: EnTouch is coming to a mall near you! With its recent funding firmly in place, EnTouch will now have the resources to aggressively compete in the light commercial building space. The EnTouch Energy Management System combines the look and ease of a modern, user-friendly thermostat with the control, monitoring, and energy management capabilities of a system. Restaurants and retail chains need energy efficiency, too! And EnTouch Controls will continue to meet that need — on a national basis with the $8.25 million in Series B financing secured to expand its small commercial energy management offerings.

ControlTalk NOW third guest Greg Fasullo of EnTouch Controls.

MiniVan Jack: As mentioned during the show, there are some viewers with a differing opinion on the smart and connected shroud we are placing around ourselves. MiniVan Jack believes that that kind of smartness may be a well-disguised noose, that will forever invade our privacy.

J2 Cool Feature of the Month: FIN Mobile now makes commanding points even more convenient. All you have to do is set up a nav containing your FIN project files. Launching FIN Mobile brings up a points list containing all of the points that where used in selected FINp. The points list allows you to view and command any point without having to load up the graphic, enabling a quick and effective user experience.

Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 45: 1. SmartAmerica Challenge: Cyber-Physical Systems to be Focus of White House Workshop on December 12, 2013. What would be possible if multiple cyber-physical system test beds encompassing different industry segments were interconnected via an industrial internet to demonstrate functionality greater than each individual part? The SmartAmerica Project is bringing together organizations with cyber-physical systems (CPS) technology, programs and test beds to demonstrate the potential to improve safety, sustainability, efficiency, mobility, and overall quality of life.

ControlTalk NOW thanks its three special guests (in order of appearance) Steve Roe of MI Controls, Dave Suskie of Twinco, and Scott Twomey of Temperature Control Systems. Three great people from three great companies and members of Controls Group North America.

ControlTalk NOW will continue to provide a weekly episode featuring the people, products, and the News of the Week shaping our world of controls, building automation, and the HVAC industry.

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The post ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending November 10, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.

ControlTalk NOW thanks Belimo — this week’s Platinum sponsor! Innovations in Comfort, Energy Efficiency and Safety Solutions. Belimo Americas, a world leader in the design and manufacture of damper actuators and control valves used in commercial HVAC systems. Known for its direct-coupled actuator and innovations in pressure independent control valve technology, Belimo has solutions to maintain an energy efficient building environmen

Make a Splash This Summer with the “Dive into FIN” Program: Throughout Summer 2013, J2 Innovations is running a special program designed to help System Integrators and Distributors quickly become experts in FIN by providing personalized one-on-one support.

Is Your Building Automation System an Open Door To Hackers? interview Cylance Inc.’s Terry McCorkle at IBcon 2013. If you have been following Controltrends, you know we have been sounding the alarm about the current trend of building automation systems being hacked and the problems caused by these intrusions.

KMC Needs Your Vote to Win 2013 BACnet International Competition! For the next couple of weeks a window of opportunity is open for you to acknowledge the role of KMC Controls in the BACnet community. The annual BACnet International Leaders of the Pack award nominations are now underway. We encourage you to take advantage of this open window to nominate KMC or KMC-submitted success stories for recognition.

A Day In The Life of A Smart Building: Prelude for Ken’s interview tomorrow with Dan Klasen, from ESI, by watching this video, ControlTrends members will get a better perspective of the Master Systems Integrator’s grand scale integration.

ESI’s Dan Klasen Explains the Role of Master Systems Integrator at IBCON 2013: Environmental Systems Inc. (ESI) is a leading Master Systems Integrator servicing the GSA, Kohls, Macys, and other national accounts to provide “portfolio-driven” services generating the normalized data source that optimizes efficiencies and reduces operational costs. ESI combines their own resources and experience with those of the local systems integrators to meet the challenges of large, coast-to-coast portfolios.

Contemporary Controls Video: Understanding EIA-485: Connectors, Grounding and Protection: This video discusses the importance of cabling and repeaters. Cables attenuate and distort signal, so cable selection depends on data rate, encoding, distance. Repeaters that use the data link protocol are more reliable than basic EIA-485 repeaters.

Can Honeywell Win Variable Frequency Drive of The Year Again? Not if Teco Westinghouse, Siemens, Johnson Controls, ABB, and all the other self respecting VFD manufactures have anything to say about it. Click here to see Honeywell bring home the award at the 2012 ControlTrends Awards, and click here to register to nominate and vote for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards.

Enerliance’s LOBOS Leads the Way — Ray Pustinger at IBCON 2013. Enerliance was founded by two building controls experts, Scot Duncan, P.E. and Bob Johnson. Before founding Enerliance, Scot and Bob spent 30 years working together manually optimizing the performance of some of California’s premier real estate facilities.

Doesn’t the Honeywell Delphi Boiler Control System Make Absolute Sense to You? The Delphi Combustion Efficiency Panel integrates flame safeguard control, fuel-air ratio control, O2 Trim, variable frequency drive (VFD) control, and proportional integral derivative (PID) control into a single, integrated, pre-wired panel with a PC touchscreen for easy, user-friendly commissioning.

CAN2GO Demo Suitcase — The Most Powerful Sales Tool in the Industry! Can2Go has packaged a full Building Energy Management System (BEMS) to demonstrate the power of CAN2GO’s technology and its interaction with a varied ecosystem of wireless devices. Contact your Schneider Electric or Viconics representative to order your CAN2GO Demo Suitcase today!

Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 30: 1. Building a Digital Culture: Patrick Hoffstetter, the Chief Digital Officer of Renault, describes the challenges that many companies face in creating a culture with digital at its core.

Tridium News — 2014 Niagara Summit — Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas — April 27-29, 2014: Tridium’s Niagara Summit is three days of world class education from industry leading experts.

Honeywell WEBs Squad Update: At the beginning of the year we launched WEBs Squad – a team focused on improving our customer’s overall experience and driving continuous improvements with technical support, engineering, and marketing.

ControlTalk NOW will continue to provide a weekly episode featuring the people, products, and the News of the Week shaping our world of controls, building automation, and the HVAC industry.

Click here to listen to or download the Podcast version of ControlTalk Now.

Want to subscribe and listen to ControlTalk now as a Podcast?

The post ControlTalk Now For The Week Ending July 28, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.