ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s Industry Leaders and 2013 ControlTrends Awards Sponsors: Belimo, Connect-Air, and Contemporary Controls. The 2013 ControlTrends Awards voting ballots have been emailed to all registered voters. If you still need to register, click here!

Hanging Out With Easy IO’s Mike Marston in Korea: Stromquist & Company’s Rob Allen was joined by Easy IO’s Mike Marston to discuss the Easy IO training class coming to Stromquist’s Atlanta location January 13, 2014. Want to come to Atlanta and hang out with Mike and Rob and learn about how to use the amazing Easy IO controllers.

ControlTalk Now welcomes its first guest Richard K. Warner, PE, CEM, DCEP, CxA, EBCP of OM|E out of Baltimore, MD. Rick’s company is one of the only premiere master system integrators in the country, taking integration to where the brave and the bold dare not go. An astute believer and practitioner of core competency, Rick shares his vantage point, experience, and visions of what is to come in the world of high-level integration.

Lynxspring’s 2013 ControlTrends Awards Best Building Application of the Year Nominee-Lynxspring’s LYNX CyberPRO the industry’s first cyber-threat protection solution designed specifically to enhance the cyber protection of commercial building automation and energy management systems.

Tridium’s Ed Merwin Stops By For A Chat. “Here’s my Problem, How can Technology Fix it?” This is a one-of-a-kind industry insight with Ed Merwin, Director, VYKON Automation Energy Security, and nominee for the 2013 ControlTrends Person of the Year. Ed Merwin is one of the most respected voices in the Building Automation Industry and Ed explains the enormous success of the Niagara Framework. Tridium is a software company that provides building automation services. Often starting at “Here’s my problem, how can technology fix it?” Tridium has emerged as the industry’s great web-enabled integration solution that continues to create a growing ecosystem around the Niagara Framework.

Google Puts “More” Skin in the Thermostat Game! Houston, We Have…”> EnergySense: Google Puts “More” Skin in the Thermostat Game! Houston, We Have… Google reportedly testing smart thermostats in ‘EnergySense’ program. By Alexis Santos, 1 day ago on engadget. Google called it quits on a smart thermostat two years ago, but it looks like the company couldn’t resist circling back to the idea. According to two of The Information’s sources and a document reviewed by the outlet, Mountain View has been conducting a trial of Internet-connected thermostats to help users keep tabs on their energy use and adjust accordingly.

Thermokon: Energy Harvesting meets Display — No Batteries, No Wires! The SR06LCD is the highlight of Thermokon’s new and innovative series. With its maximum power energy management the unit operates without external supply voltage. The custom solar cell self-sufficiently powers the device and the energy is harvested by artificial or natural light sources in a room. A continual indication temperature and humidity, set point, fan stages, presence and window status without user wake up is displayed and the ability to control room comfort levels with set point and fan stages buttons.

Honeywell MVN Actuator Update: Short Order Codes Now Available. In October, Honeywell released the MVN Rotary Valve Actuator that is used with the VBN and VRN valve product families. This innovative actuator provides easy assembly and dramatically cuts installation time. The new compact design and flexible wiring configurations give installers the ability to meet strict requirements for any project.

Happy Holidays. CONTROL TRENDS NEWS FLASH: Control Trends is releasing to you, ALL our valued readers…A HAPPY HOLIDAY MESSAGE… The Message is SIMPLE: ” We want to express our deepest Holiday Wishes to you and your Families.” We hope that EVERYONE will receive this message…

ControlTrends welcomes its second guest, Greg Barnes from ActiveLogix. Greg Barnes is pure pedigree Niagara integration and Activelogix, LLC is one of the most prolific providers of Internet-based enterprise automation solutions in the US. Featuring Periscope, one of the most flexible and versatile enterprise integration tools available, ActiveLogix provides design services, consulting, custom applications and technologies to enable management and optimization of sustainable, energy-efficient, and secure facilities in a multi-vendor, cross platform environment.

nHaystack Coming from one Direction, OSCRE, and the Real Estate Industry, are Coming from the Other! We are just getting to know and realize the enormous benefits nHaystack has to offer and the prodigious efforts being made by the nHaystack Community. Project Haystack is an open source initiative to develop tagging conventions and taxonomies for building equipment and operational data. Looks like there’s an equally serious initiative with a different perspective rising from within the Real Estate Industry to implement its own information standard to deal with the challenges of information exchange.

Critical Inventions and Discoveries: Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 51: 2. Georg Simon Ohm, (born March 16, 1789, Erlangen, Bavaria [Germany]—died July 6, 1854, Munich), German physicist who discovered the law, named after him, which states that the current flow through a conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference (voltage) and inversely proportional to the resistance.

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.

<ahref=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/hvaccontroltalk/67_Episode_67__ControlTalk_Now__HVAC_and_Building_Automation_Control_News_You_Can_Use.mp3″ target=”_blank”>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 Week Ending December 22, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.

ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s Industry Leaders and 2013 ControlTrends Awards Sponsors: Honeywell, J2 Innovations, and Contemporary Controls. The voting ballots will be emailed to all registered voters this week. Register to vote.

Breaking Down 2013 ControlTrends Awards Thermostat of The Year — The Magnificent Stats Seven:
EnTouch: More than just a thermostat, EnTouch’s James Walton, shows you all the great things the Entouch Thermostat and EMS control system can do.
Ecobee: Stuart Lomard and his team at Ecobee continue to impress with the Ecobee line of thermostats. The style and functionally of the Ecobee thermostat is not lost on the world wide ControlTrends community.
Nest: What goes a round comes a round. The innovative folks at Nest are nominated for the 2013 ControlTrends Thermostat of The Year for the second year in a row.
Honeywell Prestige: The Honeywell Prestige redefines how a thermostat can look and function and is the easiest-to-use programmable thermostat available. This RedLINK enabled line includes a: 7 Day Programming wizard, Multi-Language Options & USB setup, Customizable Service Reminders.
Viconics VT8000: 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.
KMC FlexStat: Small Building Automation with the KMC Controls FlexStat! From a single space to multiple zones in a building, KMC has many possible building automation solutions. Control temperature, humidity, even CO2 levels, and link that control to schedules and motion-based room occupancy for maximum energy efficiency.
Mamac MaverickStat IP-MT-201: The IP MaverickStat® Appliance has an embedded lean TCP-IP stack including HTTP, SMTP, DHCP, DNS, FTP, and ARP. The Maverick also has XML embedded with formatted input and output data. In this way, the Maverick can communicate directly with any IT system which has an XML parser. Similarly, any simple JavaScript can be used to communicate and acquire HTML data. These unique features enable the Maverick to function as an extremely low cost XML and HTML node for large enterprise IT systems.

ControlTalk NOW welcomes it first guest, DG Logik’s Arthur Lebendisky, a nominee for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards category Most Valuable Support Person of the Year. Arthur shares with the ControlTrends community just how important DG Logik, nominated for 6 ControlTrends Awards, considers technical support and Arthur gives his personal commitment to each and every DG Logik customer.

NOVO FIN Online Training: A detailed training session of the basic features of Fin Builder. We’ll start with the setup process of Fin Builder and work our way through the best practices to help you manage your project in Fin. NOVO INTEGRATIONS

ControlTalk NOW welcomes its second guest, Jason Briggs of J2 Innovations. J2 is nominated for several 2013 ControlTrends Awards: Best HVAC Controls Executive of the Year, Best Building Application of the Year, and Building Graphic Tool of the Year. Jason explains the success and growing demand for J2’s FIN Builder.

Realcomm Webinar: Best Practices – Best of the Best for 2013 Intelligent Building Technologies. Marc Petock, Vice President, Marketing, Lynxspring, Inc. Top Contributor. This best practice technology showcase will focus on the newest products, services and concepts involving the highest profile smart building applications. This webinar will provide a great deal of information about Intelligent Building Technologies in a short period of time.

Siemens Becomes Sponsor Member of OpenADR Alliance and Joins Board of Directors. Global powerhouse views OpenADR as key piece for demand response strategy. MORGAN HILL, Calif., Dec. 10, 2013: The OpenADR Alliance today announced that Siemens, a global leader in electrical engineering and electronics, has become a Sponsor Member of the OpenADR Alliance.

IT Business Edge’s: The 10 Worst Data Breaches of 2013: IT Business Edge is the leading source of IT news and information. Here’s some very interesting and scary stuff about data breaches. One of the more surprising breaches named by experts in our roundup was former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks.

Honeywell announced the expansion of its Spyder controller portfolio with the launch of Spyder with Relays, Sylk I/O and Zio® Lite sylk-enabled wall modules, all of which provide added flexibility and significantly reduce installation time for contractors. “Enhancements to our Spyder controller line were designed with our contractors in mind,” said Tom Rosback, general manager-Commercial Control Systems at Honeywell.”

ControlTalk NOW welcomes its third guest, Ed Merwin, Director, VYKON Automation Energy Security, and nominee for the 2013 ControlTrends Person of the Year. Ed is a consummate professional and one of the most recognized names in the Building Automation and Integration industry. Vykon is nominated for 6 ControlTrends Awards.

Niagara Summit 2014 Powered By Possibilities! Did We Mention it’s in Vegas?What can you expect from the Niagara Summit? Amazing keynotes from industry leaders and experts. Relevant and helpful brainstorming sessions. Valuable networking opportunities. Thoughtful discussions about next-generation solutions for automation infrastructure technology. Did we mention it’s in Vegas? REGISTER NOW!

5 More HVAC Giants: Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 50: 1. The History of the Solenoid Valve: ASCO, in 1888 started out manufacturing elevator, compressor and generator controls. In 1910 ASCO became the first company to develop and manufacture a new electrically operated control device known as the solenoid valve. ASCO continued its development activity in these product areas and today manufactures products that are designed to control the flow of air, gas, water, oil and steam – practically every kind of liquid or gaseous substance.

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.

<ahref=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/hvaccontroltalk/66_Episode_66__ControlTalk_Now__HVAC_and_Building_Automation_Control_News_You_Can_Use.mp3″ target=”_blank”>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 Week Ending December 15, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.

ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s Platinum Sponsors: Vykon, EasyIO, DG Logik, and ControlCo DataEye Pro. These four industry superstars are nominated for a combined total of (22) 2013 ControlTrends Awards. The time draws near! Register to vote today.

ABB Poll: What is the Most Effective Energy Savings Action You’ve Taken in the Past 12 Months? ABB Reader Poll: What is the most effective energy savings action you’ve taken in the past 12 months? Reduced temperatures, Added VFDs, Added DCIM, Virtualization, or Other.

ControlTalk NOW welcomes EasyIO’s global executive Mike Marston and special guest, William Achury, President, Sanko Telecom Ltd, a leading solutions provider from Tokyo, Japan (Thank You very much!). Great insight into EasyIO passing muster in a very challenging and competitive market.

Seminar on How SGIP Supports Electric Utilities, Regulators, Manufacturers and Integrators: How SGIP Supports Electric Utilities, Regulators, Manufacturers and Integrators in 2014 to Ensure Electric Grid Reliability in 2014 to Ensure Electric Grid Reliability Seminar. Join SGIP Thursday, December 12, 2013 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST.

AQUISITION NEWS! WattStopper Buys AIC-Wireless — Lighting Solutions for the High Performance Buildings WattStopper’s Pete Horton delivered this exciting announcement on the November 24th ControlTalk NOW. The combination of AIC Wireless and Bryan Pike’s expertise of the Tridium Niagara architecture with WattStopper’s extensive application understanding of the lighting and electrical infrastructures offers the high performance building industry new and exciting opportunities.

Controls Group North America (CGNA), Together We Accomplish More. The ControlTrends Awards Committee thanks CGNA’s Mike Sackett and Jim Hayman for their sponsorship of the 2013 ControlTrends Awards. Controls Group North America (CGNA) is the leading network of Distributor Members and Manufacturer Preferred Vendors in HVAC/R industry. CGNA provides innovative solutions and takes a progressive approach to evolving your business. Through committees, conferences, webinars, and networking opportunities, CGNA impacts our Members’ and Preferred Vendors’ bottom line by increasing their market share.

ControlTalk NOW’s second guest, Brian Turner, President of ControlCo, an Oakland-based control solution provider and one of USA’s largest integration distributors, reviews DataEye Pro, which is a candidate for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards Best Building Application of the Year Award. After watching this interview, it’s easy to understand why DataEye Pro was nominated.

Five More HVAC Giants: Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 48: 1. Watts Water Technologies: In 1857, at the age of 17, Joseph E. Watts emigrated to Lawrence, Mass., from Cheshire, England seeking his fortune as a machinist. Just 17 years later Watts set up an independent machine shop, known as the Watts Regulator Company, to supply machinery parts and fittings to the local textile mills. In addition to his success at running his own business, Joseph Watts was extremely inventive—and he soon achieved widespread fame in the manufacturing world as the patentee and maker of steam and water pressure regulators.

The Value of the Collaborative Community, by Marc Petock, Vice President, Marketing, Lynxspring, Inc. Original article published in Automated Buildings’ December, 2013 edition, entitled, “Collaborating Convergence.” Collaboration simply means “to work together with a shared vision and desired outcome for the future.” Today, many innovations are being fueled by collaborative, connected community efforts. We see it most clearly in the Internet and web, where new capabilities are continuously developed by communities that build on the work of others, creating “mashups”, and new complimentary applications.

Nest Encounters of the Second Kind — Nest Protect: Something Different, Something Better! I wonder if its the golden-green Palo Alto sun? But, without a doubt, Tony, and the outside-the-box-thinkers at Nest have struck synergy-oil again. And, with every single modern residence in the world as a possible customer, any electrical appliance, gas, or water consuming device is the next likely egg in the nest (get it). Immediate future plans: Early 2014, will introduce Nest Protect model that works with wired security systems. If you add enough “nestrogen” to anything, you can make it more lovable, networkable, energy efficient, and practical. If we’re going to keep taking bites out of our own poison privacy apple, we might as well make them as economically and aesthetically delicious as possible.

Lynxspring JENEsys — Nominee for ControlTrends Awards 2013 Building Automation System of the Year: Lynxspring’s JENEsys® is an open, operational and informational platform that combines building automation (connectivity, integration and interoperability), supervision and control, energy management and actionable information (data & analytics) into a single system within a cyber-secured environment. The JENEsys Platform is scalable and deployment allows organizations to continually build off the same network deployment for adding additional applications as desired.

J2 FINBuilder Cool Feature of the Month — nHaystack Tagging Basics: J2 Innovation reviews nHaystack Tagging Basics: nHaystack is a software module that enables external applications to get data out of Niagara stations quickly and efficiently. Once a system is tagged many new and exciting things become possible. By setting up a Site, Equipment, and tags on your points, you can combine data from multiple networks, and view them in one organized list within the haystack service. Now queries can easily be run against any tags on a nHaystack station to dynamically simplify the implementation of visualization, analytics, reporting and mobile apps. Download the nHaystack Service module and get started!

Demand Response Analysis Tools Available — The OpenADR Alliance is partnering with Joule Assets to provide the OpenADR community with free access to their DR market analysis tools for the next 30 days. After 30 days, only members of the OpenADR Alliance will have access to the free tools.

Functional Devices Inc. Switching Smart Transceivers in LonMark RIBs from FT3120 to FT5000 12/1/2013: Message to Valued Customers. Functional Devices Inc. will be switching the Smart Transceiver in the LonMark RIB Devices below from FT3120 to FT5000 starting December 1, 2013. Devices that contain an override switch will now give the customer the ability to switch the output from N/O to N/C with an on-board jumper. The layout and connections have changed slightly, and FDI will included a new DI status LED (pink). The main advantage to customers will be the elimination of commissioning fees.

Yaskawa Nominated for the 2013 ControlTrends Variable Frequency Drive of The Year: For the second year in a row, the Yaskawa Z1000 has been nominated for the ControlTrends Variable Frequency Drive of The Year. Yaskawa provided the Control Trends Community this video on their Z1000 Series. The Drives & Motion Division of Yaskawa America, Inc. announces the release of the Z1000 variable speed drive designed specifically for commercial HVAC applications.

We introduce you to momit Smart Thermostat, a Spanish manufacturer, Thanks to Chantal Marin-Bourceraau, Product Manager and Business Development at Introducing the momit Smart Thermostat — (Europe’s Version of the Nest) Green momit, ControlTrends has learned of yet another innovative and smart thermostat sweeping across European markets, with a possible eye on the North American market as well.

ControlTalk NOW welcomes its fourth guest, Michael Welch, Co-founder, Control Network Solutions Ltd. from Chineham, Hampshire, United Kingdom. Michael shares with us, another global perspective of ControlTrends and our industry.

Connecting More IoT-dots: Apple’s iBeacon Debuts This Christmas Season, Previews Connections Yet to Come: ControlTrends thanks Building Context’s Therese Sullivan, therese@runwaypartners.com, once again for her timely and relevant insight (and image) into the cataclysmic change that is moving into place around us as IoT-dots (Internet of Things) so fast that we can barely see or perceive them, let alone comprehend the impact (disruption) these IoT-dots will be making in our lives, homes, and quite possibly to our industry, once connected. Be sure to access the linked content, and especially, read the comments at the end of the post.

Can The Honeywell VFD Repeat as ControlTrends Best Variable Frequency Drive of The Year? Honeywell, winner of the coveted 2012 ControlTrends Awards Variable Frequency Drive of the Year, is nominated again in the Best Variable Frequency Drive of The Year category. Watch this video to see why many in the world wide ControlTrends Community think the Honeywell Smart VFD has the right stuff.

Sad News from Lynxspring’s Terry Swope, Bruce Stimpson, CIO and Dear Friend Passes. It is with a heavy heart that I announce the unexpected passing of Bruce Stimpson. Bruce was co-founder of Lynxspring, Vice President, CIO and dear friend. Please join me in offering his family and friends our sincerest condolences during this sad time. We will miss his smile, jokes, hard work, direction and undeniable passion for Lynxspring.

KMC’S In Touch Newsletter​, Q4 2013: KMC Wins Big in Vegas! Each year, the industry organization, BACnet International, uses the platform of the National Facilities Management and Technology (NFM&T) Exposition in Las Vegas, Nevada to recognize outstanding contributions to the BACnet community. And each year, it seems, KMC walks away as a winner in the BACnet “Leaders of the Pack” awards. For the second time in 4 years, KMC (and a KMC rep) were recognized with top honors. “Best in Show” for the outstanding BACnet project of the year, went to The Bullitt Center of Seattle Washington. KMC representative, Roger Norman of Northwest Automation, was the controls contractor/system integrator for the project and KMC products highlight this landmark facility.

2013 ControlTrends VFD Award Nominee: Johnson Controls — A VFD for Every HVAC Application. Johnson Controls featured the significant additions and improvements they made to their VFD offering at the 2013 ABCS Building Championship Teams Conference. Take a look! Johnson Controls is anxious to save you and your customer energy and money on your next VFD purchase. The Johnson Controls VSD series of variable speed drives offers a broad range of competitively priced open drives and drives with bypass, specifically engineered for Heating, Ventilating and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) applications.

5 More HVAC Giants: Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 49 1. More than 100 years ago, Edwin Ruud, a Norwegian mechanical engineer, came to America and developed the first successful automatic water heater. That early success marked the beginning of a tradition of innovation and value that led to the introduction of RUUD heating and air conditioning equipment in the 1950s.

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.

<ahref=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/hvaccontroltalk/65_Episode_65__ControlTalk_Now__HVAC_and_Building_Automation_Control_News_You_Can_Use.mp3″ target=”_blank”>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 Week Ending December 8, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.