This week's ControlTalk NOW features Ken Sinclair, who takes us on a deep dive through the murky waters of Cybersecurity.  The April edition of Automated Buildings is a must read -- as leading industry experts weigh in with critical insights and comprehensive advice on how to eliminate as many of your vulnerabilities as possible. There is a great framework from NIST.

Click Here to Subscribe to our YOU TUBE Channel 

• 
  Cochrane Supply's Controls-Con, May 2-4, 2019 Detroit's MotorCity Casino ControlTrends 10% Discount Code Available
  
• 
  2019 Haystack Connect, May 13-15, 2019, San Diego, CA
  
• EasyIO World Conference, May 19-21, 2019, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Our AI transcriber is not smarter than a six year old, so I apologize in advance for any typos and miss spelled words.

The following is a presentation and the ControlTrends, Podcasting Network,you're listening to ControlTalk Now. The HVAC and Smart Building Controls , podcast., with the man the myth, the legend Ken Smyres and Eric Stromquist. ControlTalk Now about weekly podcast with HVAC,building automation and Smart Building Control News you can use. Now here's Eric

Eric Stromquist: Alrighty. All right man. So cool. What Kenny man, big week. I know you stay busy. I stay busy, man. Roscoe went on in the business world. I think anybody in our industry knows to just kind of like a business has just fallen out of the sky man. It's like how many buckets can you pick up? You know, everybody's scrambling to get the job done and keep up with it. It's keeping us busy. It's a good thing, you know, probably not last forever, but hey, while it's happening, let's enjoy it. Right. I think

Ken Smyers: totally right. I think we've come to a, an intersection where the, the, some of the hard work, the pioneer work, the, the, the planting of the seeds so to speak. And then the technology is finally coming into, uh, you know, the, the various modular levels that are affordable. They're understandable. And they're, you know, the ease of installation. And so I think it's a good time, uh, economically too. There's money is available. I know when you talked primarily about HVAC and building automation, you go into certain markets like the mush market, Hospitals, universities, schools, hospitals, and commercial real estate, you know, and the GSA. But uh, you know, the truth of the matter is, is that we've done a lot of due diligence on this and we've proven without question that if you take steps, you know, you fix your worst problem first with the technology. And we've had some amazing products come to being easy. Io came up with the, uh, the FG 32, I think that was one of the mainstays. Then you had to Honeywell, LCB has connect. Then you had the Johnson controls Verasus uh, you know, and you got links spring coming out with the five 34. You have the edge tend to device series coming out from Tridion on. And so all the major manufacturers and vendors out there to provide solutions have taken some of the major product platform and scaled it down so that it can meet the markets that need it the worst. And that's those 50,000 square feet and below. And so, uh, as you know, we keep track of doe and they tell us that there's a, there's about 75% the 80% of the buildings after this still need some love and care and some building automation.

Eric Stromquist: So I think what's going to happen with that, and again, at ControlTalk Now, we try to give you control news you can use. So I think if you're planning your strategy now, it's like when the business is falling out of the sky, your strategy nowadays, he'd be just, how can we, how can we capture that business and take it and make money on it? But you will remember this conversation where the man, the myth, the legend told you that 70% of those smaller buildings don't have anything in someone. The economy dries up. You can put together a strategy and go after that. And of course we've got so many great products, companies are coming out with products to address that segment of the market or anything for viruses. Kenny talked about the Honeywell LCBS, well you look at EASY IO, it's great for that race to the small space. and LYNXSpring has a great offering.

Ken Smyers: Optergey and LoyTech. I mean we're just, we're seeing the, that we're seeing a lot more. I decided I was going to do, hey Eric, one more time. Could you do that thing you did there about the, you were catching things falling from the sky because you reminded me of somebody. You mind me a Julio Jones. There you go.

Eric Stromquist: Oops. Drop it. Manna from heaven baby. Yeah, Manna from for sure. Well listen man, we got a great show this week. Let's go ahead and get our first guest on and then we'll, we'll take care of some business after we getting a motto. How about introducing him? Kenny sounds great. Is the first of the month and you know what that means.

Ken Smyers: I sure do. It it that Ken Sinclair from automated buildings have come up with another fabulous addition. Uh, we're going to be bringing Ken Sinclair, owner, editor of automated buildings.com, On to the show. Welcome to the show Ken and tell us about your April edition. Welcome, Ken.

Ken Sinclair: Thank you very much. Really pleased to be on a controlled trends. Uh, yeah, our, uh, our April fool's issue is going to come online April 1st, but we all got fooled. And the fact that, uh, I wrote an article for connected contractor that basically linked to the bulk of the articles and uh, it was supposed to go out on Thursday and surprise. It came out on Wednesday. So I'd left us scrambling to, to make sure that all the links were, uh, as, as need as they could be. So we had a release then and a, we're in a situation that we can kind of release that side of it. And I gave you a little piece of artwork and a, an actual article that you can link to that it'll take you to most of the cyber securities. So where this all came from, his Anto, uh, came to me and he had done quite a successful, uh, cybersecurity a session at Ahr Atlanta. Uh, he asked me what he should do and I said, it's way too late. Don't even try and do it. But he ignored me and, uh, and uh, cobbled it together. Uh, it ended up being at seven o'clock in the morning, uh, which actually turned out to be a blessing because everybody who came to the cybersecurity session actually made it. Anybody who waited to come on the bus was stuck on the freeways and mix ms most of our other sessions. So it worked out really well. Anyway, from that, uh, that was sort of the first gathering of a lot of cybersecurity folks and he suggested that we do an issue and we chose April as a month to do that issue. And, uh, I'm, I'm extremely pleased. Uh, uh, it, it makes you realize the giants that we actually work with in the industry. And, uh, if you just flip through their articles, I got to admit, I just learned a whole bunch about the cyber security. I've always been kind of concerned about it, that cybersecurity has the potential of a mobilizing us and uh, I, I feel better about that now. They all seem amazingly enough, although there's five, six, seven articles, uh, all coming at it from different directions, they actually mostly all embraced nurses. Uh, a framework which is great. So we have some commonality. Uh, I just a whole lot of stuff and it's, I think it's going to be a great resource for our industry and uh, I think also it's going to be useful for other industries and it will, uh, it kind of gets our message out, uh, to, to cybersecurity is as general, it maybe identifies us more as it thinking people and helps with that transition. We all have to make really nice job on in Canada. I think this is that this is the edition that you want to print out and save because I think this is going to be something you can use for sometime to come. But anyway, Kenny, I'm sorry for interrupting there.

Ken Sinclair: No, that was great. Wedge in on that is the, uh, mark made that comment. He said, this is looking good. We should make this into any magazine and a really the issue, the way we index everything and automated buildings is we never throw anything away. We have our very first issue is still online from 20 years ago, so this issue is Sabre. We'll say cyber security issue will be online for now for for as long as I I chug on. I'm going to talk a little bit about that later in the show. Well, hang on real quick and I guess it one more thing is we've got an April fools coming up. Can I got an April fool's joke? You should play on the community, so on April 1st you should publish that, that republish, that one from 20 years ago just for the, and just see how many people pick up on it. Then you can put that other one back home. Believe it or not, most of the, most of the words are bang on. We haven't really achieved much. We've been talking about a lot of this stuff for a long time. It's pretty, it's actually pretty bad actually. Some of it is. I've actually been doing that in a lot of my writings. I've been taking something from 2015 years ago and it reads great. Well, you know, can I think that shows that you're a precocious back 20 years ago, I think you were when it was first minds in the business, they're really truly took uh, you know, began to document and archive what is likely to come and why and why it's necessary, why you gave us good foundation and you know, you say you gave us where we're at now, where we're going, where we're going to be. But um, you know, the, the way you started off the April edition was you said that, um, I've avoided discussion and the past cybersecurity understanding, highlighting to potential security and privacy concerns can paralyze us for 20 years. We have operated in the wild west manner. And I think that that's, that's exactly right. And I think within this last two years, maybe a year for sure, the compression of seriousness that regard now the adoption, everybody knows their response. Where is a co Co effort, you know, we need to cooperate and collaborate to get things done quickly with cybersecurity. But I mean, just kind of in your mind when you think back, like, uh, was back that for instance, we really didn't have that threat. So I mean, it could have been the wild west and it could be, you know, just, you know, we were naive, but again, the world was different then and I think some of our protocols and stuff. So what's your thoughts on, you know, did you ever have an idea that somebody would penetrate your back net network 20 years ago? Yeah, I think you'll, we were safer back in those days, in the 20 years ago because I think the problem came is when we, uh, started to depend heavily on the Internet and we started to develop a web controllers and all of our devices started to have IP addresses. So what happened is we kind of walked across the floor and we became it people, but not really, uh, identifying ourself in educating herself as it people. When you talk to somebody like Scott Cochrane, he understands that real clear and he's all of his new folks. He's hiring are coming from an it orientation. And I think that's kind of where we're at. I think that's how we kind of created a mess by just, we took the quickest way and I think it was necessary because we needed to prove to our industry that this, it was serious stuff.

Ken Smyers: Even doing it badly. Uh, it was amazing what we could do. So now I think we used to have to back up a little bit and clean it up, but my comment was is we have really achieved a lot and we, there's holes systems. Uh, you were talking earlier and in a boat, uh, easy ios session in Amsterdam and easy. I do. I always, one of the companies that was quick to basically move into an Iot, uh, environment and actually almost leave our, uh, you know, so I would call it, flag them as one of the leaders in this. But now we have to kind of go back and take a look of what iot rules are doing. How are we going to make all of this stuff safe in that I have a tremendous concern that if we make too many fences, we're going to be the people behind the fences. That's gets too complicated. And uh, so we have to kind of keep that Claire Claire and I was just extremely pleased with all these talented, uh, cyber security experts that wrote for us. Uh, it, it kind of reads like the WHO's who of a cyber security for our industry and uh, that they all are focused on the Nis, uh, model of cybersecurity and uh, and basically identifying the, the five components of that. And so that's, that's just a great feeling a whole lot better. Uh, my concern, my concern got answered in the, uh, in the, uh, article and actually then at the end of it I just added some stuff just a few minutes ago. It's the trouble with my articles. You think you're finished reading them and then they add another paragraph and added the a a paragraph about the charter trust that Siemens is working for with, and they're there, the Europeans are, are, are sort of way ahead of us, although I'm very concerned that they, they could fence themselves in as they, as you start to, as you start to protect our human rights and protect, uh, our products. Every time you put protection around something, it makes it less flexible and less usable. So they're two opposing forces that we have to kind of deal with. Give me an example of being fenced and cause you use that term, but can you give me a for example, um, for example at which, oh, I see. Um, well just at the same, the thing is so secure. Like the simplest thing is that you have to sign on to everything. And if, uh, if I had to sign on to comfy every time I wanted to use it, that would make it useless. And if I had to, if I had to, every time I went into a building, if I have to give permission so they can use my Bluetooth beacon, mobilizes us idea of the technology, gets it, gets stopped with the so much friction that it would be, you wouldn't want to use it anymore. That's right. And I think there's that potential exists. So I think we have to always be, you know, I am, but what is the reality of it? I have no problem with sort of limiting the amount of information that can be taken off of, uh, an iPhone or Dapa off a mobile phone. But to the proper, the proper manner would be is that it would stop you at the door and say that, you know, it's the whole thing with every website now that's warning you that it's using cookies and you can't, you can't move on the website unless you click on it that you accepted to use cookies. So it's like, do I really need that message? Change your password every time you log on and you can't keep up with your passwords. I'm flock out of so many of my sites for that very reason that I can't remember the password because it made me change it. And then I do three times and then it goes through this massive reset and then you gotta come up with another password and then I just go, okay, I'm not going to be on Facebook anymore. Yeah. Well actually I am running that same thing. Yeah. The thing I've done, I just given up remembering my passwords and I actually, every time I sign on I have it send me a new password. Wow. It's just simpler. And actually for some of it, maybe they've achieved their goal cause maybe that's the most useful. Uh, you know, did you change your password? I had to get it on cause I couldn't remember what it was. Well, you know, they're going to fix it that one day.

Ken Smyers: I think, uh, you know it. Then you have that big trust. You've got different people like Google and Microsoft and they'll remember all your passwords for you and then they get to hear that and they get caught. You go to and Ken, I, I thought he came up with another one. I wanted to, I want to make this a, this might be the same when we write something about it. You said that we all take, we all have taken the path of least it resistance. I think that's exactly right. I mean, we all did just what you had to do. I remember the early days we just added for, we asked for two ports. You get me on the network and you worry about it and if I create a problem for you, I didn't mean it. Whatever. So, um, yeah, I mean you said too that the WHO's who of of cybersecurity from our building automation and HVAC industry. You're absolutely right. I go through this, the names here and I missed Fred Gore you the first time because I thought initially and he's, he's like right up at the top that, do you have a Anto? You got James Lee, you have Fred Gordy, you have Marc Petock, Ping , and you have Teresa Sullivan. You have just, just how many Kevin Smith's different CTO from treatment. How did you get all these people involved so quickly that you could put this together in a monthly addition? I mean, it's, this is a lot of network.

Ken Sinclair: Well, I got to, uh, Anto helped a lot, but as I mentioned that a lot of it, a springboard off of the, uh, cybersecurity session in Atlanta. And actually that whole session is on the new deal site, actually is as much information as there is on the surface. There's, there's two documents. There's, uh, a report I wrote to try and put pictures and English subtitles to all of their complex articles and then linked to their articles, sort of give you some, uh, so you can get up merge and get up to ramp speed trying to get your mind around all of this. And then secondly, uh, Anto and I did a discussion, just a, it's like an interview, but we did it in the form of an article and we basically talk and link to each one of their things and sort of talk about the evolution. Uh, and of course this'll, this'll also get fed back on the new deal, uh, website that, uh, uh, okay. Anto maintains as well. Uh, symmetrics has been a real supporter of this. Uh, and Oh, the other one you missed. Uh, the other fame to more famous people are, uh, James Butler basically talks about the new, a BACnet, BACnet secure, I believe it's called, and an Ping of Optigo Hook, Ping Yell. And then I miss Deb Noller and, um, Jim Butler, Simon. But I just definitely, but it's an incredible lineup. You're quite right. I, I too was impressed and a, I think what happened is that is once, once they found out that somebody was writing, uh, was easy, when I reached out to them and told them this was our cyber security issue and we have some pretty good traction, then I think they, uh, they wanted to be part of it. They wanted it to be identified as a part of the solution. But the amount of information there is just phenomenal cause you, you click on any one of those, uh, industry experts, you get down to their site and then they give you their links and then their links give you more links. So from, from this, uh, I'm really proud that from this one page or this interview, you can, you can probably even go down the rabbit hole. Yeah, you could read for two weeks. But the good news is, is when you start reading it, there starts to be some common themes and some common cautions. And, uh, it's not like everybody's saying, uh, you know, do it my way. And that's, that's what the holistic cybersecurity is, is that we've got to do this as a group. We've got to do this as a, uh, a community of practice. And of course, that was our last thrust and it fits really well into this. And in fact, at the end of our, of the article, we actually identify a whole bunch of communities of practice that are, uh, that are, are, uh, are accurate, are evolving for cyber security. Right? Right, right. No, I like that. Conceptr, but that was it. Was that a Therse Sullivan a concept? Yeah, actually that Atlanta was pretty significant for us. We're saying, we're still talking about it. Uh, um, we did the, uh, it was called the evolution of a automation from ether net to emotion, our session. And we basically went back and we talked about, you know, the overview that we had prepared. And actually this is going to be part of my keynote at control con is that, so I've been 50 years in the industry, uh, 20 years of that is automated building. And, uh, so what, what does the old guys see? Well, what the old guys sees is that we went through a whole lot of technologies on our way from pneumatics to AI, but, uh, the only constant is the people. I mean, there's pets. He's there in the beginning and he's still there in the end. Leaves there in the beginning, uh, the beginning of backnet them and James Lee in San Francisco and the first backnet integration with train that gotta be 30 years ago or something like that.

Ken Smyers: Uh, all of this stuff is, has radically changed, but these people are still there and the people and their communities of practice are, well, it's kind of keeps us moving forward. So I'm kind of intrigued by that. And of course, uh, the, the events that are coming up, we're all kind of part of and they become our community of practice events. And uh, certainly that's a ControlsCon is certainly one of those events. The next one that I actually used as an example in that article is aHaystack Connect because HaystackConnect grew. You guys were there in the beginning, you saw how it grew and you saw where it's grown to today. And it is certainly a community of practice when you actually attach yourself to these communities of practice. There's so much information and so much resource because there's very talented people and we're all working on a common theme. And the other thing that comes is communities of practice beget communities of practice because once you start working with this, we've got an absolutely new field. Um, maybe like a camera AI or something like that that we're moving into. We don't really know anything about it. The fastest way we can get from zero to, uh, highway speed is how along the ramp is basically catch on to a community of practice and join them and basically look for a while, find out what the heck they're talking about. And then eventually we'll get up to merge speed and we can actually drive along highway with them. Yeah, it makes so much sense. Can I'll begin by just going to go it alone. And this sort of gets back to a concept that a, either you or Kenny coined about the Co- competition,

Speaker 5: whatever it is, co option. All good, Eric. I'm just don't know which analogy which one they'll get doing the random, in other words, we've always said that it's for our community and for, for the building automation world. HVAC I'm ever you, Eric and I were down with Marc Petock.. We said, where do we go? What's, what's our, what's our course of action? And Fred Gordy came out of, uh, you know, he was the champion and he was working with Billy Rios remember. Uh, yeah. And then next thing, you know, uh, it just started rolling. This big wheel started taking roll. And now looking at this litany, this, this faculty, you know, again, Deb Noller, Jim Butler, uh, ping a poke, Ping Yow, uh, Mark Petock, Kevin T. Smith, Fred Gordy, Anto, but Yardo Vr, Joel and James Lee. I mean, now we've got a faculty and then use that with nest. And we've got real great direction that we've gone from having little, uh, you know, kind of guidance. And what do we tell people? Remember that that checklist we hung up on the refrigerator with Fred Gordy. We put his, uh, 10 best things to start a cybersecurity if I get an internal champion, et Cetera, et cetera. But then, um, so it's really good to see that what you said with the ramp to the highway. In other words, we got people onto that. They can finally get a, onto a ramp and started learning, like you saying, and put, put things into context, you know, deciphered, filtered for themselves and their organizations or whomever their businesses. And then, uh, you know, keep at it to the point where you could get onto the ramp way in, merge onto the highway and be comfortable and be professionally competent in cybersecurity. I think it's a great analogy and I think he had a lot to do with Ken. actually Scott Cochrane and I had been fooling around with it as well. And uh, uh, my comment to him as I was appreciating what Scott was doing for me cause he was, he's, he's pushing me along the, uh, along the merge ramp and uh, he wants me to get up to speed before I hit this uh, conference because, so I don't become roadkill. But they, then they, then they were very polite. They re they redefined me as the road warrior.

Eric Stromquist: I like it. What, do you guys ever hear of a book called think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill? Yes. Okay. So you know what it reminds me of Ken, and I'm rereading the book is as you know, cause he interviewed Andrew Carnegie and all these people, the successful traits of people that are successful in the top in their field. And one commonality they had as they all had a mastermind group of likeminded people that weren't what they would bounce ideas off of each other. And you know, part of Carnegie's thing was it no mind, no matter how good it is, can capture and understand fully. So, you know, it's almost like these centers of practice are also run me a lot of Carnegie's mastermind groups.

Ken Sinclair: Yup. Yeah, I think so. Very, very much so. Uh, I mean it's a way we organize their life. It's kind of funny that, uh, when, uh, teres definitely I would have to credit her to, to basically putting the words around the community of practice. And then she went digging back into the history of how that kind of came to a play and then she put it in one of her articles and then I've rewritten a whole bunch of other stuff on, on that. And you're quite right, it, those come right from the, uh, from motivation. And, uh, but it's just a quick way and it's certainly, I mean, if you want to learn about anything, if you want to learn about video equipment, I'm sure you belong to sub communities of practice for video equipment. I mean it's, and especially with the Internet, it's just so, uh, probably burnt and, uh, everywhere so we can actually get this information. The other thing we've identified a is in talking to my young guns, my young editors is we, you know, he floated out the question is how did you get so smart? And they all came from various backgrounds. Uh, but how they got smart was they basically educated themselves and they learned what they needed to learn. And that's really the model that our whole industry is evolving on is, uh, it's, it's just so broad that, uh, nobody can tell you what you need to know. You just have to pick a, a threat of it on real quick with that because you know, I think, you know, you, you and I both had this concept of, you know, take a millennial to lunch or whatever. And you know, I've got two mentors, one them moves in his seventies and one of them who's in his late twenties and you know, we've heard him manufacturing, I'm throwing this out primarily for our manufacturers who are trying to train to get traction with people with their products. But you know, we've heard just in time manufacturing, right where you just build it at the last second, but with this cat's about, and what the millennials are about, it's called just in time learning. In other words, if you give them a manual, they're not going to start at chapter one and go all the way through. They're going to hop in where they want to hop in and then they'll go around it however they do it. So, and I think in a way that's a lot better, uh, I think they can get up to speed a lot faster and they're willing to make mistakes along the way. But for guys like me and you and Kenny is like, no, you start on page one and well, you know what the Eric, your, your your point. It's so true. Uh, in other words, we're seeing this, uh, I took a look at some of the new education going on in, in public schools and grade schools, and then we're not a young students are not learning how to write cursive anymore and how it's been antiquated and how it's a, it's a barrier to learning enhancement learning. But if you talked about the community of practice, can, you know, you had, uh, you had, uh, an initiative back when you were doing your collaboratorium that was kind of, you were creating that, uh, that exact community of, of, uh, you know, practitioners that were the experts. And then, and then to your point, Eric, you're absolutely right. Just in time learning. In fact, remember Ken, you did the didactic you were talking to, you were the first person that I read the didactic.

Ken Smyers: I said, I just use words. I can't say. Yeah, yeah. You, so you said that what's going to happen is we need to put all this stuff into some sort of forum that's available and it has the archives from a to z and then that anybody that wants to learn really quickly can, can enter any part of that, that 20 year swing that you put onto your website and pull down meaning from it, and then just learn what they need to learn to get by the next thing. And Eric remember, we did a thing with a wearable technologies, how they said it's the only way they're going to keep, you know, to produce results in the medical fields and the gas and oil fields. And now we're gonna see it. You know, building automation is, you're going to have a home base and the rest is going to be camera and somebody at the site's going to be to say Turner wrench to the right. Three quarters turn. Good. Stop. Okay. What's, what's the pressure reading again? Show me, you know, so that that's the way the world's going to work because you just, you won't be, you won't have the luxury of time. So it's more efficient. Right? You won't have electric, can't get a semester's worth learning anymore, you know, so you can't read the preface and the epilogue. You gotta just get to page 38 were, tells you how, but with a point of dinner is made now knowledge a very democratic in its not for the, the fewest for anybody that wants to learn can learn, which is the really exciting thing about it. And so for our community out there thought cybersecurity was out of your purview,Ken Sinclair, begs to differ with you. Just go to his April edition and you can be a cybersecurity cop, Billy the Kid Rios.

Ken Sinclair: Good stuff. Okay. The other thing I think we have to look at is we have to look at a ControlTrends.com is definitely a community of practice and a, your company as well, Kenneth and automated buildings is a community of practice. Uh, and it's interesting that, that you go into these communities of practice and then inside of each community of practice is a unique one such as Haystack Connect is inside of that and inside the haystack is a sand star, uh, community. So all these little communities are the mosaic that, that build us. And if you want to get going fast, you have to just, you have to go to the community that you need, you need to interface with to do whatever it is you want. Once you get to that community because they're all online. The other thing you didn't mention about how the young folks learn is that we, uh, they can just send out a blog message and they just ask. They just say, I'm trying to do this. I've read, they always have the politeness that they've read through everything the community has talked about. And somebody said this to even pick up on a piece of that and said, I need more information about that. Then you'd be unbelievable. The whole community jumps in and helps them. They're very collaborative. I think we grew up in a time where we, we kind of, we had to do it on our own and we were very proud of that machiavellian

Eric Stromquist: my number, can I, how I'm going to take another step out of it was a competitive advantage to know something somebody else didn't know that Internet changed that. So the youngsters who are coming along, you know, you know, good blind horse, why hoard information, but back when, back in the day, I mean, if you knew how to calibrate something, somebody else didn't, that was your differentiator in business. But knowledge now is, uh, I just keep saying democratic. Can we get gimme the vogue vocabulary word for it, Kenny, that, uh, where it's a ubiquitous or, uh, that was, it's not for the democracy of, of, of what we're doing is basically, it's, it's,

Ken Sinclair: yeah, it looks I know what you're saying, Eric. I'll think of it in a second. But you don't see, knowledge is no longer elitist, right? Well, you know, you, you and I went to Scotland at one time and that's where it really hit me the hardest. I mean, uh, the, the way the cat gets out of the bag and the printing press and, and when they said that the one, the rich benefactor for Edinburgh said, I'm going to make everybody learn how to read. And he paid for it and he then suddenly children were learning how to read and write and it went, it went backwards on it. Instead of reading right in the Bible, they became political. They, they came politically unrested but to your point, a printing press changed everything because I had knowledge and, and so I think that was, that was step one. Step two was probably the Internet, right? I mean, wow. That's, I think that's the analogy I was trying to make is that the Internet was designed for certain things and all these processional items you work per session. We have no idea what's going to go. In fact, I was reading an article the other day about apple and some of the other people, uh, they're thinking they've gone to a, met with the president and they're talking about re organizing the United States, his approach to education because we're so we're falling so far behind the world because we're playing all these education process leads to a dead end. It doesn't lead to fermenting exciting people. And they want people to, you know, apple, uh, executives were explaining, if you let these kids play with technology and they take a tech technological path that they're not going to be interested in geography or history, they're going to be at their aptitude, say, let me play with his stuff and learn how to program. So the whole thing is to how do we get more programmers and how do we get that step, you know, the sciences, the technologies, you know, how do we get people involved in anymore like they did back in the 50s when we're having this space race. You know, all of a sudden we produced massive amounts of engineers, mathematicians, physic, uh, you know, uh, you know, PhDs in physics. And, and just, you know, because of the educational process drove in that direction and led to outcomes that we're producing. We're engineers. So we're seeing this come up, uh, you know, our whole Orthodox approach towards education is being, is being reevaluated.

Ken Smyers: What about in Canada? Again, Canada, Canada, is it, is educational system really geared up towards the sort of technological revolution? Like, you know, Ken suggestion, we're not necessarily doing the stakes.

Ken Sinclair: Yeah. Not where, what's going on in the states, but I'm actually reasonably close to like local school because we've got a granddaughter. It's a great, uh, six and uh, and yeah, they, they use the web a lot. Uh, basically, uh, what's going on is on the school, there's a class website and basically what's going on, who's doing well, what events are coming up. Uh, that's all that's all documented. But to Ken's remark, I wanted to, wanted to just say that when, when we started in this industry, you guys probably had a better idea than anybody cause your fathers were in the industry. So you followed your father's in. But for a guy like me, I mean I'm on the farm. Uh, and uh, it's pretty hard to imagine what I'm going to be when I grow up. And also information is very hard to come by and to try and discover your passion. Uh, it just sorta has to evolve. And you basically, the first job you took had a lot to do with where you ended up working. Uh, now we have the situation that you can spend hours, days, years, uh, surfing the web and you can find something that is incredibly intriguing to you. And then you say, I'd want to be one of those guys. And then you start learning that from the community of practice. So it's, it's kind of that, that thing has been completely reversed. If you think about when we came into the market, what are we going to do? Uh, now the kids can, they, they've all got a good idea what they want to do because they saw something on a youtube that looked pretty fun. Well said. Well said. So tell us some more by controls. Come for a minute because you're going to be a keynote speaker up there. Uh, would you be giving it away if you tell us what you're going to talk about or, or, and if our community have to remind what controls Khan is and why they should go, how by giving the, the sort of the Canadian elevator speech, if you will. Okay. Okay. At Scott, he involved me in this and I, I frankly, I got to go to admit that when he asked me, it was like, you sure you want me? Cause cause it's a, it's a systems integrators, uh, uh, meeting is, that is the gist of it. And every time I talked to the systems integrators, they're doing more than I'm writing about. I, I have this perception that I'm on the leading bleeding edge. And, uh, uh, every time I talked to someone like Jason Hoc, I'll, uh, uh, yeah, I find out a whole bunch of stuff they're actually doing that I haven't even thought of or haven't wrote about. So, uh, I was, I was wondering what I was doing there to get up to speed. So I think what I'm doing there is to just maybe a, explain the, uh, the perception of time, uh, and just the whole, you know, 50 years in the industry who actually seen an industry go from pneumatics to a AI and just seeing all of the people, uh, part of it, uh, I think the other message is, is that we're all struggling, uh, great. Now to extend our best by date because the technology's changing so fast. We become obsolete and moments. And my only the fence for that is to, uh, basically grow younger and I've found out how to do that and how to grow younger is basically to look at all of our problems and stuff through the minds of our young mentors and, uh, who have grown up as digital natives. So I think that's, that's sort of the gist of the message is too dry and do that. The other one that is, I'm, I'm coming around to is the fact that there are a tremendous amount of women in the wings in our industry who have basically been a personal assistance for powerful people. And they have an amazing amount of information in their minds. Uh, and some of them don't want to be mainstream, but that doesn't matter because they can be very useful remote.

Ken Smyers: So my reach out the episode is out, uh, this is a potential for our industry. Probably within your companies, you have exactly the same thing as somebody who's been quietly sitting over there in the corner and has been, you know, organizing all these products and stuff like that. They have a tremendous amount of information and they can actually be very quickly on leashed in a AI or a machine learning type of environment and they can be, uh, very quickly get us up to speed. So I think we're all looking for how can we get new people into the industry. So those younger mentors combined with our younger mentors. And uh, and the other comment I always make is anytime I talked to my younger mentors, there are comment back is they say, you should see what these kids are doing. They're looking at the next generation. And these are kids, I dunno, there, I call them digital natives. I don't know what, uh, these other ones are like a digital, maybe digital immigrants, let's call them that. Digital immigrants. They basically come from a world that they don't know. They don't know reality. They never, they've never experienced reality. They've only definitely I to tell you real quick, uh, yesterday I'm driving home from the office, you know, coming home and it's Friday and Fridays are my favorite day other than Saturday his, but anyhow, the phone rings. It's my daughter calling from San Diego, I think. So I hit the button, hello? Hello Lo. Nothing's there. I can hear noise in the background and I'm like, what the heck? You know, so I got a little concerned so I hang up my call her back. And by then she rang regain control of her phone. Her five month old daughter, my granddaughter apparently picked up her phone, not even really picked it up. She said she was like, she was, they hold the phone to her. We do so many of these, uh, you know, whatsapp videos. We get to see credible. And so the technology, I'm like you, I love every day that there's something new going on because I still can't, I pinched myself to think of how crazy, you know, this iPhone is and how to talk to Germany and I pay for it. And it sent a video where after you to take, or to shoot it live, it's just, we got to, you got to do more of it. And, and, but um, you know, five months old tap in the phone because she's been put it in front of her all the time to show, you know, grand the grandparents in Pittsburgh with what's going on. So they do a video. So she's so used to that phone being part of her environment that she's like in front of a phone and then they, we reversed it so she could see what we look like. You know, we keep saying the same thing to her that she could recognize our voices. So, to your point about the digital native, I mean, we have no idea that somebody, uh, as a, as an infant, you know, learning about technology and playing with technology and not reaching for things that they don't have to reach for. , people don't want to get out of their chairs anymore to run over to the thermostat and turn it up or down or turn the fan up to speed or whatever. Or to dim the lights or to close the blinds. I mean, why should they want to just hit their phone and say, you know, boom, up, down, cold or warm or whatever. I mean, and, and to have that mentality when you come into your workplace and to see where we're, you know, state of affairs. And one more thing can I loved you said about the best buy, best sold by and the shelf life. So where do we sit in the scheme of things? We're, we're like the canned goods up on top of it. Shelf, don't eat, don't drink this milk. Yeah, I got a kick out of that. Anyhow. Well. Yeah, I titled, I think I'm going to title my, uh, my keynote is the next 50 years. So as you can imagine, that might be a stretch for me. But anyway, back to the other comment about how the, the digital natives or the, uh, the digital immigrants, I think I liked that. I think we should call these the, the next, the next wave. We've got the digital natives that are pretty comfortable with all this technology, but the digital immigrants are these kids that are coming up now that have they lived, never lived in a real world. They've only lived in the virtual world anyway. When they, they looked at your problem of raising the blind. I mean, the first thing they say, well can't they just talked to my whatsapp and say, what's that blind 50%? And it knows by where I am that that happens. You know, like why wouldn't you just do that over all of this stuff? They don't, the newer group is not the digital Emeris Ted there digitally and titled Digital Trust Fund Babies. But your point, I mean, the more we learn about it in our, our realm, the other day I had to convert a bunch of Celsius to Fahrenheit and I did the old nine over five and I'm thinking, what am I doing? So I just said, Hey Siri, what's 50 degrees centigrade? The set points, you know, whatever, boom. I mean it just came right back to me, you know, told me the degree is 120 degrees or whatever it wasn't and I thought, or 170 whatever. And I'm thinking, why is my brain not letting me access and avail all this technology? Why am I so, you know, determined to do it the hard way. And I think it's just conditioning. So the two year younger mentorship and having somebody aboard, like you were saying, Eric, you know, it's just to remind you that you don't have to do it the old school way, that there's a option and the option might save you a lot of time about energy that you can get more done, more efficiently. So that's kind of cool. And then the kids taking a picture of everything, hey, you'll be writing down a number or something. They saw something you want to buy or something on a thing and, and they look at you and they go click, click. I wouldn't, why, why would you write that down? Right? Why would you do anything? And of course the other thing is, Oh I actually, I got a good story about that. We were uh, we were lost in the train station, then a Roman, our ride was trying to find us and that's what he said. You said just hold your phone up and take a picture of where you are and then I'll know where you are and Oh, you're on the other side of the term when all he said, as soon as we send them a picture. So basically he's on whatsapp and we took here's a picture and then he knew where he worked cause our English or Irish, Italian wasn't that good. But uh, a picture's worth a thousand words. You're on the other side. You're not, you're not on the right side. You said, I'm just going to park my car and I'm going to come and get you. Yeah, I probably at that same spot. You are a canon. Not I want to go there. You were carrying stuff the baby buggy and are no cars. Car seat. What all do you have? I saw the picture that I'm glad I didn't have to do that. Oh Man. I'll tell you what Ken and almost kill me. What their travel with the small kids and my wife's brother, uh, had a destination wedding and then on top of that it was black tie. There was an extra suitcase to carry all the, the black ties and do, it was just, it was nuts carrying luggage around. But anyway, I survived. I'm better for it as Nietzsche said. What your wife does doesn't kill you, will make you better. I can't. So we get, we'll see at haystack we will see you. Uh, obviously a Cochran, uh, April issue is out automated buildings.com. You definitely want to check that out. What don't you got before we hop off here? My friend? Well, I guess we'll all have to put her Elvis Skosh Shims on and go to real calm and Nashville. Right?

Eric Stromquist: Absolutely. You're going to be down there for sure. Right?

Ken Sinclair: Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't going to, but Scotty talked me into it so, oh man, I'll never forget it. Yeah, I'll never forget the time. It was so much fun and hopefully you'll do this with us again was, well I think the last one I saw you, I was a maybe San Antonio, but remember you and me and Theresa and Kenny, we'd always do our day one, day two recap. So cause we can't you on and being a recap or with this. Sure. That sounds good. Yeah, it looks like a lot of stuff going on there as well. Actually I in my never my never ending article, I also tagged on a uh, their cybersecurity a day before event that's going on as well. Cause I thought that was a kind of fit in, well with this whole cyber cyber security resource. I'm kind of trying to kind of put this thing is it's just a link to where everything that's sort of happening in the industry. And at the bottom of that is I've got these three events we've just talked about as well. So, Hey, I do, I'm going to say one more thing before I forget. Uh, controlled trans for anybody out in it's still not, has not yet signed up for controls con 2019 it's May 2nd May 3rd in Detroit at the motor city casino, we have a 10% discount. If you go on now to the website and you register and you putting controlled trends under the discount code, you get a 10% discount. And also with real calm, I be con 2014, June 11th through the 14th down in Nashville, Tennessee. We also have a ControlTrends.com Discount 10%. Uh, and, and when you register, you put it in and it gives you, actually, you have to go to our website and get the discount code. So I'm sorry it's not, it does not ControlTrends.com Is the ControlTrends discount, but there's a number, a little code you put in there and it'll save you 10% so you want to put that plug in there.

Eric Stromquist: Excellent. All right, I can't send ken Sinclair, Automated buildings.com check it out Ken. Thanks so much as always man. We can't wait to see you next month and if you have something in between now and then don't be a stranger. Okay. Alright, thanks guys. Great stuff from Kensen queers always in. Hey Man. Yeah. We even talk about all those other great articles that are on automated buildings.com. So be sure to go to check out automated buildings.com the April issue cause there's a ton of other stuff on there. And Man, speaking of phenomenal stuff, our man Mark Pete Talk, in addition to being the master of ceremonies of the controlled trends towards, in addition to being the guy that broke Cindy Crawford's heart, New York City back in the day in New York City when we got started in advertising now he and the team at Lynx Spring had been acknowledged by frost and Sullivan. Kenny, I've got to get this right so I'm actually going to do, I want to read it. 2019. Global Iot and smart buildings, customer value leadership award. Way To go, Terry Swope. Way To go, Bob [inaudible] way to go. Mark p talk way to go. Everybody at the Lynxspring Group could get group of guys. It's nice to see that frost and Sullivan is acknowledging them.

Ken Smyers: Congratulations job. It's, uh, well the, uh, the big phrase to eat, to eat platform provides exceptional service delivery and value enhancements through a well synchronized suite of solutions to ensure timely integration with a smart building infrastructure. And it has earned his stripes and, uh, congratulations to a very successful team with a lot, a lot, a lot of motivation, a lot of passion, a lot of initiatives. So they, they basically took that product platform, uh, from over here, kind of an obscure location to a front, front, front vendor position. And, uh, it's, people are asking for it now. So, and listen for our young guns, you might not know when we talk about Cindy Crawford and mark in the 80s, there was an error of the supermodel, Cindy Crawford, Linda vaginal, sleazy, Naomi Campbell and all that. And speaking of that, you know, I just got a, there's a text on the Facebook messenger here from a see Crawford going, how old are married now? Hey, mark, it's me, Cindy Holler, whatever that means. So mark, you'll just do what that, what you'll do with it. So one more thing. I just want to say that, uh, you know, much of the technology is available through the built environment, depends on systems integrator. So link Spring Pa did the channel of approximately 250 systems integrated partners throughout North America and a few select international countries to support the built environment effectively. So again, well done. Well done guys. Well I'm for sure I Kenny, what's, what's gonna be our deep dive posts of the weakness acres. We've got a bunch of them. Well, I took the uh, but we can only do one. Well I think what we have to do is we have to say that, uh, you know, one of the biggest hit posts that we've ever seen of all time was the two way three way valve diverting mixing and the second largest, uh, post performance was on gas pressure regulators. And you did a nice little, a presentation from the HVAC Tech SChooll from HVAC Tech SChool Play list,. gas pressure pressure regulators made easy. So tell us a little bit about that. I think that was posted the week. Well, thanks buddy. I appreciate that. So we got to go back to what we've been telling our community a little bit that we're really torn up the youtube channel because we get more content up there quicker. So might not always make it to the control trans.com website. But uh, so we, we created a playlist of you will called HVAC Tech School, this on the youtube channel. Some of these make it over to controltrends.com. Not all of them, but yeah, the gas pressure regulators made easy, uh, you know, how to install them, how they work. We actually take one apart so you can look at it, see how it works of your answers and gas regulators at all. And apparently there are a lot of people who do, you can check that out. It's actually on controlled trends as well as the controtrends, smart buildings, youtube channel. So I encourage you to subscribe to that if you haven't already. We'll put a link for that in the show notes. So that's a big one in the two and three way valves. Again, sometimes a picture's worth a thousand stories, a thousand words county. So we know we're trying to create video content that takes some of these concepts that can be complicated and make them really simple and we'll build off of those. So we're going to keep putting those up on the youtube channel and then, well no, a lot of them make it over the controltrends.com Website too. But another massively hit, and this is only available on the ControlTrends Smart Buildings, youtube channel is the midweek review, which uh, one of the smartest guys here on the podcast a does, which is Ken Smyres. So talk about the med review again,Kenny. For our listeners who might know about that and tell them what you do on that and why they, why this is disrupted. He usually do youtube channel so they can get that. Well I appreciate that Eric. I didn't have makeup on a day. There's makeup squad wasn't around so, but you know what I want to be because if you are where big trouble, I was just trying to say something it on there because that was a fast and furious post and the reason why it's like you said, we had so many dates that were coming closer to windows where you had, you know, sign up by today and you look for, or you would forfeit the opportunity for a discount, whatever. So we had the midweek review is to give somebody a three to four minute synopsis of all the industry events that are coming in the next 60 to 90 days except for our Smart Building ControlTrends Awards, which is going to be February 2nd, 2020 but tomorrow when your calendar in case you're driving somewhere and you listen to the show or whatever and you have an opportunity or you're, you're, you're listening or you're watching but you don't have a whole lot of time trying to give people a synopsis, a real short sweet list of what's going on and where it's at and what the dates of signup are. So you know, I covered the, the, the controls con coming up May 2nd, third and we controlled trans as a discount coupon there. So if you go onto and registering, you putting controlled trends, uh, we have the CIO event coming up in Europe and we'll be putting a post up on that too. But there's registrations and you take advantage of them. Uh, we're going to put some other information about the travel costs, whatever, just to lure people into a different alternative vacation this year because you'd kill business and pleasure in the same event. Uh, we have the project haystack out there in California. The, the, uh, what's that going to be? That's the 11th through the 13th, I think. Right. But that's why even I have to refer to it because there's so much going on. And then you go to the 19th through the 21st is the CIO and Amsterdam and then you turn around, you've got a real calm, I become in June leverages, so you're doing the conferences, but you're also doing it. And to Kenny's point, what, what, who is trying to be as on Wednesday afternoon, you can take that, that you can just click on that video, you get an update. But things like if there's a recall, if there is something going on in the industry, if there's a cyber security alert, something going on with Niagara or something like that where you need to know something immediately, what we're trying to do is just make it easy for you to consume. That could control is unique you can use, right? And so Kenny does a great job of that. So it's not just conferences, it could be a new product release, it can be news you could use. And I think that's the point of a Kenny just trying to break it down short, simple, sweet. You go to the youtube channel, you quick on this actually if you did the youtube channel, you just cooked a little alarm button, you'll be notified when this comes out. And uh, so he can hit on that. And then obviously on controlled trance.com you get this show, the long winded version. Well, and then when we take our time and we make it happen,

Eric Stromquist: I'll speak into the long winded version. Uh, what can Steve jobs teach us about the smart buildings controls revolution. Now I got to kick of the stretch you made there. But actually after watching that again, cause I had watched that before, you actually did make sense about what it's all about. The marketing, how, you know, it's taken for granted. It's a critical function, but it's changing. It's evolving. It was infused with social media. And if you didn't handle it right, you lost, you lost a lot of your mainstream. Uh, but today you send papers out in the, in memory, so much marketing, it wouldn't even open up the envelope. You literally just took it from your inbox to the trashcan. So those days have certainly changed. The people don't like to take catalogs anymore, whatever. So we were seeing the thumb drive, you know, uh, became the big thing. And even that, starting to, I heard a, a vendor tell a group of people that were looking for, they used to get thumb drives every time they had the presentation. I guess there's no marketing says you've got to go on, go on our website. It's all there. There's no sense putting them into these um, drives. Cause as soon as we get them done, they're obsolete because they're old and antiquated and we've added new products and it's not serving the purpose it was intended to. Well listen, I encouraging of the website is so about a five minute talk that I've found that Steve jobs did and many considerate the greatest marketing message ever and it led to the one what many consider the greatest marketing campaign ever. And like I said, rather than Kenny and give you our take on it. I mean it affected me enough. I just went, holy smokes made so much sense in my, what I'm basically saying is, hey listen to it or watch it. I should sound control with each on comments. We'd love know what you think. But I think there's so much wisdom and just how, cause he's basically addressing his, his stockholders and then staff. Right. And, and it was a radical concept as he's addressing them. And that you kind of can almost hear a pen drop. You're kind of going, well, they're not going to like this. And you kind of starts out and makes a statement and he kind of goes from there and by the time he's done with you, you're going, and this too, just got it right. So it's not necessarily what you think about is how you think about something. And I think that that message carries forward to our industry. Every single one of our companies in our industry, I think can learn something from, from this. So please check it out if you check nothing else on Controltrends.com site and check that out and reach out and comments. Let me know what you think and, and Kenny what you'd think. And Hey, you know, we'd love, we'd love to share it. I thought no, it was, pardon me. Putting that up here is, I think this needs to be not just a post and needs to be an ongoing dialogue and needs used to be a dialectic. There's my vocab word for the week, Kevin, that we carry forward as an industry that, that helps us hall, uh, as we move forward in this incredible industry we're involved all involved in.

Ken Smyers: Right. We had one more shoutout section here and just the, our Linkedin, you know, the, the folks that say good things about us on Linkedin and, uh, some congratulations for birthdays, a Adam, I'll pull grab ya from Poland. He's the chief Ito Iot, Bam. B a s P, m, a s h VAC executive, uh, says a, you know, he's watching our controlled trends. We've got Travis curr had a birthday. Uh, he had a art hicks had a birthday. Darlene pope changed job. She now works with the, we work. So, uh, Darlene and Lindsay Baker together. Oh Gosh. Yeah, yeah. Two of the brightest women on the planet together. Whoa man. We want to come to, we works and we've got a worked in Hershey Holler. Well, you don't have to cheat. She was always, she, she, she fast tracked everything. You know, she was really smart. She was just a great speaker. I remember, remember how we got involved with her? Uh, she went to work with the Jones, Jj, Jj Jones. Lang Lasalle. Yeah. And so, uh, well she's just a, she's burning, burning, burning to the ground here. It would probably say here, hopefully see her and Lindsay at Haystack, uh, connect, but hey, good. Seriously. That would be a great show Lindsey. And uh, and I know Darlene on at the same time. All right. Then real quickly we have worked anniversaries for Eddie Turner, uh, Stacie O'leary and Richard Satchel, so, well, there you go. Yeah. Right. Well listen, last big thing is definitely check out the Egio collateral that uh, that we just put up. A man eight is going to be quite the event and Amsterdam. Kenny and I will be there, but I think if you look at the collateral we just posted on the site, you're going to be just amazed. They're easy. I would just us things, top hat, and this is going to be an amazing coffee. It's going to be a really great show. It's going to be your product roadmapping, it's going to be networking. It's going to be an exciting partying. There's going to be a tax deduction. It's going to be partying cause mad Mike Marston, him and his buddies. Uh Oh. What? Oh, I know Johann Roxborough. What? What's the big deal? You don't want to hurt man. I tell you what, it's like hanging out with Russell brand man. But they get a whole new, it's a whole new staff. I mean, uh, Johann has retold his whole European division people. It's going to be cool. It's going to be great. Be there or what? The square where. All right. There you go. All right. So there you go. That's another week on control talk. Now you're smart buildings, video by video cast and podcasts. A special thanks to our guests as we can auto sing choir. Be sure to check out automated buildings, Dotcom. Com by April. First issue is ah, and it is so worth reading. So with that Kenny Smyres, remember be bold. Stay in control. I'm doing Mourinho sweat. Snigger voice Batman and stay relevant.

Speaker 3: Indeed.

CTN 308: ControlTalk NOW -- Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for week ending Mar 24, 2019 features Young Gun Brent Burrows, a Systems Integrator with ENTEK, who explains Alarm Fatigue, and much more,  ENTEK provides HVAC, Building Automation and Energy Services  in the Atlanta, GA, area and throughout the continental United States, Puerto Rico, Alaska, Hawaii and Guam.

Are You ready?

Is Your AI Device Smarter than a six year old? Our transcription service, as you will see is not! I tried to correct as many errors as possible in the transcript of Episode 308, but could not get them all, so be kind as you read this:

Episode 308 ControlTalk Now The HVAC and Smart Buildings Podcast

Eric Stromquist: Do you suffer from alarm fatigue? Well four out of five facilities managers iand HVAC controls professionals do. So what exactly is this insidious disease and how can you cure it? Hi, I'm Eric Stromquist from controltrends.com and stromquist.com. And on this week's episode we're going to dive deep and into alarm fatigue and how you can solve it. Our guest this week is a young integrator out of Atlanta, Brent Burrows, he's a young gun. So Brent is going to be with us. The whole show is going to be fantastic. We get Brent's perspectives which are just absolutely stellar. So the other thing you need to know is that controlledtrends on our youtube channel, controlltrends smart buildings, youtube channel. We've started a new video series called HVAC tech school and it's designed specifically for the HVAC technician and we get into everything from how to size a valve to how to troubleshoot a gasregulator and topics specifically for the HVAC technician. So take a minute, subscribe to the Youtube Channel. All right, relax. Enjoy the show.

Eric Stromquist: Alright here we go. One, two, three. Welcome to ControlTalk Now, the Smart Buildings podcast for the week ending March 24 2019 this is episode this is the show where we talk about all things smart controls, HVAC controls and pretty much anything else we want to. And I tell you what, I've got two legends today. One is the one, you know, Ken Smyers, the man, the myth, the legend, the control man from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And joining us today is a legend in his own right is ControlTrends Young Gun Brent Burrows, from Atlanta, Georgia. Brent is with Entek.. He's one of the rising stars in the controls industry. And if you were at the 2018 CONTROLTRENDS AWARDSawards, you know that Brent was inducted into The Young Guns class of 2019. So fellas, welcome to the show.

Eric Stromquist: Well thank you Eric. Yeah, you took away all my firepower I suppose to get some of that introduction on Brent Burrows. But uh, yeah, we got a real live young Gun here and uh, it, it, it's so good to see the right, it looks like the type of guy who's going to be taking our place one day. So he's, he's learning, he's got some great background. He's a true integrator, does everything from the programming side of it. And it was all about analytics, but he could do, you could do the terminations to make stuff work. So that's a welcome to the show Brent.

Brent Burrows: It's good to have it. And that's what they're talking about on the show every once in a while. I really appreciate it guys. And uh, yeah, actually the only real thing I have in my office, the Home Office here, uh, you know, I may have to make up some more awards for myself or some certifications.

Eric Stromquist: No, no young guns. Pretty much all you need man. And now you're 60 and a young gun or 65. I can send Claire and a young gun then you're doing really, really good. Okay. Brent man would move. You know, we're talking about young guns and may one of the wraps that the young guns, the millennials get his man, they just can't be on time. I know this year here, but tell us about our other guest where is he?

Brent Burrows: who else was supposed to be on the show with us. Uh, I, that's going to be my new cohost, Aaron Gorka. Ah, I'm not exactly sure where Aaron is now. Maybe they don't do daylight savings time in Canada or different things. He didn't, he didn't change his clock around.

Eric Stromquist: Right. Well, in fairness they are, and man, he has been traveled a lot here and Gorka from ANT technologies, one of the hardest young working guys in the industry. Uh, he is, uh, does the podcast, next generation innovation and brand. I guess the big news is you're going to be joined and Aaron as his cohost.

Brent Burrows: Yeah. Um, so, um, I had been reading some stuff lately and you know, I listened to you guys on a control talk now on iTunes and I'd always wanted to get into pocket casting and uh, and it just so happened I was featured on a, on an episode, um, a few months back and just really enjoyed it. I've worked with Aaron, we actually use aunt technologies, um, to do a track or project side. And uh, so me and him get along and you know, we vibe well. So I reached out to reach out to you and was like, Hey, what do you think this idea? And uh, and you were all for it gave Aaron a call. He was excited to have a cohost. So that's what we're going to be doing.

Eric Stromquist: Well, I can't wait for you guys to take to work together. Aarons just doing a fantastic job so far and it's kind of fun with the cohost, you know, so the, but if you're going to get good at this, you have to practice saying this right off the bat. The man, the myth, the legend, let me hear you say it because if something ever happens to me, you know, it's going to be between you and Aaron to step in. But Kenny is very picky about who gets to be his is to introduce them. So one time, Brent, you're on, here's your audition,

Brent Burrows: here's the audition, alright, we're on control. Taught now, you know, and in memory of the late, great. Eric, strong quick. No, he's in a better place now. But I am your new cohost and I am going to introduce the man, the myth, the legend

Ken Smyers: Ken Smyres take it over again. Right. That was awesome man. He passed it. He might, he might not even wait for me to die, man. He might just nice. Did you guys read the second brand? You just put no, he might. He might give me the boot right after the show did. That was a little too good bread, but well listen dude, before we get into more of the show, talks about what you do and, and in tech, I've known your dad for years and a, you guys have a fabulous company, but, but talk about about Entek and what you guys do.

Brent Burrows: Uh, so in tech where our ar can about a local, regional, regional and a national company, uh, have handled, you know, many national accounts over the years. Uh, so we have that side of the business and then we have more of our, uh, what I'd call our local and core business here in Atlanta. Um, we specialize in commercial office space. Um, but you know, also do, you know, hospitals, industrial work, really anything you need, um, we can provide the service and the expertise to work in those areas. So we do anything ranging from, you know, mechanical service, installation retrofits and then, you know, hopping into the controls, the building automation, you know, H Vac, lighting, integration, all of that stuff. And we even do system access controls everywhere. So in tech really is a great one stop shop to fill all your building needs.

Ken Smyers: Yeah. One of the things that I saw on the site and we'd talked offline, there is analytics and the impact we have one of our posts we'll be talking about here as we review the posts. So you're actually a delving into analytics now. Tell us about some of your experiences so far. What do you think? Is that, is that the next great a goldmine to dig into?

Brent Burrows: Well analytics, no, it's, it's been around, um, in, in the HVAC industry for, for a little while now. And it's kind of, you know, it's interesting, you'll go to these conferences or you know, you'll read stuff and you've got, you know, you got kinda these bud buzzwords or one of the big ones that are, and you know, when I kind of look at buzzwords, there are a lot of terms that people throw around, but then they'll just kind of throw it around and they don't know the meaning of it and they're just like, oh yeah, Iot and analytics and, uh, and you'll just see them, they pop up a lot of conferences, but, uh, but you know, really, uh, been seeing analytics get hammered for the last couple of years now. And basically, you know, one of the great things that you can kind of, they're doing in the industry now, you know, what, you know, everything being more standardized, like, you know, backnet lawn, um, you know, different protocols come then normalizing the data. And then a, you know, a huge one that I know you guys have talked a lot about and they got the big accounts coming up is haystack. Um, you know, basically being able to take all the data in your building, you know, sensor information, uh, whether it's, you know, discharge temps, she knows zone temps, uh, you know, all those things and you're building lighting levels, all this stuff and take it in and get that data. So you kind of get to that point with an integration and it's like, okay, well let's just say, you know, I got a 10 story building, uh, so, you know, got 10 air handlers, chiller plant, and then, you know, depending on the level of integration, let's say I've got 20,000 data points in my building, you know, what are you really doing with that? They're there are, they're acting out there and they're just doing their thing. But you know, unless you can hire somebody 24, seven to watch those sites and be like, oh, this is doing this, this is doing this. Um, it's, it's, it's hard to keep track of it. You kind of get into this, uh, you know, very responsive state. Um, you know, trying to manage the building. It's not forward thinking. It's not really effective. So analytics comes in and does, is it basically, it's like, you know, it is, it's, it's a 24, it's 24, seven program that looks at your building, looks at your data and can alert you to the issues going on. And then also in some cases make responsive writes back to correct issues.

Eric Stromquist: Well, that's well said. Well said. And then I think one of the things that Kenny has sort of picked up early on in, and you were talking about sky spark a little bit because that's what you're working with. But, uh, you know, for years back, even when your dad and I were doing this stuff, you know, those old guys, I mean you could always alarm, right? But it got to the point that he had so many alarms, just like my emails, you just become null and void to me just don't pay attention to anymore. So it seems like one of the things analytics allows you to do is to write rules, for example. So if something goes out of temperature for a while, you could give an expert at a time before it sends out an email or an alarm. You could also maybe we'd send a command to say, hey, try to reset it or whatever before you do that. And so are you finding that that's driving some of your customers interest into it or her? What sorts of things when, when they say analytics, like I said, it's a buzz word, but when they come to you or do they actually know what they want her, it's just, hey, I want an analytics package and you shouldn't have to talk him through it.

Brent Burrows: Uh, so it, it's interesting you were talking about, uh, my dad, uh, uh, actually met with him this week and he brought up some of the alarming going on from the 90s, and he was, uh, so, uh, I won't name them, but you know, big retail client, um, and they, you know, obviously they have sites all around the country and, uh, they had like a fax machine that sat on the side of this room and this thing continually like it reports and the, I think they actually set up a system where it just like fed into like a dumpster or shredded all it did for 24 hours a day. And they were like, he was like, what is that? There was like, oh, that's the, uh, that's the alarm matrix. Yeah, I remember those things. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but you don't know the, to Eric's point, uh, I think, um, we've seen several, uh, programs now coming out like controls, condoms, coming up with Detroit with the Cochrane supply, Scott Cochran and his team put together this thing. Raven, where you could really, you could eliminate anything. You didn't want to hear all the chief, you know, and just, just get to the nuggets that you needed to know. And then they teamed that down so much that it would be in a proximity presentation. So top chef, chef get that right. We don't want people to think, okay, go ahead. I'm sorry, but God, we got that quick. I'm sorry I couldn't, I'm spit balling here too, but no, go ahead. Saving, saving, saving. Um, so the, the thing that Scott Cochran believed in is it Derek's point that we're so overwhelmed with this is data being pushed at us that we ignore it. Now again, we've always self defense mechanisms. We turn off our phones, we don't have to hear the pagan, you know, and then, but then you really could miss that one really important alarm because you're so, you know, unconditioned to respond to it. The uh, that stuff became packing. They had say, generate so much. I. Dot. Matrix printing stuff that no, he didn't shred but then that shredding to him went back, got recycled back in the, in the shipping department. But I'm so yeah, so a, the raven thing was a real clever a response. So that not only did you restrict the amount of alarms you got, but they were, they were sent specifically to who needed it and it reduced all that additional traffic.

Eric Stromquist: So yeah, Brent is a cool app if you haven't seen it. It actually works like with you know, notifications on your iPhone and stuff like that. So you can just set up just the notifications you want to see. So, uh, Scott Cochran's one clever dude and controls con's going to be a great conference and uh, we get, we actually have a discount code for that, don't we county. So we should do, if you put any controlled trends when you registered and put it in a controlled trends, you get a 10% discount and that you'll get 15 but I know it's just a matter of time for you blonder and it's going to cost you an alternate code, a code word. You get 20% off if you mentioned chafing cause that's right. So you are going to be a great cohosts. He's good. He's picking right up on this. Uh, but uh, but so what else? So the analytics, are these primarily the facilities managers asking for this or should it go on up higher? Cause I know you, you know, Dana and the rest of year or down to the rest of your sales staff deals at the c level suite a lot. Is it mainly being pushed down from the c level suite or consulting engineers asking for it? Or how is this even coming into consciousness? Well, it's a, it's interesting. So I'm going to go back real quick to the original question that you asked and mentioned something that, uh, you know, it Kinda all goes along with, uh, with the APP. You're talking about the raven, the alarms, and you mentioned that, you know, just kind of getting, you know, hounded with all this data. And it really does, you know, whether it's, you know, cause I'll, I'll copy myself on the emails most of the time for the alarms. And you know, sometimes it'll just, I think I went through this morning, there was a point that went in and out of alarm, I didn't delete like 600 emails.

Brent Burrows: You get into the point of getting alarm fatigue. So yeah. So in the process, let's just say that you have something that does, does alarm and you get, you know, over the course of three or four months, 600 emails, you're going to be like, oh no, just delete all those. Don't worry about that. And sandwiched in there and one or two of those. Yeah. What was important data. So that's why it's important, you know, when you're doing the integration is the freestyle. Yeah. Make sure you set up, you know, your alarms and your, so there are going to be alarms that happened, but you know, maybe just only send out, you know, prioritize with your alarm classes. Um, but, but then to get back to a, to what you're mentioning about what level do you kind of see the requests from analytics coming? Um, I think it really depends. Uh, so a lot of what we, uh, we deal with customers we deal with in the Atlanta market. Um, you know, we'll go into existing buildings and whether, you know, we're upgrading them from, you know, DDC from the 90s or just straight pneumatics and everything, uh, you just hit it. There are different levels of involvement from, you know, different companies and, you know, different positions. So, all right know, I've got to figure out what's going on and I cannot, I don't have the time to pour through this site and I don't want to, you know, pay a monitoring company, you know, just every, every month. Because you know what, that's great. You know, the, there were a few people that we followed around in Atlanta or would go to and there was like, oh yeah, we paid this company $2,000 a month. Just watch this. It's like, but it takes you six hours to get him on the phone. And then sometimes they do it, sometimes they don't. But they'll always let you know when that checks in the mail. The, um, the analytic thing, one of the big impulse or impacts was when Niagara JACE started coming with 25 free analytic points to get you a taste of it, you know, and then we started to see people dabble at it, but we really didn't have a whole lot of, uh, you know, takers. And then once they got into it, uh, so it all became, you know, a basically about templating it. But, uh, the Phil fearless fills Zito had a really nice, uh, extract on when he did a synopsis on end for about what he said that what they added to inform and to analytics too. Dot. Oh, was that make capabilities where the preexisting analytic data model it was in, it was inherent embedded a base algor algorithm library and then a realtime on premise analytic control. So one of the things that we saw now was that people, if they wanted to start to dabble, they got a good free tastes that, or a complimentary tastes of analytic points that they could take a couple of points and do exactly what you're saying. Pick out the top, maybe ones that you're getting those multiple alarms, you know, and then have it so that you could control the amount of alarms that you got from that point. So, uh, again it's, it's still, it's just touching the, uh, the, you know, the top of the iceberg because a sky founding of course was the, the industry leader. I mean they basically defined analytics to us. Well, no, it's cool. We can, I've got a question where I think we might have a new vocab word here and I wonder if you've heard of this before. No, no, no, no, no, no. Alarm fatigue has the first time I heard that if you heard the term alarm fatigue before, actually I have this, but I heard it said in that perspective, that context. But you're right, I mean, so I think Brent is coach and he's got his first new phrase, alarm fatigue. Okay. We're, we're going to give you a nickname or get you a tee shirt. It'd be Brent Burroughs alarm fatigue. So I did write that down though. So that's a great one brand. I like that a lot. So bread for our integrators out there who may be, have not gotten into analytics or you know, Skype specifically sky foundry, um, kind of walk them through. I mean, how difficult is it? Is it to get started with it because know there are a lot of integrators, outdated, heard of analytics and maybe you know, think they can do it or don't think they can do it, but what do they need to know? If you're just starting to scratch your ears, assistant center grader and you haven't worked with analytics, sort of walk them through it. Uh, so obviously, you know, um, like the sky spark, um, sky spark software, you know, like anything else, uh, to be able to sell it, you know, you have to get signed up with a distributor, all that. Um, so, you know, first need to find somebody that can not distribute it. And it's really important, you know, when you're kind of going into a new software, I believe this with anything, is to make sure that you've got a good support channel. Um, you know, like in between you and then, you know, and sky foundry, which I'll say for sky foundry, their online database of like help, documentation, everything. It's phenomenal. Um, I have used that a ton. It'll actually basically walk you through setting up site, uh, comes with a great demo site so you can look at how everything's set up and then, you know, reverse engineer. Cause you know, as a, as a systems integrator or you know, anything else, it's, it's similar. You know, it's, it's just like physically, you know, kinda like building an engine or something. How do you really figure out how an engine works? Well, take one apart and put it back together and you're going to have a good idea of what those components do, where they go and everything. Same thing applies to the software. So, uh, getting started there. Go ahead. Eric Stromquist: No, that's a good analogy. And you know, and I think that's where you're talking about the division of labor and, and the, and the support structure, you know, some of the, some of the great products. And so the great applications that have failed, uh, did so not because it wasn't a great application is because people didn't take to it well, they didn't have a support structure, he didn't have that engaging support that you're talking about. And some of these new people, new products and solutions we see coming in, especially in North America, you know, the, the contracting mentality as they wanted so they can understand it and they want to be able to do that physically create an analogy. So this is how you put it together and it's how you take apart and by the time you do that, you know, the steps are all procedural and the methodologies very consistent and then you get really good at it. I think the, the commitment, this guy foundry is significant, but once you get there, you've got it's money well spent and you just, it's a gold mine, right? Can, it will listen and Brent, this is a, that a, you're going to probably have to do with Aaron Gorka called stable datum, right? Because we, as we're assuming that our entire audience listening to the show right now understand what Skype boundary disguised park is. So Kenny, if you don't mind, would you just give our audience just a quick overview of what it is because I think people have heard of analytics, they've heard of data, but they may or may not have heard of skies park. Uh, if they don't listen on a regular basis. Kenny, let's give our audience a little stable datum on exactly what guys foundry isn't what sky's parks are.

Ken Smyers: All right. Well, you know, I would recommend everybody to Google or not Google, but to come to our website control to trends. And then just to take a look at John Patsy or look at sky found in there because we have multiple videos of John explaining it, what it is through interviews or whatever. But essentially the synopsis, The Sky Spark is an open analytic platform from sky foundry that automatically analyzes building data from sensors, automation systems, meters and other smart devices to provide useful building insights, sky spark insights, help facility managers, building owners and business managers identify trends, issues, faults, correlations. And opportunities for cost reductions and building improvements. Uh, and then also the, the, the growth of it. You know, so we were asking about, you know, who wants it and how is it implemented? And it comes from all different dimensions. It doesn't come from consistently the COO or the CTO or you know, a smart building owner. It comes from people that have problems that need them fix. So just give me an idea. There's more than 10,000 facilities around the globe that are using sky spark right now. They analyze buildings, data over 650 million square feet of buildings. Imagine that. Then they went over a billion. And by the way, that's further on, but commercial buildings, apartment buildings, apartment complexes, hotels, resorts, data centers, industrial facilities, educational campuses, government buildings, large multi-use retail spaces and other large complex facilities. But if you remember the one crazy thing about it is we start small with one building using the sky, spark and sky foundry or analytics, you know, because there'll be other versions of analytics. But in order to get to the smart cities, you've got to start small. It's a modular thing. So you'd go from one building building. Exactly. But this whole thing crescendos into a smart city where you're, everybody is getting that data there knowing that usages and aren't in and we're occupancies are they knowing when they have about, you know? Right, right. And I think, you know, again, John Petze used to be president of tritium, one of the brightest guys on the planet. Great Drummer too. Buddy rich has nothing on John Petze. But uh, you know, we only all went sky spark first came out or sky founder first came out. It was kind of cost prohibitive almost just simply because to connect the data points together really required somebody to go in and link this to this, to this, to this, to this. But that's all changed now. It's gotten super formed. Super, Super Price Competitive Kenny because of drum roll. HAYSTACK CONNECT. I tried to download, try new vocab words. I need another cup of coffee. That's a good one buddy. I know you want to do that. And Yeah, because again, we're trying to promote project haystack to the best of her abilities and really get the community excited about it. But I think we're getting other people excited about it. I think there's people that are learning outside of the HVC, bas industry that understand that haystack tagging. For instance, we had Samsung, uh, from, uh, the smart car. Don't trick me again here. Most of name again, can we need first and last name for try again? Go, go, go, go, go, go to the Control Trent website, highlight her name and then have Google pronounced that JMC futurist, right when, anyhow, she took the, the haystack tagging to heart and talk. It was an, you know, it's, it's just absolutely vital to eliminate all the friction and bring down to two. We're belongs as quickly as possible. There should be cooperative. You ready for an analogy? Haystack tagging is to sky foundry every other analytics or control system as gasoline is to a car. What do you, what do you think about how, how bad is like, you know, uh, I mean, you know, and not another analogy. I think one of the great things about having haystack, it's, it's basically this organization that says, yes, you know, hey guys, instead of re reinventing the wheel, here you go, we're going to give you the tools or instead of making all your own custom stuff, here's the tools to do it. You know, it'd be kind of like every kind of like, you know, I guess it's, you know, not using haystack tagging. I feel like doing your analytics to standardize it. It's kind of like going back to the, you know, Dark Ages or the prehistoric times of, you know, where you just have different tribes and they have like all their own forms of communication. Like, you know, I don't, most marriages, well, you know what I do, I think that's going to, that's going to work there because if you hear John pets he talking about, he actually gets mad, he'll, he'll start out real calm and mellow and hills. He'll start saying, but, uh, his patients in the industry I think is waning because it's a choice. And you know, again, a lot of people have, you know, big legacy investments and they've got, you know, look at corporations are run and, and they, they really truly have to control the rate of adoption and, and, and is it his money comes it. I mean we had the guy from Sweden tell us, you know, all these things could have been fixed many, many, many years ago if there wasn't a, you know, an economic reason not to do it. So brand have an economic reason to get them right. Now where I am, Brent needs to know this, cause I know your listener brown button it Kenny. This is the part of the show where we come up with are conspiracy theories. Okay. Okay. No, no, no, no, no. And I want to do something right now too. It's certain, Huh? Jam Fee. So that's not sued. Sud h a JMT j a m t h e. Dot. The Jaffe. Right. This Suda Hey, you know what I practice, come on. Say it. And you know what? I'm going to sit on this one because I, I haven't had a chance to write it down and sanded it out. But I think this is like a good idea for like a new bit.

Eric Stromquist: You should do Kenny Kenny's words a week and put a word down and then have them like phonetically sounded. I know Kenny. No, no, we got one of this when Kenny's word of the week. Shaef Chase, rub your face with a scarf or something and you scraped, I think he's in a different context today, which is like the data was shaved off of the sound. No, it was to do with the wheat and, and the other stuff. Boys in the shaft, not the shape. You're not going here. Let's get back to those two words are a little too close. Well, you know what I think so. I have a lot of those. So look at that. That's a good sign. That means that your brain's working. Okay, so let's get back to Brent. Meanwhile, back to Brent. So Brent, again speaking to integrators out there that maybe haven't taken the punch to do an analytics and his specific way sky founder, you sort of walk them through the steps, you know, they can call Ken or Eric, that should be your distributor., STROMQUIST.COM And after you get with your distributor, what happens next? So after you get with your distributor, uh, hopefully they can set you up on SKY FOUNDRY Um, so you can get into the resources you can access. Um, it's pretty cool once you get everything set up. Um, sky spark actually has a demo and all you have to do is just pretty much upload the demo and then you can go through all the steps, all the steps they give you online.

Brent Burrows: They give you like a five part, um, kind of do it yourself. Um, you know, set up the data points and you know, add the equipment, add the points, add the tags, go, go view the data and do everything. So you get practice, like kind of like we talked about putting something together. So you get practice doing that and then you start going, all right, I can see this, I can see how this will work. Uh, and then after you do that, you're going to want to go to one of the sky's spark, uh, analytics, uh, classes. Typically I think it's like a two or a three day class. Um, they get you all set up on there. After that you are going to be able to, uh, to sell the product and uh, and really do it. Um, and one of the cool things is, is basically, you know, if I had to like look at it and you know, just look at, you know, your customer set and figure out 10 rules, figure out 10 things that you want to look for. You know, the last thing you want to do is be like, oh, I got to come out with, you know, 500 something rules or I've got to figure out how much, you know, k w port per square foot. You know, when people, uh, you know, have a Dell computer or laptop in there, it's like, okay, just, just kind of back it off. Keep it simple to start, like one of the biggest ones, uh, that, that I see and you know, I see it around Atlanta a lot. You've got these, um, these old [inaudible] use that still have to use pneumatic a pneumatic actuators. So, and you'll see that and you'll see, you know, you'll use a DDC controller, goes to a, uh, goes to a transducer and then that sends the air pressure pneumatic actuator and you know, it, they've, they have it that way because the cost to retrofit one of those, as you know, it's like four hours and you know, maybe like a $340 part, you guys posted something a long time ago and I think strong Quist offered a retrofit part. It's for those, uh, to basically take that internal damper and then change it over to, you know, have an external, yeah, it was, it was trying, I wasn't sure if we were mentioning manufacturers or anything. So I remember that then. And we'll, you know, we saw a lot of that too. Yeah, that was a, that was an excellent demo and I'm very successful to do, to kind of move things on. I don't know. Hang on real quick. I can't, if you don't mind. There's one other thing I wanted to sort of bring around because Brent, I think it was brilliant. You know all the rules come up with 10 you can, you can come up with, so for example, for our property management people out there, you got building a and it is using 50,000 kw per month. You've got building B, it's using 25,000 kw month and you've got building c, which is just in 150,000 kw a month. Which one is most energy efficient? One uses the most energy. Well and you do that, that's easy. But you know, basically it, you can Kinda, you can organize the data because you know, what if one is a single story building, how many square foot, how many people are occupied. So you, and part of the reason I brought that up was you used the term earlier, which for our owners out there who might not think this was, I didn't think this way, it was explained to me part of what Brent's companies able to normalize your data because oddly enough, the small, the one with the least amount you spend the amount of money on might be the most energy efficient, the one that you're spending the most on because this maybe 10 times bigger might be your most energy efficient. So unless you can normalize it.

Eric Stromquist: And what I mean by normalizes taking random data points or data points, bringing them together and setting their criteria like square foot footage, occupancy times a number of people and that, so that's a big part of us gotta be one of the first ones that you guys would go for. I would take if you have multiple facilities. Right. So, um, so I'll go, I'll go back. It was just kind of that the brief example with the damper, and I know I was kind of explained some technical stuff on it, but it's, you know, like a real real simple rule is like, you know, and you can compare it, you know, how many VAVs PKI use, things like that. Kind of like you're talking about. But you know, the big ones that you can see, you know, a Vav is it open at 100% not satisfying the CFM.

Brent Burrows: So either we've got mechanical problem, we've got a design problem, you know, somewhere in the chain. And also the biggest thing, one of the things I see the most money wasted on, like with that particular style of box is this thing has electric heat strips in it. So electric heat, huge energy user. I mean just unbelievable. So it's got the heat going, right? Trying to satisfy the space and you've got a bad damper bladder and there that's not in 600 800 cfm through. So I'm simultaneously heating and cooling space. I'm basically dehumidifying your space when you get to pay for it. As long as this thing has occupied and you know, put that over a 15 story building and let that happen, you know, uh, on a cup on each floor. And just remember that the first real calm I become, and you've met right? You know, Smith and he said that, uh, their biggest, um, why I got this one. Can I do this one? Okay. You just cause I don't, I normally don't know much about, I do know this. So Brandon, Darryl Smith, random Microsoft campus back when Kenny and I first met him, and this is the best example of alarm first as rules base did I ever heard. And what Daryl was saying was a, this huge campus, huge, huge energy bills. They never got an alarm because the Microsoft campus was the most comfortable campus. You could be anywhere. All those buildings were comfortable. They put in a program similar to sky's bar and they realize the reason their energy was so high and the reason nobody complained about the temperature was that their heating and cooling ran at the same time to maintain temperature. They had no idea that was happening until they put the analytics package. And so then what happened, consequently, after that was, uh, you know, they fixed that problem. They started getting a lot of alarms and Bill Gates got mad at Darryl Smith. So there you have it. You have anything you want to add to that, Kenny? I'm sorry. No, no, no. It was, it was the whole thing we said to you, you know, some of the things that they were saying is the valve of the heating valve was clogged, blocked, open, you know, it wasn't Seton properties. So then it was leaving too much heat into the space and an air conditioning or the, you know, Viv is letting, calling in. So the bottom line was that you could have no, uh, alarms are no complaints that nobody's complained about the temperature of being too hot, too cold, but that's not necessarily a good thing. So what they started to analyze, uh, was if the state changes doesn't change over a certain period of time, that there's reason for concern, something that should be going up and down based on different, uh, the different, uh, aspects of the building, different times of day, different whatever. But nothing should stay the same. No temperatures and stayed 72 for longer than maybe like 60 minutes. And if it does, that'd be one of the rules we'd say somebody needs to look at it probably got, you know, something's going on there that you said requires some investigation. But um, I am, I'm a little bit concerned that we're, we're going to get the time, uh, isn't slip away so we should throw in some of these posts so that they get more friends. Comments on your bread.

Eric Stromquist: This is part of the audition here. Now we're going to go through some post of the week and you got to make it yet like really astute comments about them. Okay. I don't want to suppress them cause you know, you're, you're a systems integrator and you bring like a different perspective. Absolutely. Is this relevant to your world or not? You know, what's one posts you want to talk about? For now, we'll just go kind of lighthearted cause uh, you know, again, the two and you know, nuggets to take away into some of this has kind of superficial stuff with like the next post you want to talk about and get Brent's comments on is the, the new facility manager might be a robot. Uh, and how will artificial intelligence affect your building? We know from Ken Sinclair that artificial intelligence is common. It's a real thing, how quickly they adoption rate's going to be and whatever. Or is it happening with or without our knowledge? Uh, and he calls it automated, intelligent, not intelligence, artificial intelligence. So the question would ask you there is that you, do you think that artificial intelligence has a foothold already? Uh, w what's the adoption rate with your end of the world or your from your perspective? Um,

Brent Burrows: so, uh, in, in terms of, of running buildings right now where we're at and you know, Atlanta, Georgia, um, I haven't seen a whole lot of artificial intelligence in a, and the particulars particular areas where at, um, obviously that's the way am, I mean every, everything's moving that way, you know, whether we still really haven't seen a whole ton of, you know, a voice stuff come in to, you know, the building automation world. So I feel like you're going to see that come in and then you're going to see AI. But that's kind of the analytics thing too, is, you know, and we were talking about earlier, you know, it used to be you'd pay somebody to monitor this and they would watch it and now you have a computer that's doing it, you know, a, a program that that just looks at. It looks at rules, it compares the data, and then it gives you an outcome. So go ahead. So based on how you define artificial intelligence, in many cases, some of it's already there, it's just not called artificial intelligence. God was charging two grand a month to technical data. I mean he's already been replaced by a robot. Right. Which is a shame. That'd be a sweet deal. So Eric, uh, so I got it said Jan, Jan. Okay. Now, so the next, the Kenny, he's like, it's not jam. J A M is Shanthi. It's a softer version. Okay. So if we're doing artificial intelligence, let's take this thing to the next level. And we had this very intelligent futurist and she is the real McCoy. She is internationally, globally recognized for her, her understanding and divisions that are coming. You know what our world is going to look like in five 10 15 years. But she did this thing on smart buildings and powering smart buildings, smart cars and the whole idea of sustainable building, sustainable energy cars that are driving and they're basically collect the energy, putting in a battery. The car gets to the building that it works, it's parked at and plugs in and instead of the building powering the car up again, cars powering the building up in an emergency situation that you could really exploit this cause it's just moving energy. You know, cars are literally collect the energy and then moving them to where they needed nick actually plug into a building. Um, not, not that we're going to see this anytime soon, but what do you think that, uh, the Atlanta metropolitan area is that, is that kind of technology receptive? You see that? I know that a, with Eric, with your smart car, you're a customer, your test, the, one of your biggest issues at first was the charging stations. They could be busy, it might not be available, but you know, it was, it was trying that new technology. Does it fit, do you see us moving a year end of the world there, uh, Brent taking, adopting that kind of technology or is it kind of an out there kind of like, I dunno, I'm sure had you asked the question, you know, 20 or 30 years I had like, had you asked when maybe Eric and my dad were working together a little bit, like, you know, hey, where are you thinking we're going to be in 30 years with us in buildings? It's like snack. I'd be met that it's not going to matter. All our cars going to be flying around anyway. It's kind of local conceptions out there. Oh, we'll get to your point. I mean, I look at this thing every day and I'm all, I marvel over the iPhone every day because I just, I can't get over it. Cause my wife's German, she talks to her sister's like we're talking, you know, across the street. And it doesn't cost a dime. They used to be my third biggest expense. You know, we had mortgage, car and then phone. Right. Well, you know, Kenny, I had been on my, I'm like, rephrase the question a little bit because you know, I think the car was just sort of an example of the fact that you could use a battery to power building and Nissan actually did with their corporate headquarter and a suit. The JMT talks a lot about, uh, about the fact that you can now contribute to the grid and said you're just drawing off the grid. And I think a more Germane sort of, uh, uh, question might be do see a day where maybe

Ken Smyers: the batteries are powering the buildings. Um, yeah, I mean, you know, tech technology continues to evolve and to just things that you just never thought were possible. Kind of like, you know, like the analogy there of a, you know, thinking about a battery charging and building. I mean, you know, absolutely. It's possible. What, you know, what Ken just talked about, you know, with that right there, I'm sure you guys saw him back in the, uh, you know, maybe even the 80s, the early nineties. Like what are the first cell phones look like? Where did the first computers, they'll quite white mainframes hold clinic rooms and now this is more powerful than the first computer mainframe huge rooms that were created. I'm really glad you cleaned that up for me cause I'm not, hang on, hang on. I'm not done yet. I've got a Mike, my conspiracy theory and then you can come back to you Ken. So I have a conspiracy theory cat because Brent, you know, you guys hard Johnson controls is wanting the lines you handles was Honeywell on this tech Johnson controls is one of the largest car battery or manufacturers in the world. Okay. So you start thinking about that and then you put into the fact that Tesla developed something called the power wall, right in California. What that because you know, you could have the solar energy coming in but you pretty much had to use it or lose it. What the power wall, you were able to store it. Okay. So I think Johnson and Tesla are getting together right now. I think what's going to happen is you're going to have solar panels on the building. There's going to come down to some sort of a power wall that will hold the charge, that will charge the battery and then the battery will charge the building. Well Eric, to your point, I think, uh, I'm glad you did it cause I was thinking the same thing. We know that Johnson controls made a major investment and batteries. And one of the scenarios we saw Brent was really cool was that, you know, uh, with a DC AC wars mobile. Derek and I used to cover the Westinghouse versus Tesla and how, uh, it was a power station thing who could transmit the power of the further Stacy one but DC. Now it's coming back in. And many people were saying, why are we taking power, making it a scene and converting it back to DC inside of a building since every something inside of the buildings operating on DC. What about we put a big battery in the basement in, you know, some mechanical room or whatever and we power it up. And from there we power the entire building with 24 volts DC.

Ken Smyers: And then you have power over ethernet and we have all these really incredible ideas. But so to your point, and I agree with you 100%, it's not, it's just a matter of when we get the opportunity to deploy these technologies are here. It's just, it's in the economic constriction. It says the economic, you know, friction, you gotta, you gotta make money and people have to transition from one technology to the other. But it doesn't mean it's not going to have, it's just the question of when. Right. So I, you know, it's really interesting to about, um, you know, buildings doing that. Obviously it'd be much easier, you know, as with anything, um, you know, if you're building a brand new building to be able to Spec that stuff and then absorb it into the cost of, you know, of doing the building as opposed to looking at a building that has everything that has ac powered, whether, you know, lighting, HPAC equipment, you know, literally everything and being like, all right, we're going to rip all this stuff out and then we're going to put all of this and, and it's going to cost you, you know, x and whoever owns the building or she come managers of the building, it's like, no, we're not. It's a great point, Brent and know that my father in law lives in New Mexico, right? And they used to subsidize solar panels, but then the electric company, conspiracy theory started, you know, not making as much money so they don't subsidize any more. So now it's cost prohibitive to do it. But I tell you what, I think, uh, I want to get back to Ed Tech and your dad a little bit because your dad is when I got to be kidding me, your dad is one of the brightest businessmen know. And when your dad would say is, if you want to have heard him say this over the years, you want to paint it blue, I'll paint it blue. You want to back you on a battery power building, not give you a battery painted battery power building. Right. So, uh, uh, and I, and I think at the end of the day, it's, this is, you know, a lot of conjecture on our part. It's fun to talk about, but at the end of the day, uh, what's going to make the most sense for the owners is what they're going to do. Yeah. My favorite ones are listen to the Paul Oswald and listen to, uh, George Thomas from contemporary controls. The, these guys are the more senior faculty in our, in our industry and they say, you know, we keep talking about this absolutely wowed off the wall technology when we still don't fix belts and we still don't do it. Most primordial maintenance you need, uh, you know, and keeping the motors running and stuff like that. So I think what you have to do is you have to keep one foot on its tectonics. It's moving and shifting when it applied. Yeah. Plate tectonics. There we go. Brent and we still have a vocabulary from you yet. What have we done? We got it. Tig. Hold on. Protect. Yes. Right. I'm sorry I got circled them when you said that. I will give you credit when I like something that somebody says something cool, I write it down and at the end of it when we have to write the show notes up or whatever, I can run through all these little circles, nuggets there and alarm fatigue is circled. We're going to, we're going to take this thing into a macro level again, and we're going to shift gears and just security, cybersecurity. We're going to go into your version of cybersecurity. How often you bump into it, what does it, what does it scare you to death or you got to, you got a handle on it. What's, what's going on from your perspective?

Brent Burrows: Um, you know, cyber security, obviously you now have extremely important, I would say as important as, uh, eh, as anything you're, you're really doing in a building, you know, as long as you know you're not, when you're putting in controls, you're not just absolutely wrecking the equipment. What's the, the other thing, keeping, you know, unauthorized people from entering your site? Um, if you can isolate it. That, and that's the biggest thing was cybersecurity, uh, that I'm kind of saying, um, from our end is things need to be isolated. Um, so like you really do, you need to have like, you know, for your h Vac, building automation, security access, all that stuff. Um, like to isolate it if you can on, on separate networks. I mean, you know, you don't have to look far, uh, with different, you know, cybersecurity issues and large retailers, whether it's through, you know, the credit card scanners or you know, however these hackers get in to access, you know, a bunch of people's personal data at places. Like it's just kinda like, holy crap. I thought that was a very unimportant, this thing just turns the lights on, turns the lights off and now they've got access to, you know, social security numbers of all the data that we're keeping over here. So, um, there's some really cool products out there. I'm like, you know, one that y'all rep, uh, that, uh, yeah, that, that's it. I really liked that. Um, you want to talk about security like that is that, that is the deal. Um, the, the ease access is, you know, not as much like, you know, you can't just start grabbing a bunch of random devices and, and doing it. There's got to be a little bit more prep work, but you want to talk about secure and a and manage like dad is awesome. So it's not that expensive dye tee people. Cause I guess a part of the question would be are you running it up when you put a system or the it people now more concerned or they come, do you say you're going to try to what to my network or I know you guys work on a different sort of size building and stuff like that, but uh, yeah, uh, I actually had a meeting with a, with a 19 manager, um, just just recently within the last couple of weeks. And he was wanting to know like a, you know, what are you going to do or how does this need to be set up and everything like that. And uh, it's, it, it's a good conversation to be able to have with them in person. Like don't try and pass it off to someone else that isn't going to be working on the technical side because it's just that then things get misinterpreted and people get defensive. You're not putting this on my network and all this, you know, it turns into like a little peon contest when you don't need it. It's just, you know, a good conversation to have. And that's one of the things Tridium does a good job with is, you know, they have a, they've got it out there. I'm not sure what the most updated version is, but it's called the hardening guide, which, uh, um, basically goes through and it'll tell you how to most securely set up your system. And if you can go through that with an eye with, you know, manager or, or whoever, then everybody can be comfortable. All the data can all be out there. And then, you know, you make sure that you're putting in the most secure option. You know, so ironic you said that because I sent that to somebody this morning. Um, the issues were on the audit trails and about, you know, uh, who gets into the system and then when I have as the Niagara for hardening, it's from six 28, 2018. So I'm sure there's one, uh, more recent than that, but you're exactly right. It's, uh, I think it's a 48 page document. Let's see. Yeah. And it really goes deep dives into a 42 pages. So, um, but what we have, uh, for, for the controlled trans community is we have a responsibility to keep, keep cybersecurity as a concurrent trend is the top trend. We post the NIST released in ist and they give us, you know, the checklists and take people on an individual level and organizational level, uh, you know, a corporate level and then a city level.

Ken Smyers: So we have two posts that I just want to bring them up real quick. One is the, a Schneider electric has a cybersecurity, a Webinar you can sign up for and it has a, a lot of great information. And then two, for the people that are really in the business dot have deep, we have a smart and secure city, the community challenge expo and Washington DC July 10th and 12th. And it's about security. Cybersecurity on a, on a macro level. So, and ist the US Department of Homeland Security and sciences, the technology, are they basically the sponsors of it? It's a free registration is free, but you have to preregister it's required for attendance. You can't just walk in there online and we have a hot button to it. But so cybersecurity is, you're right. So Brent, Brent, you just hit three correct answers in a row. So we're going to over and cybersecurity is one. It's as important as anything else. We're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're working with now if we have to have a responsibility, we have to own that responsibility and learn about it. We don't necessarily have the solution for it, but we can be part of the solution or part of the problem. Well said. Well said. Well, listen, dude, uh, let's, let's talk about a couple more things. A couple of other vets and then we're probably going to need to hop off here. But, uh, where Brent, you gotta talk to your dad about this cause you want to go to this conference? Edi. Oh, easy. Easy. I know they call it easy time. What are the dates on these? Okay, you want to go to Amsterdam with this bra? Yes. Sounds great. Yes we do. It's, it's May 17th through the 19th, and it's going to be in Amsterdam and it's going to be an extraordinary event. We're taking the lid off this thing now because, uh, there's, um, the importance of it is growing. Uh, what ECI is doing is they're going to really walk us through the roadmap and they'd been the innovators. It'd probably been the strongest leading innovator company of all the recent companies for just the, the ability to get things done quickly. Put an FSL server size to controller inside of a regular, you know, fit the build of a, of a know basically a controller that it's core for core processors, quad core processors and, and, and it just sort of new paradigm as shaking all the other vendors in there. You're doing something incredible now. They're kind of, they were going to reduce it. They're going to get fs 20. So it's going to use smaller compact is you had the same from inability. It's just cost less money. And so they do the wireless thing. So they've got the FTO for coming out and all those things. Clever and amazing thing. Lim who in charge came up with some very, very interesting things.

Eric Stromquist: No, Kenny, you're, you're, you're so right about the technology. But listen, let's focus on the event itself because these guys know how to throw a party where up go to Europe. Okay. And write it off on your taxes. These guys, you'll learn stuff. But man, we've been to all the major soccer stadiums. I made these guys know how to throw a party. It is the best time you'll have. You'll learn a lot. You meet integrators from all around the world now Kenny, Brett and I are going to be there. Maybe Aaron Gorka even show up if he gets out of bed long enough to see what's going on here. But uh, but so that's going on. We've got that. We got real calm. Be Con coming up Kenny in Nashville, Tennessee and then we've got the Afore mentioned a HAYSTAK CONNECT. Hey look, get started. We got to start at the beginning here. We got national [inaudible] you got, what do you mean? We have to start at the beginning to see that much 26 this week we got a major event down in Baltimore. And anybody close to that, you go to it. It's one of the best, uh, you know, uh, in, in our, each department of the country and is great to network and get great training. Uh, it's start, just wait, we have controls con coming up May 2nd through the fourth up there in Detroit. And I'll tell you why that's another one. We have a discount code putting in control trends when you registered. Then we go to project haystack. Okay. May 17th and 18th. I'm sorry. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. May I have, we just had the post up so, uh, that's on the side. You can go to the site and check it out, but I'm just with my, my, my emphasis is on bang, Bang, Bang. But the, uh, it's gonna be uh, uh, a resort area too. That's extraordinary. Anyhow, you're right, it's at the Paradise Island, Paradise Island. And uh, it's May 13th through the 15th. I ride right before we go to go to Holland. But it last but not least, June 11th through the 14th real calm. I be con that's going to be in Nashville, Tennessee. And we also have a controls trans code coming from Jim Young and the, excuse me, Howard Berger and Lisa, which too. So we're excited about it because we're starting as a pivot point for this, this incredible information. Obviously people can't make it to all of them, but that's where you need to do your homework. If you're an integrator and you're learning about this stuff, uh, you know, you might want to go to a haystack because you can start using that template. If you're, you're into the integration and you want to work with the latest and greatest set of tools, do you need to get the easy Ios Global World Conference? You get the additional benefit of some travel and they do have a spectacular today program. Uh, and then if you're in the real estate business and you're servicing people that make the need to know how they can make a smarter, more intelligent, more connected building, then you need to go to real calm. So hang on. There's one more county. Hmm. Very well done. That was nicely done. Okay. Very succinct to the point. I love it. Now, if you need an integrator to put all this great technology and we know a pretty good one in Atlanta on name Entech Brett, tell us how people get hold of Edtech and, and some of the things you guys do,

Brent Burrows: uh, to get ahold of Entek.com. Uh, you know, go to our website, all the contact information, um, or call Eric and he'll get you over to us. Um, but, uh, but what we do is we try to offer, you know, an an all in one solution. You know, we'd like to thank you. Now we'll do a little bit of everything. What we'll do. Anything that you let us do, you know, Kinda like you said before, you want me to paint it green, I'll paint it green. Yeah. Um, so, uh, so, you know, we do a, the HPAC controls, uh, cardax card access, integrating those systems together. Uh, and then the mechanical HPAC, uh, you know, do all that systems analytics. Um, you know, we try and be, you know, either an all in one solution or if, you know, take one. No, extremely happy with your mechanical company. We'd love to do your controls, vice versa.

Eric Stromquist: Well, the other thing too, Brent and I want to bring up your dad and your company has and more national account work. So if you're a big box or even a little box retailer that has multiple locations across the United States, your dad's been doing that for the last 40 years with major accounts. So, you know, a lot of times people that they like assist and they want something put in and uh, uh, I'm going to tell us about your dad before we go. You'll like this canning, uh, all across the country. So you guys do national accounts as well and do a great job with that. So here's the story. How many of you know who doctor Laura is? I don't. Oh Gosh. He had to talk to her. She was like a battle ax. It's like, you know, you've got to be tough. You've got to do this and you, you know kind of like a doctor Phil on steroids, although Dr Phils Kinda cuter and she is but uh anyway your dad is doing a borders bookstore and doctor Laura is, they're doing a book signing and your dad's up on a ladder working, not working on the Vav box and all of a sudden he hears this voice, hey come over here and move these books and he kind of looks down and goes, who's doctor Laura or she's asking me to go do some stuff. So I just waved at her and went right back up and just anyone you ever get a chance to talk to branch dad had worlds, one of the funniest guys and then she wanted the best story tellers rent. Man, thank you so much for being on the show this week. Very excited about what you and Erin, you're going to come up with a herons. Episode seven is up on control, a controlled product. I'm going to see control controlled fence.com was a great episode and I guess starting at episode eight will probably be you and him working together. So excited about that and they controlled trans community is lucky to have you on board, so thank you for doing this. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me looking forward. All right, so now, now I know you normally listen to the podcast so we got to practice this outro,

Ken Smyers: two more things real quick. I'm sorry this is part of the show. Okay, go ahead. Well anyhow, uh, we do have a shout out. We want to shout out to Bill Schafer. He commented on the Scott Cochrane, um, article that we posted in Scott's comments and the, you know, just to give you an idea of the flavor and the interesting inputs we get controlled transits that I've read Scott Cochrane's article on automated buildings. I've been involved in a couple of projects with temporary networks were necessary. So I found Stanford solution. Interesting. Your article left me with a couple of questions and thoughts about using Ip controllers versus MSTP controllers and how vendors in it departments handle them. And so we have, uh, an opportunity for we forward that to Scott for a response, but we invite all our control trans community to please, these are the kinds of conversations and dialogues we'd love to have because everybody benefits from it. You might get your own little answer. Uh, you know, you might get your own private answer or young interest answer, uh, responded to, but we all benefit from it. And then last but not least, I want to compliment Eric Strom quest, who's the most hardest working creative, innovative social media guy out there? Eric, he put up four youtube videos. Tell us, tell us about each one real quick. One minute or less on each one of them.

Eric Stromquist: Why? Can't really remember all. But as we said on the show last week, we get content up quicker on the youtube channel. So Brent, I don't know about you, but you know how long, a lot from youtube. So we get a lot of questions. Like, for example, we have one on, what's the difference between two way and three way valves, which a ghuy like you knows , but we created a video for that. Uh, and so we are going to be putting more and more HVAC TECH TRAING VIDEOS on our YOUTUBE CHANNEL. Youtube content up here. So please subscribe to the channel.

New Speaker: stromquist.com dmsconytrols.com ent

https://kit.com/ControlTrends/gear-we-use-to-shoot-the-show

https://kit.com/ControlTrends/books-we-recommened

Episode 307 of ControlTalk NOW features our interview with industry expert Scott Cochrane, who asks the vendors, “Where’s the APP?”

Check out what happened on ControlTrends this week

Episode 307: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for Week Ending Mar 17, 2019

March 17, 2019 No Comments

Episode 307 of ControlTalk NOW features our interview with industry expert Scott Cochrane, who asks the vendors, “Where’s the APP?” Check out what happened on

Read More »

Episode 306: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for Week Ending Mar 10, 2019

March 10, 2019 No Comments

The 2019 ControlTrends Awards will be held at the BB King’s Blues Club in Orlando, FL — Followed by a Super Bowl Tailgate Party Extravaganza!

Read More »

Episode 305: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for Week Ending Mar 3, 2019

March 3, 2019 1 Comment

How will Artificial Intelligence Change the Smart Buildings Industry? Dollar Driven Decision-Makers want Data into Insights, Insights into Action, and Action into Revenue. Will AI

Read More »

Next Generation Innovation Episode 6: Let’s Talk HVAC Software Hacks Young Gun Style

March 1, 2019 No Comments

On this podcast, I talk HVAC software and controls with the great young minds ( young guns) in the HVAC Industry. Ok, I know what

Read More »

Episode 304: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast: Exploring the Smart Building Controls Opportunity of the Decade

February 25, 2019 No Comments

This might be the Smart Building Controls Opportunity of a lifetime! Good morning ControlTrends Community, Eric here.  Ken is without power in Pittsburgh, so I

Read More »

Episode 303: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Feb 17, 2019

February 17, 2019 No Comments

Episode 303: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Feb 17, 2019 provides summary coverage of the 2019 Siemens Talon Summit

Read More »

Episode 302: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Feb 10, 2019

February 10, 2019 No Comments

Episode 302: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Feb 10, 2019 takes the future head on — with interviews with

Read More »

Episode 301: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Feb 3, 2019

February 4, 2019 No Comments

Episode 301: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Feb 3, 2019, features interviews with Ken Sinclair, owner and editor of

Read More »

Celebrating Our 300th Episode of ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast

January 27, 2019 No Comments

Episode 300: ControlTalk NOW — The Smart Building and HVAC controls Videocast and PodCast for week ending Jan 27, 2019 celebrates the 300th episode of

Read More »

Episode 299: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Jan 20, 2019

January 20, 2019 2 Comments

Episode 299: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Jan 20, 2019 features the 2018 ControlTrends Awards Winners, the Class of

Read More »

Episode 298: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Jan 6, 2019

January 6, 2019 No Comments

Episode 298: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Jan 6, 2019 delivers a most unique meeting of the minds, as

Read More »

Episode 297: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Dec 30, 2018

December 30, 2018 No Comments

Episode 297: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Dec 30, 2018 brings us to the brink of another New Year.

Read More »

Episode 296: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Dec 23, 2018

December 23, 2018 No Comments

Episode 296: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Dec 23, 2018 features ANT Technologies’ Aaron Gorka, who podcasts his inaugural

Read More »

Episode 295: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Dec 16, 2018

December 16, 2018 No Comments

Episode 295: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Dec 16, 2018 features our interview with ACI’s Tech Support Manager, Matt

Read More »

Episode 294: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Dec 9, 2018

December 9, 2018 No Comments

Episode 294: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Dec 9, 2018 brings us another week closer to the 2018 ControlTrends

Read More »

Episode 293: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Dec 2, 2018

December 3, 2018 No Comments

Episode 293: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Dec 2, 2018 features owner and editor, Ken Sinclair, who discusses the

Read More »

Episode 292: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Nov 18, 2018

November 18, 2018 No Comments

Episode 292: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Nov 18, 2018 features interviews with two industry experts: Scott Cochrane, president

Read More »

Episode 291: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Nov 11, 2018

November 12, 2018 No Comments

Episode 291: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Nov 11, 2018 is one of our most exciting and anticipated CTN’s

Read More »

Episode 290: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Nov 4, 2018

November 4, 2018 No Comments

Episode 290: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Nov 4, 2018, features Lynxspring’s Marc Petock, who is joined by Adam

Read More »

Episode 289: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending October 28, 2018

October 28, 2018 No Comments

Episode 289: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending October 28, 2018 features our extensive video coverage of the 2018 Honeywell

Read More »

Episode 288: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending October 20, 2018

October 22, 2018 No Comments

Episode 288: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Oct 20, 2018, comes to you from the Renaissance Orlando at Seaworld,

Read More »

Episode 287: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending October 14, 2018

October 14, 2018 No Comments

Episode 287: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending October 14, 2018 features our how to get yourself “Edge-You-Cated” interview with

Read More »

Episode 286: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending October 7, 2018

October 7, 2018 No Comments

Episode 286: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending October 7, 2018 features our interview with Dan Preston, Director, Independent Distribution

Read More »

Episode 285: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending September 30, 2018

October 1, 2018 No Comments

Episode 285: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending September 30, 2018 features guest interviews with Gina Elliott, VP, Americas, EasyIO,

Read More »

Episode 284: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending September 23, 2018

September 24, 2018 No Comments

Episode 284: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending September 23, 2018 features our interview with Building Automation expert, Daryl Clasen,

Read More »

Episode 283: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending September 16, 2018

September 16, 2018 No Comments

Episode 283: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending September 16, 2018 features a cursory review of the 2018 CGNA Synergy

Read More »

Episode 282: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending September 9, 2018

September 10, 2018 No Comments

Episode 282: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending September 9, 2018 continues with its international flavor with reportage from Tuscany,

Read More »

Episode 281: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending September 2, 2018

September 2, 2018 No Comments

Episode 281: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending September 2, 2018 is a truncated version of CTN from Eric’s hotel

Read More »

Episode 280: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending August 26, 2018

August 26, 2018 No Comments

Episode 280: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending August 26, 2018 provides advanced insight into the 2018 ControlTrends Awards, which

Read More »

Episode 279: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending August 19, 2018

August 19, 2018 No Comments

Episode 279: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending August 19, 2018 delivers a host of industry news and updates, featuring

Read More »

Episode 278: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending August 12, 2018

August 12, 2018 1 Comment

Episode 278: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending August 12, 2018, finds automatedbuildings.com’s Ken Sinclair stepping in as co-host for

Read More »

Episode 277: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending August 5, 2018

August 5, 2018 No Comments

Episode 277: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending August 5, 2018, continues its inquiry into the humanization of buildings —

Read More »

Episode 276: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending July 30, 2018

July 29, 2018 No Comments

Episode 276: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending July 30, 2018 features another field interview update from Aaron Gorka, Innovation

Read More »

Episode 275: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending July 22, 2018

July 22, 2018 1 Comment

Episode 275: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending July 22, 2018 features interviews with Therese Sullivan, Director of Channel Marketing

Read More »

Episode 274: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending July 15, 2018

July 15, 2018 No Comments

Episode 274: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending July 15, 2018, features Ken Sinclair, owner and editor Automated Buildings, who

Read More »

Episode 273: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending July 1, 2018

July 1, 2018 No Comments

Episode 273: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending July 1, 2018, features a discussion with industry expert, Chief Communications Officer

Read More »

Episode 272: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending June 24, 2018

June 25, 2018 No Comments

Episode 272: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending June 24, 2018 brings us to the mid-year point of 2018 (already).

Read More »

Episode 271: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending June 17, 2018

June 17, 2018 1 Comment

Episode 271: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending June 17, 2018 features an interview with Ken Sinclair (recently returned from

Read More »

Episode 270: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending June 10, 2018

June 10, 2018 No Comments

Episode 270: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending June 10, 2018, features an amazing capture of the 2018 Realcomm|IBcon Conference

Read More »

Episode 269: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending June 3, 2018

June 4, 2018 3 Comments

Episode 269: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending June 3, 2018, features a review of the 2018 Realcomm|IBcon Conference in

Read More »

Episode 268: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending May 27, 2018

May 29, 2018 No Comments

Episode 268: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending May 27, 2018 features an interview with Siemens’ Senior Sales Manager, Josh

Read More »

Episode 267: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending May 20, 2018

May 20, 2018 2 Comments

Episode 267: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending May 20, 2018 keeps the ControlTrends Community’s finger on the industry’s pulse

Read More »

Episode 266: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending May 13, 2018

May 13, 2018 1 Comment

Episode 266: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending May 13, 2018 features a provocative discussion about the evolving role of

Read More »

Episode 265: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending May 6, 2018

May 7, 2018 1 Comment

Episode 265: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending May 6, 2018 features an in-depth interview with CGNA’s Executive Director, Mike

Read More »

Episode 264: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Apr 29, 2018

April 29, 2018 No Comments

Episode 264: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Apr 29, 2018 introduces Atlanta’s newest debutante and future ControlTalk NOW host,

Read More »

Episode 263: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Apr 22, 2018

April 22, 2018 1 Comment

Episode 263: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending April 22, 2018 is co-hosted by Therese Sullivan, editor of Building Context,

Read More »

Episode 262: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Apr 15, 2018

April 15, 2018 1 Comment

Episode 262: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending April 15, 2018, features an interview with owner and editor, Ken Sinclair,

Read More »

Episode 260: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Mar 25, 2018

March 25, 2018 No Comments

Episode 260: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending March 25, 2018 features visionary Jim Young, Founder and CEO of Realcomm

Read More »

Episode 259: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Mar 18, 2018

March 18, 2018 1 Comment

Episode 259: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Mar 18, 2018 begins with a uniquely insightful discussion with seasoned industry

Read More »

Episode 258: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Mar 11, 2018

March 11, 2018 No Comments

Episode 258: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending March 11, 2018 features an interview with Alper Üzmezler, BASSG’s Managing Partner

Read More »

Episode 257: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Mar 4, 2018

March 4, 2018 No Comments

Episode 257: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Mar 4, 2018, prefaces Ken Sinclair’s March edition of Automated Buildings, and

Read More »

Episode 256: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Feb 25, 2018

February 25, 2018 No Comments

Episode 256: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Feb 25, 2018 features our interview with Tridium’s Ed Merwin, Director Vykon

Read More »

Episode 255: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Feb 18, 2018

February 18, 2018 1 Comment

Episode 255: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Feb 18, 2018 features our interview and cyber security discussion with two

Read More »

Episode 254: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Feb 11, 2018

February 11, 2018 1 Comment

Episode 254: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Feb 11, 2018 features two of our industry’s most prominent voices: Ken

Read More »

Episode 253: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Feb 4, 2018

February 4, 2018 No Comments

Episode 253: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Feb 4, 2018 features our 2-minute teaser video of the 2017 ControlTrends

Read More »

Episode 252: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Jan 28, 2018

January 28, 2018 No Comments

Episode 252: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Jan 28, 2018 features the 2017 ControlTrends Award winners, as well as

Read More »

Episode 251: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Jan 14, 2018

January 14, 2018 No Comments

Episode 251: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Jan 14, 2018 features an insightful interview with Automated Buildings’ Ken Sinclair.

Read More »

Episode 250: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Jan 7, 2018

January 7, 2018 No Comments

Episode 250: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Jan 7, 2018 features our interview with Dan Flaherty, Vice President of

Read More »

Episode 249: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Dec 24, 2017

December 24, 2017 No Comments

Episode 249: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending Dec 24, 2017 features two uniquely insightful interviews with Nicole Conklin, Cochrane

Read More »

Episode 248: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending Dec 17, 2017

December 17, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 248: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending December 17, 2017 features Ken Sinclair, owner and editor of Automated Buildings,

Read More »

Episode 247: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for Week Ending December 3, 2017

December 3, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 247: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings Videocast and PodCast for week ending December 3, 2017 features interviews with Network as a Service expert Ron

Read More »

Episode 246: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for Week Ending November 19, 2017

November 20, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 246: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for week ending November 19, 2017 features interviews with two of the industry’s most prominent thought leaders,

Read More »

Episode 245: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for Week Ending November 12, 2017

November 13, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 245: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for week ending November 12, 2017 features another great interview and discussion with Ken Sinclair, owner and

Read More »

Episode 244: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for Week Ending November 5, 2017

November 6, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 244: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for week ending November 5, 2017 features interviews with industry experts, Steven Guzelimian, President, Optergy,

Read More »

Episode 243 ControlTalk Now The Smart Buildings Podcast “the short episode”

October 30, 2017 1 Comment

Which  manufacturer has taken a page out of legendary Green Bay Packers football coach Vine Lombardi’s playbook? There is a new player in the sensor

Read More »

Episode 242: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for Week Ending October 15, 2017

October 15, 2017 7 Comments

Episode 242: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for week ending October 15, 2017, features our interview with Ken Sinclair, owner and editor,

Read More »

Episode 241: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for Week Ending October 1, 2017

October 1, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 241: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for week ending October 1, 2017 returns to the videocast format and begins with The

Read More »

Episode 240: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for Week Ending September 24, 2017

September 24, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 240: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for week ending September 24, 2017 features an interview with Tridium’s Ed Merwin, Director, Vykon Automation Energy

Read More »

Episode 239: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for Week Ending September 17, 2017

September 17, 2017 No Comments

Episode 239: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for week ending September 17, 2017, begins with an exploration of the potential impacts the “Amazon Effect”

Read More »

Episode 237: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for Week Ending August 27, 2017

August 28, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 237: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for week ending August 27, 2017 spotlights three prominent industry experts, starting with Honeywell’s National Accounts Sales

Read More »

Episode 236: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for Week Ending August 20, 2017

August 20, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 236: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for week ending August 20, 2017 features an enormously insightful interview with one of the most progressive

Read More »

Episode 235: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for Week Ending August 13, 2017

August 13, 2017 2 Comments

Episode 235: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for week ending August 13, 2017 features two insightful interviews with Marc Petock, Lynxspring’s Chief Communications Officer

Read More »

Episode 234: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for Week Ending August 6, 2017

August 6, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 234: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings PodCast for week ending August 6, 2017 features more great insight from energy expert, Mark Jewell, and two

Read More »

Episode 233: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending July 23, 2017

July 23, 2017 No Comments

Episode 233: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending July 23, 2017 humbly thanks the ControlTrends Community for breaking the 2 million views

Read More »

Episode 232: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending July 16, 2017

July 16, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 232: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending July 16, 2017, features our interview Smart Building Industry expert Matthew Schwartz, P.E., CEM,

Read More »

Episode 231: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending July 9, 2017

July 9, 2017 2 Comments

Episode 231: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending July 9th, 2017, highlights Mark Jewell’s on-line Four-Day Energy-focused Boot Camp. Take advantage of

Read More »

Episode 230: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending July 2, 2017

July 2, 2017 2 Comments

Episode 230: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending July 2, 2017 features interviews with Ken Sinclair, owner and editor of automatedbuildings.com, and

Read More »

Episode 229: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending June 25, 2017

June 26, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 229: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending June 25, 2017 features an indepth review of our video coverage of the EasyIO’s

Read More »

Episode 228: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending June 19, 2017

June 19, 2017 1 Comment

Episode 228: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending June 19, 2017 was recorded in San Diego, CA, at the RealComm|IBcon 2017 event.

Read More »

Episode 227: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending June 11, 2017

June 11, 2017 No Comments

Episode 227: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending June 11, 2017 features our coverage of Controls-Con 2017 in Detroit, MI to celebrate

Read More »

Episode 226: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending June 4, 2017

June 5, 2017 No Comments

Episode 226: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending June 4, 2017 throws a little Scottish Enlightenment, Manchester United football, and Beatles nostalgia

Read More »

ControlTrends People is Back: Check out Jeff Houpt from Automation Integrated

June 2, 2017 2 Comments

ControlTrends People is back! You will remember that CTP is a project I am very passionate about. On the podcast we do a deep dive

Read More »

Episode 225: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending May 14, 2017

May 14, 2017 No Comments

Episode 225: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending May 14, 2017 captures the essence and impact of the 2017 Haystack Connect event

Read More »

Episode 224: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending May 7, 2017

May 7, 2017 No Comments

Episode 224: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending May 7, 2017 features interviews with Leroy Walden, President and Chief Consultant, Highrose Consultants;

Read More »

Episode 223: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Apr 30, 2017

May 1, 2017 No Comments

Episode 223: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Apr 30, 2017 takes on a special dimension as we videoed the show on

Read More »

Episode 222: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Apr 23, 2017

April 23, 2017 2 Comments

Episode 222: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Apr 23, 2017 features interviews with DLR Groups’ Ruairi M. Blackwell; Drew Mire, CEO

Read More »

Episode 221: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Apr 16, 2017

April 16, 2017 No Comments

Episode 221: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Apr 16, 2017 features an interview with one of the most venerated experts in

Read More »

Episode 220: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Apr 2, 2017

April 3, 2017 No Comments

Episode 220: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Apr 2, 2017 features video coverage of the 2016 ControlTrends Awards Young Gun recipients

Read More »

Episode 219: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Mar 19, 2017

March 20, 2017 No Comments

Episode 219: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Mar 19, 2017 Congratulates Distech Controls, Honeywell Spyder, Blue Ridge Technologies, and EasyIO. We

Read More »

Episode 218: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Mar 12, 2017

March 13, 2017 No Comments

Episode 218: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Mar 12, 2017 features our interview with one of the most knowledgeable experts in

Read More »

Episode 217: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Mar 5, 2017

March 5, 2017 No Comments

Episode 217: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Mar 5, 2017, features an in-depth interview with Master Systems Integrator, Jason Houck of

Read More »

Episode 215: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Feb 19, 2017

February 19, 2017 No Comments

Episode 215: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Feb 19, 2017 features interviews with EasyIO’s VP Worldwide Sales, Mike Marston, and Automated

Read More »

Episode 214: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Feb 12, 2017

February 12, 2017 No Comments

Episode 214: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Feb 12, 2017 features highlights from the 2016 ControlTrends Awards including the Women of

Read More »

Episode 213: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Jan 22, 2017

January 23, 2017 No Comments

Episode 213: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Jan 22, 2017, sets the final stage for the 2016 ControlTrends Awards to be

Read More »

Episode 212: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Jan 15, 2017

January 16, 2017 2 Comments

Episode 212: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Jan 15, 2017 introduces Tridium’s new President and General Manager, Jim Bland. The 2016

Read More »

Episode 211: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Jan 8, 2017

January 8, 2017 3 Comments

Episode 211: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Jan 8, 2017 features our interview with Ken Sinclair, owner and editor of Automated

Read More »

Episode 210: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Jan 1, 2017

January 3, 2017 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Jan 1, 2017 recaps the year’s major event coverage, highlights many of the 2016 Most Impactful

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Dec 18, 2016

December 18, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Dec 18, 2016 begins with special thanks to two of our Platinum Sponsors: Optergy and Panel

Read More »

ControlTrends People Episode 6: EasyIO’s Lim Hoon Chiat

December 13, 2016 2 Comments

In this episode of ControlTrends People, we explore the life of Lim Hoon Chiat. Lim is now recognized as one of the most successful and

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Announces Finalist For 2016 ControlTrends Awards

December 12, 2016 2 Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending December 12, 2016 congratulates the 2016 ControlTrends Awards finalists! ControlTrends would like to thank the ControlTrends

Read More »

CTN 207: ControlTalk Now The Smart Buildings Video cast and Podcast

December 6, 2016 1 Comment

Welcome to ControlTalk Now the Smart Buildings Video Cast and Podcast. Due to travel and the holidays, this episode will be a bit different. We

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Nov 20, 2016

November 21, 2016 4 Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Nov 20, 2016 is highlighted by guest appearances from Schneider Electric’s Channel Brand Development Leader, Stacy

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Nov 13, 2016

November 14, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Nov 13, 2016 features an interview with Therese Sullivan of BuildingContext.Me, our eyes and ears covering

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Nov 6, 2016

November 6, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Nov 6, 2016 begins with a review of Ken Sinclair’s November edition of Automated Buildings followed

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Oct 30, 2016

October 31, 2016 4 Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Oct 30, 2016 features interviews with three industry experts: Ken Sinclair, owner and editor of Automated

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Oct 23, 2016

October 23, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Oct 23, 2016 starts with the release of the 2016 ControlTrends Awards Nomination Ballot! This is

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Oct 16, 2016

October 17, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Oct 16, 2016 features highlights and interviews from three major industry events: Johnson Controls’ CBC16 in

Read More »

200th Episode of ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast and DAY 2 of Johnson Controls’ CBC16

October 9, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTrends is delighted to bring you our 200th episode of ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending October 9th, 2016, while covering DAY

Read More »

Episode 199 ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Sep 25, 2016

September 26, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Sep 25, 2016 features Intelligent Buildings’ Director of Cyber Security, Fred Gordy, who details the exposure

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Sep18, 2016

September 19, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Sep 18, 2016 highlights the trends impacting our industry: CGNA’s Fall Meeting; New ControlTrends Awards category

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Sep 11, 2016

September 12, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending Sep 11, 2016 comes from Chicago, IL, where ControlTrends attended the 2016 Controls Group North America

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending Sep 4, 2016

September 5, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending September 4, 2016 was a newsworthy week indeed. Tridium’s highly effective and successful President and General

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending August 28, 2016

August 28, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending August 28, 2016 — Is aptly referred to this week as “The Show that Almost Was,”

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending August 21, 2016

August 22, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending August 21, 2016 introduces the ControlTrends Community to the executive forces now driving Distech’s redoubled efforts

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending August 14, 2016

August 15, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending August 14, 2016 features interviews with two well-recognized industry leaders: Scott Cochrane, president of Cochrane Supply,

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for Week Ending August 7, 2016

August 8, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast|PodCast for week ending August 7, 2016 features interviews with Jenny Stentz, VP of Products & Distribution North America, at

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast/PodCast for Week Ending July 31, 2016

July 31, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast/PodCast for week ending July 31, 2016 offers a modified show, because of the excellent, but lengthy audio content. Our

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast for Week Ending July 24, 2016

July 24, 2016 3 Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast for week ending July 24, 2016 begins with Wired Magazine’s Cade Metz and his coming trends interview — citing

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast for Week Ending July 10, 2016

July 10, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast for week ending July 10, 2016 gives special thanks to this week’s Platinum Sponsors — EasyIO and Neptronic, as

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast for Week Ending July 3, 2016

July 3, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast for week ending July 3, 2016 brings attention to the people-side of the Buildings Automation industry while manning the

Read More »

Control Talk Now — The Smart Buildings Video Cast and Podcast Live From Silicon Valley

June 27, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW for week ending June 26, 2016 takes a deeper dive into Realcomm/IBcon 2016 with Marc Petock joining us as co-host. Our first special

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast for Week Ending June 19, 2016

June 19, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast for week ending June 19, 2016 continues its coverage of the 2016 Niagara Summit with interviews from Vendors Showcase

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast for Week Ending June 12, 2016

June 12, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast for week ending June 12, 2016 features a rather deep and dark Cyber Security update from Fred Gordy, and

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast for Week Ending June 5, 2016

June 5, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending June 5, 2016 provides a full range of HVAC and Building Automation events and

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending May 22, 2016

May 23, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending May 22, 2016 features video and interview coverage of the 2016 Niagara Summit held

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending May 8, 2016

May 9, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending May 8, 2016 features interviews with Smart Buildings Controls Renaissance expert Ken Sinclair, owner

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending May 1, 2016

May 1, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending May 1, 2016 highlights two of the most important and career-rejuvenating industry event dates

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending April 24, 2016

April 25, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending April 24, 2016 features coverage on the 2016 CGNA Synergy Showcase meeting from Newport

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending April 17, 2016

April 18, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending April 17, 2016 takes a good look at the technology driving Honeywell’s second generation

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending April 10, 2016

April 10, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending April 10, 2016 reviews Ken Sinclair’s April Automated Buildings edition and features the wrap-up

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending March 27, 2016

March 27, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending March 27, 2016 reviews KMC’s New Conquest BACnet® Router; CABA’s Intelligent Buildings & Digital

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending March 20, 2016

March 20, 2016 2 Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending March 20, 2016 includes RedLINK E-Learning from Honeywell; FIN Stack Webinar from J2 Innovation;

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending March 13, 2016

March 14, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending March 13, 2016 does a hasty review of Week Ending March 6th and features

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending February 29, 2016

February 29, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending February 29, 2016 features interviews with Ed Merwin and Therese Sullivan and ControlTrends Awards

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending February 21, 2016

February 21, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending February 21, 2016 delivers another 2015 ControlTrends Awards highlight reel with videos of EasyIO,

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending February 14, 2016

February 15, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending February 14, 2016 is a highlight reel of Siemens, ACI, and KMC receiving their

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending February 7, 2016

February 8, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending February 7, 2016 features interviews with Dr. Igor Mezic and John Norris of Ecorithm

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending January 31, 2016

February 1, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending January 31, 2016 reviews the 2015 ControlTrends Awards including the AHR Expo’s Industry Service

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending January 17, 2016

January 17, 2016 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending January 17, 2016, includes Drone Enthusiast and J2 Innovation’s VP of Marketing, Scott Muench;

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending January 10, 2016

January 11, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending January 10, 2016 begins our direct focus on those people, products, and solutions —

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending January 3, 2016

January 4, 2016 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending January 3, 2016 welcomes the ControlTrends Community into 2016! Featuring an insightful interview with

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending December 27, 2015

December 28, 2015 2 Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending December 27, 2015 features interviews with two more nominees for System Integrators of the

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending December 20, 2015

December 21, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending December 20, 2015 begins with OME’s Rick Werner and EasyIO’s Mike Marston discussing the

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending December 13, 2015

December 14, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending December 13, 2015 features interviews with Control Network Solutions’ Mike Welch, Buildings Context’s Therese

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending December 6, 2015

December 7, 2015 3 Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending December 6, 2015 features interviews with Automated Buildings’ owner and editor, Ken Sinclair; Ecorithm’s

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending November 22, 2015

November 23, 2015 5 Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending November 22, 2015 announces the 2015 ControlTrends Awards Finalists! Cybersecurity SITREP from SmartCore’s Fred

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending November 15, 2015

November 16, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending November 15, 2015 features special guest Marc Petock; interviews and product updates with Lynxspring’s

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending November 8, 2015

November 9, 2015 2 Comments

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending November 8, 2015 reminds the ControlTrends Community that the nomination period is ending November

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending November 1, 2015

November 1, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending November 1, 2015 thanks Scott Cross from Temperature Controls Systems, Dallas, TX, for that

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending October 25, 2015

October 26, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending October 25, 2015 takes us to the Belimo Platinum Conference in Aruba, where Eric,

Read More »

ControlTalk Now — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending October 18, 2015

October 18, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk Now — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending October 18, 2015 features Rob Allen of 7 Minutes in Control and his coverage

Read More »

ControlTalk Now — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending October 11, 2015

October 12, 2015 No Comments

Apology from Eric: I am so sorry about my audio on this episode. We tried a different set up and my mic settings are way

Read More »

ControlTalk Now — Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for Week Ending October 4, 2015

October 5, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk Now, the Smart Buildings VideoCast and Podcast for week ending October 4, 2015. It has been another amazing week on the go — with

Read More »

ControlTalk Now Smart Buildings Video Cast for September 6, 2015

September 7, 2015 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW for the week ending September 6th, 2015 features Siemens’ Come Fly With Us RDY2000 Commercial Thermostat Promotion. Already dubbed the ReadyStat 2000, it

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending August 30, 2015

August 31, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW for the week ending August 30, 2015 features guest interviews with Neptronic’s Luis Melgares and SI Consultants’ Vinayak Sane; new products from Thermokon

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending August 23, 2015

August 24, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW for the week ending August 23, 2015 continues its focus on Cyber Security Awareness with Data Center Equipment Exposure; CABA’s Landmark CyberSecurity Research

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending August 16, 2015

August 17, 2015 2 Comments

ControlTalk NOW for the week ending August 16, 2015 focuses on Cyber Security Awareness with a vulnerability summary from the National Cyber Awareness System, Tridium’s

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending August 9, 2015

August 9, 2015 3 Comments

ControlTalk NOW for the week ending August 9, 2015 is co-hosted by Rob Allen as we discuss Niagara 4 and the TridiumTalk Update; WattStopper’s new

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending August 2, 2015

August 2, 2015 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW for the week ending August 2, 2015 has two provocative cyber security posts from SmartCore’s cyber security evangelist and guru Fred Gordy, who

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending July 26, 2015

July 26, 2015 1 Comment

The posted content for ControlTalk NOW for the week ending July 26, 2015 is rather sparse, but is offset by importance, because during time away

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending July 19, 2015

July 19, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW for week ending July 19, 2015, features interviews with Tridium’s Ed Merwin, Siemens’ Paul Gilvydis, and Rob Allen’s 7 Minutes in Control with

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending July 12, 2015

July 13, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW for week ending July 12, 2015, features a recap of the 4th of July holiday week; interviews with Realcomm’s Jim Young, LumenCache’s Derek

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending June 28, 2015

June 29, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW week ending June 28, 2015 features products from BASSG, LLC, and ACI; DOE’s latest Crowdsourcing Initiative; interviews with Newcombe and Boyd’s Donny Walker,

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending June 21, 2015

June 21, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW week ending June 21, 2015 continues its coverage of the Realcomm|IBcon Event 2015, themed Real Change Right Now. The prophetic words of Bran

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending June 14, 2015

June 15, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW for the week ending June 14, 2015, features 2015 Realcomm|IBcon and Conference Live video highlights and interviews with Delta Controls’ Una de Boer,

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending May 31, 2015

June 1, 2015 7 Comments

Welcome to ControlTalk NOW for the week ending May 31, 2015, that also includes some posts we delayed while away at Haystack Connect, which dominated

Read More »

Haystack Connect 2015: Open Source Community Resumes Plenary Session, Colorado Springs, CO

May 19, 2015 1 Comment

The majestic snow covered Pikes Peak contrasted by the wondrous earthy red rock formations of the Garden of the Gods provided a suitably inspiring setting

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending May 10, 2015

May 11, 2015 1 Comment

Welcome to ControlTalk NOW for the week ending May 10, 2015. Fred Gordy asks if you’re ready to Pre-Act versus React and shares an incredible

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending May 3, 2015

May 4, 2015 1 Comment

Welcome to ControlTalk NOW week ending May 3, 2015. Our news begins with the Realcomm | IBcon June 8-10 meeting in San Antonio, TX. Be

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending April 26, 2015

April 27, 2015 1 Comment

Welcome to ControlTalk NOW week ending April 26, 2015. The CGNA Synergy Meeting in Savannah and Fred Gordy’s expert insight into the world of Cyber

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending April 19, 2015

April 20, 2015 No Comments

Welcome to ControlTalk NOW week ending April 19, 2015. Nino DiCosmo previews Tridium’s Open 4 Innovation; Functional Devices releases new product series; Contemporary Controls and

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending April 12, 2015

April 12, 2015 1 Comment

Welcome to ControlTalk NOW for week ending April 12, 2015. Our special guest this week is Varun Nagaraj, President and CEO of Sierra Monitor Corporation,

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast/Videocast Week Ending March 29, 2015

March 30, 2015 2 Comments

Welcome to ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast/Videocast for the week ending March 29, 2015. Our HVAC news of the week features a JCI highlight

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast/Videocast Week Ending March 22, 2015

March 23, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast/Videocast for Week Ending March 22, 2015. Join us for another ControlTalk NOW and another week of HVAC news featuring

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast/Videocast Week Ending March 15, 2015

March 15, 2015 No Comments

This week’s ControlTalk NOW features Blue Ridge Technologies — Unified Lighting Control experts; Acuity’s purchase of Distech Controls; EasyIO’s Partners Event in Paris; 2014 ControlTrends

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast Week Ending March 8, 2015

March 8, 2015 2 Comments

This week’s ControlTalk NOW features Daikin’s IoT game-changer, the Rebel RTU; Stromquist’s Tim Chamblee’s VFD Training Part 1 and Part 2; More about KMC’s Conquest

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast/Videocast Week Ending March 1, 2015

March 2, 2015 No Comments

This week’s ControlTalk NOW introduces several new products from KMC Controls and Functional Devices; interview coverage of KMC’s Erich Kreuter and JCI’s Guy Holden; Belimo’s

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast/Videocast Week Ending February 22, 2015

February 22, 2015 1 Comment

This week’s ControlTalk NOW continues with Automated Buildings, Ken Sinclair’s 2015 Connected Community Collaboratory video series coverage featuring two highly venerated members of the HVAC

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast/Videocast Week Ending February 15, 2015

February 16, 2015 No Comments

This week’s ControlTalk NOW reviews publisher and owner of Automated Buildings, Ken Sinclair’s 2015 Connected Community Collaboratory. This unique and informative video series captures the

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast/Videocast Week Ending February 8, 2015

February 9, 2015 1 Comment

This week’s ControlTalk NOW is a complete review of the highlights and winners of the 2014 ControlTrends Awards. We thank our hosts Lynxspring, Stromquist Company,

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast/Videocast Week Ending January 18, 2015

January 18, 2015 2 Comments

The 2014 ControlTrends Awards event is only eight days away! The voting phase is over and the votes are being tallied. It will be an

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast/Videocast Week Ending January 11, 2015

January 11, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s Premium sponsors Delta Controls and Neptronic. This week’s posts included updated SmartGrid.gov information; Visionary Jim Sinopoli’s Smart Buildings Predictions for

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast January 4, 2015

January 5, 2015 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW for the Week ending January 4, 2015. Pod Cast Show Notes: ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s Premium sponsors Honeywell and Siemens. This week,

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending December 28, 2014

December 29, 2014 2 Comments

PodCast Show Notes: ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s Premium sponsors EasyIO and DG Logik. Do not miss our featured interviews with 2014 ControlTrends nominees —

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending December 21, 2014

December 21, 2014 No Comments

PodCast Show Notes: ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s sponsors Contemporary Controls and International Solutions of America (ISA). 2014 ControlTrends Awards Nominees Nino DiCosmo, Tridium’s President

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending December 14, 2014

December 15, 2014 No Comments

PodCast Show Notes: ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s sponsor DGLogik–the game changer in the Internet of Things and the building automation industry leader in designing

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending December 7, 2014

December 8, 2014 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s sponsor Siemens, a globally trusted technology partner, consultant, service provider, system integrator and product vendor. Siemens Building Technologies has offerings

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending November 23, 2014

November 23, 2014 No Comments

ControlTrends thanks Neptronic, this week’s ControlTalk NOW Platinum sponsor. Founded in 1976, Neptronic has a rich history of HVAC industry firsts, beginning with the earliest

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending November 16, 2014

November 17, 2014 No Comments

ControlTrends thanks this week’s ControlTalk NOW Platinum sponsor, EasyIO — a world leader in Open Building Automation integration solutions and manufacturer of Ethernet based, DDC

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending November 9, 2014

November 9, 2014 1 Comment

ControlTrends thanks this week’s ControlTalk NOW Platinum sponsor, Honeywell! Honeywell invents and manufactures technologies to address some of the world’s toughest challenges initiated by revolutionary

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending November 2, 2014

November 3, 2014 No Comments

Welcome to this week’s ControlTalk NOW where the 2014 ControlTrends Awards finalists are featured. Congratulations to all of the finalists. ControlTrends thanks our Platinum sponsor

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending October 26, 2014

October 27, 2014 No Comments

Belimo is ControlTalk NOW’s sponsor for the Week Ending October 26, 2014. Belimo products help create comfort, safety, and efficiency in buildings. Belimo customer satisfaction

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for the Week Ending October 19, 2014

October 19, 2014 No Comments

This Episode of ControlTalk NOW: The Smart Building Podcast includes: ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast October 19, 2014, is sponsored by International Systems of

Read More »

ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast October 12, 2014

October 13, 2014 No Comments

ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast October 12, 2014 is sponsored by Contemporary Controls, nominated for 6 ControlTrends Awards. Contemporary Controls is your ideal automation

Read More »

ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast October 5, 2014

October 6, 2014 No Comments

ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast October 5, 2014 is sponsored by Siemens, nominated for over 10 ControlTrends Awards. Siemens offers a complete technical infrastructure

Read More »

ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast September 28, 2014

September 29, 2014 1 Comment

ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast September 28, 2014 is sponsored by Johnson Controls, nominated for 16 ControlTrends Awards, and world class manufacturer of one

Read More »

ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast September 21, 2014 from Valencia, Spain

September 21, 2014 1 Comment

ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast September 21, 2014 from Valencia, Spain. This week’s CTN Podcast Platinum Sponsor is Belimo, a listed technology company with

Read More »

ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast September 14, 2014 from Madrid, Spain

September 14, 2014 1 Comment

This week’s CTN Podcast Platinum Sponsor is EasyIO, who has taken a global leadership role in manufacturing of open source controllers and solutions. ControlTrends interviewed

Read More »

ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast Sep 7, 2014

September 7, 2014 2 Comments

Welcome to ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast for the week ending September 7, 2014. This week’s CTN Podcast Platinum Sponsor is Lynxspring. Lynxspring is

Read More »

ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast Aug 31, 2014

September 1, 2014 2 Comments

ControlTalk Now: The Smart Building Podcast for the week ending August 31, 2014. This week’s CTN Podcast sponsor is EasyIO, whose Worldwide Conference 2014, will

Read More »

ControlTalk Now For The Week Ending August 24, 2014

August 24, 2014 1 Comment

ControlTalk Now for the Week Ending August 24, 2014. This week’s Podcast of ControlTalk NOW is sponsored by International Systems of America (ISA). ISA takes

Read More »

ControlTalk Now for the Week Ending August 17, 2014

August 18, 2014 5 Comments

This week’s Podcast of ControlTalk NOW is sponsored by Platinum Sponsors Delta Controls and CopperTree Analytics. CTN makes a case for the rebound of the

Read More »

ControlTalk Now for the Week Ending August 10, 2014

August 10, 2014 1 Comment

This week’s ControlTalk NOW gives notice of the upcoming HVAC and DDC classes at the new Stromquist Atlanta facility; More highlights of 2013 ControlTrends Awards

Read More »

ControlTalk Now for the Week Ending July 27, 2014

July 27, 2014 1 Comment

This week’s ControlTalk NOW reveals the progress of important trends affecting the status quo of our industry beginning with the growing Project Haystack community and

Read More »

ControlTalk Now for the Week Ending July 20, 2014

July 21, 2014 1 Comment

This week’s ControlTalk NOW updates the ControlTrends Community on the DOE’s latest investments in Innovative Technologies and the EPA’s 2014 National Building Competition; Hepta Controls,

Read More »

ControlTalk Now for the Week Ending July 13, 2014

July 13, 2014 1 Comment

This week’s ControlTalk NOW reviews the CABA and Belimo webinars, interview with Lynxspring’s Bob Mealy, DOE’s July updates, Honeywell’s new WEBs-AX checker, more on robotic

Read More »

ControlTalk Now for the Week Ending July 6, 2014

July 7, 2014 3 Comments

This week’s ControlTalk NOW delivers vital information directly affecting the HVAC Industry status quo. Dell delivers their IoT and Productization Roadmap for the Smart Building;

Read More »

ControlTalk Now for the Week Ending June 29, 2014

June 29, 2014 3 Comments

Technology drives the trends, and the trends keep coming! Welcome to this week’s ControlTalk NOW featuring interviews with visionary Dave Lorenzini (WAVE COLLAPSE), Realcomm’s Jim

Read More »

ControlTalk Now (Remote) for Week Ending June 22, 2014

June 23, 2014 1 Comment

This Google+ episode of ControlTalk NOW has Eric connecting on the road from Woodstock, Virginia, amidst the beautiful Shenandoah Valley area. 2014 Realcomm/IBcon holds front

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending June 8, 2014

June 8, 2014 2 Comments

Welcome to this week’s ControlTalk NOW featuring Chris Lane and Episode One of Johnson Controls TechTalk Live. Our special guest and co-host is Mike Schwan

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending June 1, 2014

June 1, 2014 1 Comment

Welcome to this week’s ControlTalk NOW in which we introduce the Smart Building Series, along with new products from Magnum Energy Solutions, JCI, and the

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending May 25, 2014

May 26, 2014 1 Comment

Welcome to this week’s ControlTalk NOW, which features several new product releases, valuable technical information, new web-site info, video interviews with industry leaders, previews of

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending May 11, 2014

May 11, 2014 9 Comments

Welcome to this week’s ControlTalk NOW, which features interviews 2014 Niagara Summit sponsors EASYIO, SysMik, and Lynxsrping, Yardi’s strategic acquisition, Honeywell’s voice-controlled thermostat, several new

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending May 4, 2014

May 5, 2014 No Comments

Special thanks to EasyIO’s Mike Marston (of FG-32, Beast from the East fame) for that awesome introduction to ControlTalk NOW! This week, our Kerouac-ic trip

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending April 20, 2014

April 20, 2014 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW for week ending April 20, 2014 features another segment of The INNOVATOR, OME Facility Solutions’ Rick Warner does it again, and some informative

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending April 6, 2014

April 8, 2014 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW for week ending April 6, 2014 features Niagara Summit 2014 Powered By Possibilities, and Tridium’s VP of Marketing and Communications, Jenny Graves(@AllThingsJLG). Jenny

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending March 30, 2014

March 30, 2014 2 Comments

Welcome to ControlTalk NOW for week ending March 30, 2014. Spring is in the air (finally!) and the baseball season begins. This week’s guests are

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending March 23, 2014

March 23, 2014 1 Comment

This week’s ControlTalk NOW features Tech Tips, Red Carpet Interviews, Meeting Announcements, Product and Solution Infomercials, and HVAC News and Updates. As always, welcome to

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending March 16, 2014

March 17, 2014 No Comments

Mike Welch’s interview and review of DALI and LED Lighting are featured in this week’s ControlTalk NOW, along with another batch of new products, solutions,

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending March 9, 2014

March 9, 2014 1 Comment

The prospects of Spring and warmer weather are certainly worth the lost hour of time as we reach the March daylight savings milestone. This week’s

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending March 1, 2014

March 2, 2014 1 Comment

Welcome back to ControlTalk NOW. This week’s edition features interviews and articles with Mike Welch, Control Network Solutions who provides insight to the success (and

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending February 16, 2014

February 17, 2014 1 Comment

This week’s ControlTalk NOW lead post was HACKED: Not So Good News: Smart Building Industry Experiences Major Technology Challenge! Richard K. Warner, OM|E Facility Solutions,

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending February 9, 2014

February 10, 2014 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW thanks Roger Rebennack for that the enthusiastic introduction. This week in review was punctuated by the Target security event that brought HVAC’s critical

Read More »

ControlTalk Now for the Week Ending February 2, 2014

February 2, 2014 1 Comment

Welcome back to ControlTalk NOW. This week’s spotlight is the review of the 2013 ControlTrends Awards Show in NYC, at the B.B. King Blues Club

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending January 12, 2013 — ControlTrends Awards Review and Executive Interviews

January 13, 2014 2 Comments

ControlTalk NOW is packing the travel bags: video cameras, check; trophies, check;… Heather Deal is working her magic finalizing the critical details and converting ControlTrends

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending January 5, 2013 — ControlTrends Awards Voting in Progress

January 6, 2014 4 Comments

This week’s ControlTrends NOW reviews each category and each nominee, beginning with the 2013 Executive of the Year. These manufacturers, people, products, and solutions represent

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending December 22, 2013

December 22, 2013 2 Comments

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

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending December 15, 2013

December 16, 2013 3 Comments

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

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending December 8, 2013

December 9, 2013 No Comments

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

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending November 24, 2013

November 25, 2013 1 Comment

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

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW Week Ending November 17, 2013

November 18, 2013 4 Comments

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

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending November 10, 2013

November 11, 2013 1 Comment

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

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending November 3, 2013

November 3, 2013 12 Comments

The CTA Awards Committee thanks this week’s Platinum Sponsor DG Logik for their continued support. DGLux provides you with all of the tools you need

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending October 20, 2013

October 21, 2013 7 Comments

ControlTalk NOW thanks Controlco, one of the most preeminent distributors in the western part of the United States, for being this week’s sponsor and a

Read More »

ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending October 13, 2013

October 14, 2013 1 Comment

The ControlTrends Awards Nomination Committee wants to remind the ControlTrends Community at large that the nomination period will end at midnight this Tuesday, October 15th,

Read More »

ControlTalk Now For The Week Ending October 6, 2013

October 7, 2013 2 Comments

ControlTrends thanks this week’s sponsor Johnson Controls and Chris Eichmann. Johnson Controls delivers products, services and solutions that increase energy efficiency and lower operating costs

Read More »

ControlTalk Now For The Week Ending September 29, 2013

September 30, 2013 1 Comment

ControlTrends thanks this week’s sponsor Lynxspring and Terry Swope. Lyxnspring has changed the way control systems are built and distributed. Embracing open, interoperable platforms, Lynxspring

Read More »

ControlTalk Now For The Week Ending September 22, 2013

September 23, 2013 2 Comments

ControlTrends thanks this week’s sponsor Mike Marston and EasyIO featuring the “Beast from the East.” The EasyIO FG-32 Controller is designed to support Cloud services

Read More »

ControlTalk Now For The Week Ending September 15, 2013

September 16, 2013 1 Comment

ControlTrends thanks this week’s sponsor Johnson Controls featuring the Micro Drive VFD series, which are a cost-effective solution for low-horsepower applications. Available supply voltages include

Read More »

ControlTalk Now For The Week Ending August 25, 2013

August 25, 2013 1 Comment

ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s sponsor: DG Logik. DGLux The Visualization Platform: DGLux is a “drag & drop” visualization platform that enables you to design

Read More »

ControlTalk Now For The Week Ending August 18, 2013

August 19, 2013 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s sponsor: The ControlTrends Awards and the ControlTrends Awards Steering Committee. What Make The New Belimo Actuator Retrofit Kit Special? When

Read More »

ControlTalk Now For The Week Ending August 11, 2013

August 12, 2013 No Comments

ControlTalk NOW thanks Honeywell WEBs-AX Enterprise Security — this week’s Platinum sponsor! WEBs-AX Security works within the WEBs architecture or as a standalone system to

Read More »

ControlTalk Now For The Week Ending August 4, 2013

August 5, 2013 3 Comments

ControlTalk NOW thanks Lynxspring — this week’s Platinum sponsor! Founded in 2002, Lynxspring is changing way devices and systems communicate and collaborate across enterprises. Lynxspring’s

Read More »

ControlTalk Now For The Week Ending July 28, 2013

July 29, 2013 No Comments

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

Read More »

Stromquist Radio Interviews Lisa Holmberg

September 3, 2011 No Comments

Eric sits down with Lisa Holmberg. Lisa is the Senior Channel Market Manager for Honeywell’s Commercial/Industrial Combustion Controls Division.

Read More »

Interview with Travis Haas from ACI Sensors

December 15, 2010 No Comments

I got a chance to talk with Travis Haas from  Automation Components  Inc. (ACI ) about sensors. ACI is one of the leading manufacturers of HVAC

Read More »

Maxitrol for Maximum Need

October 26, 2010 No Comments

Products that perform their job so well that you just do not have to think about them are products that on today’s market seem few

Read More »

Controltrends interviews Chris Eichmann from Johnson Controls

October 18, 2010 2 Comments

Eric interviews Chris Eichmann who is the director of product and systems sales North America for Johnson controls. In this interview Eric and Chris discuss

Read More »

In the field: Controltrends interviews Tony Kelly

October 11, 2010 No Comments

Tony Kelly is a controls contractor and trainer in New York City. Tony has created a a training series on DDC controls designed to allow

Read More »

Wireless that works: Interview with Bryan Pike from AIC Wireless

September 8, 2010 2 Comments

AIC Wireless has developed wireless products for HVAC building automation control and monitoring applications. I sat down and talked with Bryan Pike, one of the owners of

Read More »

Social Network Marketing for the HVAC Industry: Interview with Mitch Joel

August 24, 2010 14 Comments

What is social network marketing? In the HVAC controls industry, why should we care? Answers to these and other questions are explored with Mitch Joel,

Read More »

Stromquist Radio Interviews Brian Turner from Control Co

March 17, 2010 1 Comment

Eric interviews the innovative Brian Turner from Control Co. Eric and Brian discuss everything from “open systems” and how a building owner can make sure

Read More »

Stromquist Radio Interviews Pete Baselici From Wattstopper

January 9, 2010 4 Comments

Eric interviews the very interesting Pete Baselici from Watt Stopper, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of lighting controls. Topics include: Watt Stopper’s newest products, “ladderless” commissioning,

Read More »

Stromquist Radio interview with Scott Cochrane

November 7, 2009 5 Comments

Eric interviews Scott Cochrane president of Cochrane Supply & Engineering, Madison Heights, Michigan. Scott is a leader and innovator in the HVAC controls industry.

Read More »

Integrating Energy Management with Access Controls: Part Two

November 2, 2009 1 Comment

Eric continues his conversation with Roger Rebennack. In the second part of this two part interview, Roger speaks in more detail about Honeywell’s WEBS AX

Read More »

Integrating Energy Management with Access Controls: Part One

October 26, 2009 3 Comments

In part one of his two part interview, Eric talks to the dynamic Roger Rebennack. Roger is a leader in Honeywell’s national WEBS AX  security group. With

Read More »

How to use the internet to grow your HVAC business

October 20, 2009 7 Comments

Eric Stromquist – Controltrends.com sits down with Dene Shepherd and Judi Knight from New Tricks to discuss proven internet marketing techniques, why and how you should use social media and digital

Read More »

An interview with Jim Hayman, CGNA

October 8, 2009 3 Comments

Jim Hayman joined CGNA in March of 2004 as the Director of Business Development and has helped CGNA grow from 27 to 37 Members and over 50 Preferred Vendors.

Read More »

Honeywell Building Automation: Value Proposition

September 21, 2009 4 Comments

Eric interviews Mike Keller. Mike is Honeywell’s Commercial Sales Director for the Americas. Eric and Mike discuss new products from Honeywell, including the new BacNet Spyder Controls.

Read More »

Show Notes:

** Please note a machine transcribed this for us, it is not always accurate, and its grammar is worse than Eric’s.

Eric Stromquist: 00:00:04 Hi, welcome to ControlTalk Now your Smart Buildings, videocast and podcast for the week ending March 17th, 2019.  This is episode 307, where we talk about all things HVAC and Smart Building Controls and what would the conversation be without my co host and yours : The man, the myth, the legend, that guy over there, the one the only Kenny Smyers the  controls man from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Man, I understand you’ve been out sunbathing in the snow again, Kenny welcome to the show.

Ken Smyers: 00:00:36 . Well, nature gave us a little tease on Spring.  Two days ago it was 70 degrees, yesterday it was about 55, and today it was starting the morning off at 25 and snow flurries.

Eric Stromquist: 00:00:46 I used to date some women like that or 25 now the funny thing is that there’s people

Ken Smyers: 00:00:57 I know at golf as as, as I watch the snow fall here, I wonder if they really truly teed off. Are they? I know me. I

Eric Stromquist: 00:01:05 point a low golf my day, but never in the snow. Now when you play golf on the snow, did you use like different card golf balls or how would you find a golf ball in the snow?

Ken Smyers: 00:01:15 I never played in one either. But there’s a couple of things they do, they use different, there’s a ball that you can buy that you can track. Now I’m on it with an APP I think. Really? Yeah. But uh, I don’t know if they use those, but like at night thing I’ve seen them actually have, you know, the drill a hole through the middle of the ball and he put a light thing in there and you hit a ball that has a light on it so you can watch the ball and find it in darkness. I think the only time in this inclement weather, yeah, you probably use a orange ball or whatever. Some of them have an orange ball tournament said I don’t, I don’t, I’ve never played in the snow, so I can’t honestly tell you that I know because I have a, I’m adverse to anything. It’s cold .

Eric Stromquist: 00:01:56 Well, of course the big news is Kenny and I were down in Orlando last weekend. We secured the venue for the 2019, which I should be in 2020 ControlTrends Awards, . And we also secured the venue to have the biggest Superbowl party you’ve ever been to, which if you’re in Orlando for HR, that Sunday night, you can come to the ControlTrends Awards. We’re going to start about two and a half hours earlier, so that by kickoff through awards will be done. You’ll be situated, you should be in a great mood because we’re going to feed you well. We’re going to make sure you have drinks you need. You’re going to be with your rowdiest friends and you’re going to get to enjoy the Superbowl. So it is going to be the coolest, uh, ControlTrends Awards yet, uh, for our sponsors out there. Some of that Ken and I mentioned on the show last week, we have some special, so maybe you’ve already met, reached out to take advantage of those. If you haven’t reached out to the man, the myth, the legend, the one, the only Kenny Smyres at controltrendscontact@gmail.com.

Ken Smyers: 00:02:58 controltrendscontact@gmail.com.

Eric Stromquist: 00:03:05 So Kenny, I mean, I’m still giddy over seeing BB King’s and what we’re going to end and what we’re going to accomplish at this year’s ControlTrends Awards., do you get any thoughts or feelings?

Ken Smyers: 00:03:15 Oh, I’m the same way. You know, I love football and Kevin, let me just say this, we’ve got a facility down there, a venue that is a, it’s up on the second floor. So you get this, this, uh, this feeling like you’re going up to see, you know, it’s just a very beautiful venue. It has an outdoor capabilities. So we’re going to be working with different sponsors for different capabilities and look inside, like you said, first we’ll have this really nice stage set up for a controlled trans awards, but then we’re going to transition. We have to 70 inch screens coming on side by side. We’ll have the main TV’s that they’ve got 20 some TV’s, you know, distributed throughout the, um, or I don’t know how many, I don’t remember exactly. It might be, it might be 12 but every, every seat has a view of a television and we’ll have additional screen set up. So it’s going to be a lively Superbowl party. I mean, I know, I’ll be excited. We’ll transition from a controlled terms award and go directly into the Superbowl. And that’s like a double banger. That’s a, that’s a two, two for one. And you’re right. So what we’re going to have to do is organize this thing through sponsors. Again, there’ll be a limited number of places available and we hope, of course we’re going to sell out, but we don’t want to send anybody away that wanted to come.

Eric Stromquist: 00:04:28 And when you say second floor, he’s talking about the BB King’s was actually on the second floor of one of those big, uh, uh, sort of, uh, complexes down in Orlando. And they’re actually two stories in BB King’s which will have both those stories. Plus there’s gonna be a lot of areas that if you want to have a, uh, an additional event in conjunction with the ControlTrends Awards you can do that. So it’s going to be great. Uh, it is kind of limited about 300 people. So it’d be first come first serve. So it can it be a response or get in on it. If you want to come to the wards, reach out to your sponsors if you don’t know who they are, look on our website cause those are the people that sponsored last year and it’s kind of rock and roll Kenny. So, um, I said, so with that, we know we’ve got a great guests coming up here in a few minutes, but let’s, let’s get to a couple of things, Kenny. First and foremost, how about some shout outs buddy?

Ken Smyers: 00:05:22 Well I’d like to give is to Anish PK from, he’s a senior consultant with Iot for buildings. And this was on a linkedin post that Annish reached out to us and said, hey, uh, he’s an iot expert. And he was really excited about, you know, capturing how Iot has really changed our last seven to 10 years has really changed our world. It’s gaining momentum every day. Major players, Microsoft as your Google Cloud, Ibm Watson, Amazon, AWS, the huge investments in their continued technology and product releases are influencing it. So first he talks the financial world, you talks about transportation, he talks about retail energy utility where it’s providing, you know, dynamic pricing for binding sound. But then he comes down into coming into the building space.

Ken Smyers : 00:06:15 And so this is a great article. It’s on linkedin again, p PK. Uh, so that was our big shout out. And then we’ve got a national, um, let me just transitioning to one of the shows. That’s coming up. The NFMT that’s coming to Baltimore. Uh, we want to talk about this one first because it’s up on the agenda. It’s coming to Baltimore, March 26th through 28th, uh, in Baltimore Convention Center. Of course Baltimore, Maryland. But this is a, you know, these, these guys are some of the stalwarts in our industry that, so you think about the facility managers, every single facility you drive driving down the road or you’re going into a building, somebody has got to be the throat to choke and, and take care of things, take care of the good things and the bad things.

Ken Smyers: 00:07:04 And I’ve just really proud of them being part of our industry, but this is where they go down and get your continuing education units. The CEU’s are so vital to get your recertifications year in, year out. I always regret the fact that I lost one of my certifications for the American Society of industrial security cause I just couldn’t go, couldn’t get my eight units you use every, every so many years, every two years I think. But anyhow, the uh, so hats off to these guys. They’ve got a great show. We have a link on there.

Ken Smyers: 00:07:46 All right, so the, yeah, we have a URL link there and you can register directly from our website.

Eric Stromquist: 00:07:51 Right. And so Kenny is kind of exciting. We are a change the way we roll a little bit here at controltrends.com we continue to get all the great posts that, that you always get on controltrends.com, w hat we realized is we have so much more content that we can do post on um, ccan post on controltrends.com . And we’ve been putting a lot of those up on youtube. So I we’re going to put a link, and encourage you to subscribe to the Youtube Channel. You might say, why would you do that? Well, like I said, I’ll, we can put a lot more content up on youtube then we can’t on the control trends site, we have a lot more content up there in terms of video foo tage. So you can get that. You’d be one of the first guys. Firstly you go on the first people to know because the youtube stuff comes out quicker than the controltrends.com stuff. So that’s number one. And as part of that, Kenny has, uh, created a new segment. There’s going to be on the youtube channel every Wednesday. So Kenny, tell him about, tell him about your new segment.

Ken Smyers: 00:08:46 It is a midweek update, Eric, and it’s, it’s, you know, there’s so much going on that we realized if we wait till the end of the week, we can be slowing down the digestion of, of all these events. So to get, you know, to keep the pace of all the events. We had five announcements of five different events in five different parts of the country and, and uh, they’re exciting. Uh, and some of them they were losing the opportunity to get the early bird rates and that’s significant and you know, uh, so the further out you get, and then we had one person comment about wanting to get his event on the calendar, the corporate calendar, in other words, when you can be out of the office for a week or a couple of days, you know, uh, you got to make sure that you not stepping on anybody’s toes and that there’s availability. So, uh, he said that he was glad that we had brought that to his attention so he could go and make sure he had that time off or whatever. And so it’s just a good thing. It’s a pulse and it’s an easier thing so that we don’t wait till the end of the week and then stack it up. We just kind of getting the weekly update.

Eric Stromquist: 00:09:46 It’s kind of like a combination to Ken’s calendar. I mean, if there’s something you need to know about via cybersecurity or something like that, I mean it just gives us the ability to impact you immediately in the way you’re going to get that. Please subscribe to our You Tube channel. There’s a link below in the show notes. Just hit the button, subscribe, we’d appreciate it and Kenny is going to do a great job with that. He dropped episode one last Wednesday. Got a great response. So Kenny, thanks for doing this for the industry. Be sure to check it out and talk about somebody that does some great stuff for the HVAC and Smart Building Controls Industry, let’s bring on our guest..

Ken Smyers: 00:10:20 Oh, we got a, we got a great guest today, Eric. We have Scott Cochrane, president and CEO of Cochrane supply in engineering. Cochrane supply’s a leading uh, industrial iot and building control supplier with locations throughout Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Scott is probably one of the foremost stalwarts of our industry. He’s taken a distribution into its new future. Uh, several times. Scott has been, you know, one of the cutting edge players that’s kind of leading the ways. Pulled up the torch and run first.

Eric Stromquist: 00:10:46 So the hang on, hang out with Scott. Don’t come on yet. Kenny. You didn’t give him a good introduction. Okay. It was okay. But I think the way we some Scott up is Scott is the Steve jobs of our industry. Welcome, Stevie Scott Cochran.

Scott Cochrane: 00:11:00 Anything. Okay. That’s a lot. That’s a lot to carry there. Yeah.

Eric Stromquist: 00:11:06 Well Dude, you’ve been doing it for a while and for, you know, anybody who’s been under a rock for the last 10 years, Scott and a gentleman, by the name of Brian Turner, ControlCo, have sort of reinvented what the distributor looks like in this new age we’re at, they uh, it just changed the game and it’s kind of like, I love it dude. Cause just like you march to the beat of your own drummer, you’ve been a pioneering, uh, you know, and sort of blazing the path for the rest of us. You’re making HVAC Controls distributors cool. Again, you’re making them relevant. So, uh, talk about that if you will. So, maybe before we get into some other stuff, talk about your thought process and sort of, uh, when you got into the business, did you just sort of look around and go, this isn’t the way it should be? Or how did you sort of get on this path brother?

Scott Cochrane: 00:11:50 Uh, well that’s a good question. Um,

Scott Cochrane: 00:11:55 and we didn’t talk about this before you throw it, you already threw a curve ball at me, but that’s okay

Eric Stromquist: 00:12:00 cause I’m not too old to have a fast ball anymore . L

Scott Cochrane: 00:12:03 ike the lucky, like the Impromtu. So, but anyways, um, we’re, we’re, I feel like I’m on what I enjoy about this industry the most is the challenge of bringing what I think is, is the technology into the space. Um, there’s this, you know, with contracting and with, you know, with building big buildings, there’s, there’s some concrete business practices that are really hard to change. And with technology, um, it’s a, it’s a real challenge to make that happen. And I really enjoy that challenge both with, you know, the community that I serve in terms of the, you know, the people who put the stuff in the big buildings. And then also the, uh, the vendors I work with whom make the products for the buildings and trying to, you know, trying to really become a bridge for the two of them.

Scott Cochrane: 00:12:54 Kind of like, like almost like translate to each other what each other wants, you know, and, and how to work together better because, um, cause what we don’t see in big buildings today is enough to, you know, quality technology. I mean, you know, the stuff you can put in your homes just dwarfs what you can do in a big building. And a lot of ways, especially if you look at it from a monetary standpoint. And I just liked this challenge of trying to make this happen in the big buildings. They think it’s an awesome time for all of us. And, uh, we can redefine a lot of what our value is, you know, in the next couple of years.

Eric Stromquist: 00:13:27 So, so Scott, maybe kind of a silly question, but you know, I think you’re absolutely correct. You know, the stuff in the home just works. Why hasn’t that translated to the buildings yet?

Scott Cochrane: 00:13:37 Well, I believe that in the buildings there’s a couple of hindrances. Um, number one, um, you know, you know, the, the, when we work on projects with the big buildings, one of the questions I asked myself these days is who are we really working for? Um, traditionally we’ve been kind of pigeon holed in this energy efficiency bubble if you may. And we’re working for saving energy is sort of the primary payback to the projects that we’re looking at doing. Um, but all of a sudden with new technology like indoor positioning systems and, uh, you know, connecting lighting and mechanical bas systems together, um, we’re starting to create business efficiency and business efficiency saves, saves the business energy. And, and not, not like energy in terms of utilities, but now we’re talking time all the time. It takes somebody to do something in a business. And you know, if business has a greater expense in its people than it doesn’t, it’s energy spend.

Scott Cochrane: 00:14:37 So we’re starting to see paybacks in terms of business efficiency that we can bring. Um, and then, you know, then there’s also this new, this new thing you’re seeing in the homes, which is kind of the cool factor, which is the appeal of the technology. And when we look at the appeal to this stuff in the homes, I think where we’re at is it’s, it’s really coming down to the fact that, um, the homes can actually understand the person within it better than the building can. So, so like the home knows your personal set point for your comfort. Your, your home system can know when you’re home or not. Your home system, you know, will know things about you that you don’t have to tell it and it can make your experience better in your home automatically, right. Without having to hit more buttons without having to control more stuff.

Scott Cochrane: 00:15:24 Right. That’s the Iot part, right? Is trying to get this stuff to where it’s automatic. And the people don’t have to do anything. So. So that’s really a question to the manufacturers because the way the homes do it is they put an app on a mobile device and connect it to the application. And what the APP does is it minds the data of the individual and it feeds it back to the application. So it will know things like if they’re home or not. Um, that data comes from their mobile device right through the APP. So, so the question is, you know, under the vendors it’s kind of like, where’s the APP? Like where, how come we don’t have more apps for these products that we’re putting in the buildings today to kind of create that, that relationship with the people that are within the spaces. Right. So,

Ken Smyers: 00:16:08 well, so that’s a great summary. Uh, in fact, taking notes too, because we were doing a couple of deep dives, we call him into, you know, not just the flux and the bas industry three, but the players are changing. Now, you had mentioned a offline that not only that the products are changing to bring these iot capabilities and apps into the building space. I really liked that quote about bringing technology into the space so the products are changing, the players are changing. And that’s where I was going to bring my next question into, uh, the concept of the players again and he should pigeon holed about energy has also a very, uh, you know, I like that comment too because you’re right, when we start our presentations off we go to this routine, you know, they’re most familiar with. And then we started going off to the side digressing into, like you were saying, he’s a create business efficiencies, but to get there is what’s Kinda the headwind for a lot of people and certainly an area by area. So the concept of a contractor, uh, you know, what has changed there to allow some of the things that you’re, you’re, you’re new technology into the space. The players change. But is it new players? There’s the contractors that are existent, evolving and becoming better at what they’re doing and understanding it’s getting on that same vibe.

Scott Cochrane: 00:17:24 Right. So, um, great question in. Yeah. So we’re, we’re seeing a mix between, you know, both the, you know, the, I’ll say the operators of the buildings are changing first and foremost. So the operators who are changing, the people whom we used to work with in terms of what we considered maintenance are changing over to much more like building engineers with it backgrounds is where I, you know, uh, you know, and, and yeah, as you guys know with controls kind of coming up in May, I, we’re super excited. We’ve brought in some fairly large and users who are deploying large scale pas and other systems at scale. And you’ll notice that they’re there. The staffing for those, how they staff their teams have completely changed. I mean, you’ll listen to, I mean their staffing, um, more it people than ever into the building side as operators.

Scott Cochrane: 00:18:24 So that’s first and foremost, right. And then secondarily, the contractors. Um, so obviously we’ve been working hard on helping push the MSI as a business concept and that helps contractors, um, pretty much told the story to the end user of what they can provide in terms of, uh, of an integrated system than what the value of that could be. So, um, and that business practice is becoming widely accepted amongst many contractors. Uh, we see contractors integrating now multiple mechanical systems together and almost every project, um, I numerous projects, we’ll see them integrating a life safety, security, uh, lifting devices. Uh, you know, you name it, they’ll tie into it. If it’s got a maintenance interface and they want to aggregate the alarms that they want to put them all on the same interface, you know, um, these contractors are not scared to do that. They’ll, they’ll take that on.

Scott Cochrane: 00:19:21 And, uh, and so there’s, you know, with that, those contractors are becoming much more network savvy. They’re hiring more people from it, managed service companies to help deploy, um, in all sorts of areas. Not just like, you know, installers. I mean, they’re hiring database people, coders, people like that. So you know, see you’re seeing this change in the staffing for sure. And then also like I said, that the business of contracting and then the end users are changing and becoming much more it savvy and able to just basically take these systems and self manage them going forward. I mean

Eric Stromquist: 00:20:00 you almost have to Scott with, the whole cyber security threats, they’ll potential liabilities they have. I want to stay on this track but I want to support it a frame around it for those of our audience who don’t know, who Ken Sinclair at automatedbuildings.com is, , just he’s just kid that started this thing cause we call me kid,. Scotty, you’ve been doing a series of articles for Ken . I sorta want to use a talking point and I think you know one of the things is hauling automated buildings.com but you’ve done is what is the master systems integrator of today look like. And I think you probably hit on some already, but let’s zero in specifically on the master systems integrator and some of the things so they can get, if they read that article and some of those articles.

Scott Cochrane: 00:20:44 Well, I think we’ve, we’ve definitely proven it that it’s, you know, this, this is, uh, you know, I think what these articles, what we were trying to prove was a case in point that this exists. So, so for any of the naysayers that say that this is not a business, this is a business, it’s real. Um, you can rename it if you want. I, I didn’t name it by the way, just so I don’t, I’m not taking credit. I am not Mr Msi. It was actually, it started with the echelon days is how far back that when if you do the history. Um, but um, but anyways, the concept though is real. Um, it’s a business concept and it’s adopted by many in many different ways now. And, um, um, so, so I think that’s here. It’s here to stay and, uh, as we continue to write the articles, what we’re trying to show now is some of the evolution you’re seeing from when we `started doing them to where they are today.

Scott Cochrane: 00:21:38 Um, if, uh, our next article, I’m not sure if it’s out this month or if it’s next month, but, uh, we, we interviewed Sam Hidad, um, a contractor from the Cleveland area that I’ve worked with for at least a decade plus. Um, a guy who a is just always had an outstanding reputation for high quality work in the Cleveland area for sure. And, um, you know, he kinda got dragged into an MSI situation and, um, with, uh, and, and to listen to his, you know, as you, if you read this article, what you’ll listen is the quality at which he’s looking at the MSI system and, and what he’s doing to make it even better than the others, um, is, uh, is a testament to the fact that the, the business process itself is starting to be optimized, if you may. So we’re seeing a lot of that happening.

Eric Stromquist: 00:22:27 All right. Let me, let me put you on the spot real quick here. For our HVAC and Smart Building Controls Master Systems integrators are integrators out there who think they are master systems integrator. Let’s play a little game called Scott Cochrane is going to ask you some questions so you can determine whether you really are a HVAC and Smart Building Controls Master System. Intergrator of not

Eric Stromquist: 00:22:44 The first question is what if you, if you are a master system, if you think your master system from greater do you, what’s the first question?

Scott Cochrane: 00:22:53 Do you, do you integrate systems? Do you integrate? Do you, are you able to integrate systems together? Can you bring, if I give you two different systems and two different software platforms, can you bring them together in one way for me? Can yon?

Eric Stromquist: 00:23:10 Perfect question one. What’s question two?

Scott Cochrane: 00:23:13 Question two is is can those two systems be from two different vendors? Can they be, you know what I mean? Great question. Can One be old? Can One be new? Can, can you do that? Can you, can you bring the old and new together?

Scott Cochrane: 00:23:30 Third question three is can you put it on my it platform that I have to have all this stuff on? Can you figure that out for me? Can you, can you come in and walk in to me as an end user and walk me through the process to cyber securely, put it on my network or put it on the Internet

Scott Cochrane: 00:23:46 properly so that I can utilize the technology better. Can you do that? Right. Perfect. I mean these are really the, these are the stomach things that we have to be able to do now as a, if you’re a contractor in this industry and you know, if you can say yes to those and you know, you’re gonna, you know, that’s where we talk about, you know, the future is not,

Ken Smyers : 00:24:07 I just wanted to name drop a couple of, first of all the, uh, the article from March on Msi automated buildings is Daryl Driver.

Scott Cochrane: 00:24:18 Funny.

Ken Smyers : 00:24:18

Eric Stromquist: 00:24:18

Eric Stromquist: 00:25:54 I believe he, I think you do it every other year with the [inaudible] contract with the Tridium summit, right? So give the people the stable datum on that and let’s get some more people there because Ken and I are going to be there. We wouldn’t miss it.

Scott Cochrane: 00:26:07 You guys are and thank you guys for coming. And as you know, you guys are, I think you guys are going to be in the lobby doing interview

Eric Stromquist: 00:26:13 We are my man, because, because our claim to fame is our value add is we are the game show host, our button controls. So happy you guys will be there again. Um, and you guys your coverage. I was just watching it again from the last one. You know, it was so awesome. So again, I’m so happy you guys will be there. Yeah. And, and I am trying to use my national whatever celebrity status to bring what I feel are some of the most influential people I’ve met around the industry to this conference

Scott Cochrane: 00:26:44 to present some of the stuff they’ve shared with me, um, throughout the last year or two to um, inform everybody of what’s going on around them. Um, so, uh, you know, the, the day one, the keynote, it’s exciting. Um, as you guys know, it will be a circus like atmosphere. I hope planning on doing, we’re planning on trying to do a demo, which we will be piloting live in front of the audience again. And with that we’ll be, we will be integrating potentially crossing some technologies in the face of the vendors that are attending without their knowledge ahead of time, which will be interesting as well. So, so of course we’ll create some controversy hopefully. Um, and then, uh, but the keynotes really are going to come, you know, I have, you know, I have, um, I have three really important people I think to the industry that are coming, um, in terms of the vendors, um, you know, um, with Laurentl, James, um, and um, Kevin from Tridium.

Scott Cochrane: 00:27:50 So those three are going to represent those, those companies, Johnson controls, acuity and Honeywell. And we’re going to get a good perspective of where those companies are. Where they’re headed is companies, these are the people who really direct the direction of the company. So it’s going to kind of cut becoming from the horse’s mouth, which we’re excited about. And then, uh, to help put a frame around it. Of course, I invited Ken Sinclair, whom I’ve kind of dubbed as is my, uh, my sounding board for the industry now. He, uh, um, to me, he, you know, I’ve been reading like you guys probably, you know, this is almost two decades reading his material and that he’s brought such a perspective to it that I’m, none of us would ever think of. And uh, I just appreciate that. And so we’re so excited. His, he’s on that.

Scott Cochrane: 00:28:39 He’s participating. He’s not a big speaker. Like he doesn’t want to like have the stage for a long time, but um, but we’ll be doing a panel at the end and getting into it more with Ken. And then of course, uh, the guy who, you know, I’ll barely be able to keep from stealing the stage from me. Jim Young. He’s so excited. He’s got such a good story to tell. Uh, you know, I be kind, sounds like it’s going to be an incredible conference. I know we’re all going, you know, big Cochrane team will be there. Um, and uh, Jim’s just, you know, the stuff he’s put together for, I kind, he’s going to kind of mini summarize it for our crowd. It’s going to be awesome. So all that cool stuff he’s doing a is going to be a, he’s going to hit on and uh, and then, um, yeah, we’re going to, so we’ll round that out.

Scott Cochrane: 00:29:25 And of course after that we’ll hit the, you know, we have a nice dinner planned and the big vendors show, all our vendor tables are sold out. We have, we have probably 10 new vendors that nobody’s ever seen before coming in with some products that nobody’s ever heard of. So we’re excited about kind of spotlighting some news and, uh, and then day two, yeah, we’re going to have that tech track and the it guys are just going to dive into it and a, again, that’ll be the highest attended one of the sessions. Um, and we have the, all the product experts from Tridium coming in with some of our it experts and some special guests and, uh, they’re going to be highlighting all sorts of cool stuff. And then, uh, on the business track again, I brought a whole, a neat group of end users who not only have these huge deployments, but they also have this incredible, um, they all have great stories, great stories to tell, which I think will be eye opening for a lot of people to understand where these companies are at and what they’re really doing.

New Speaker: 00:30:21 So Scott, it is May 2rd through the 6th, are there still places for people to come to it or is it sold out already? Uh, no, we, we are still accepting registrations. Um, have definitely eclipsed our attendance from the prior one. So we’re, you know, we’re going to be bigger than the last one already. So now, now as the game show host of the industry, Scott is time for us to play a little game. We like to call, call, let’s make a deal. All right, so Scotty, anybody out there who’s listening and wants to attend your conference? Yeah, we’ll, we’ll put the link in the show notes, but if they’re wanting to put it in, let’s give them a code like Ken and Ericsson as her control trends or whatever. What are you going to give them if they sign up with our code? Oh Wow. You’re going to make me do this on the spot behind door number one. We have, Ooh, well you’re thinking about that. Let me just review some of the highlights. Scott. Kim, by the way, I just wanted to give you guys a compliment. I, I’ve watched your, uh, your blooper youtube that the is the mightiest warrior becomes fear fearful in front of the microphone and camera,

Ken Smyers: 00:31:30 uh, and you get to see some of these great guys and Women. And also you’re doing something really special. I think we need to talk about the real quick or mainstream is it, you’re doing an incredible one on one opportunity with Tridium, Honeywell and distech and, and you actually have an invitation out there. If somebody has a personal, uh, questioned, asked that you’re going to have an opportunity to set them up one on one to do, to facilitate, you know, some of the things.

Scott Cochrane: 00:31:55 So I know we’re doing as our vendors, we really appreciate, uh, you know, they really are the sponsors of this, right. I mean we, we, we, we charge for it but we’re really just covering costs there. Cause the vendors really paid for the bill on this end. We appreciate that and with that we want them to get the most out of it. So, so we’ve, uh, they each have conference rooms that they can schedule private meetings with, um, just her with individual customers and really highlight their products individually. Um, I find that it’s a great way for them to, you know, really highlight their products and, and um, and it also means that they won’t all be pissed off at me at the end cause they all watched each other, present each other’s products. You know,

Ken Smyers: 00:32:38 I want to mention too that you got some, like you were

Ken Smyers: 00:32:40 saying about the, uh, the, the technical people. James Johnson is going to be there from trading on Kevin Williams and of course he’s going to be available, is going to be a keynote speaker, but he also is the resident expert on cyber security. That I’m sure it can handle a, any questions brought up, uh, Kevin, uh, marriage jack from the Iot. Yeah. Yes. Tridium analytics on fire. He’s doing some really need analytics there with us. With him. Yeah. So life cycles, the name of that.

Eric Stromquist: 00:33:10 Right. And did we mention that Ken and Eric are going to be there too. So Scott Kenny’s giving you some time to think about that. So let’s get back to the segment of the show is my favorite card. Let’s see if we can, could say, let’s make a deal, come on Scott. You’re the man. What are we going to get my habit

Scott Cochrane: 00:33:25 ana, by such and such? Well, I, here’s what I’ll do for you guys,

Scott Cochrane: 00:33:29 for your listeners. Okay. I will, I will. Uh, I have to, oh, I’ll set up a discount code. If they put contro ltrends as a discount code, we’ll take 10% off the register. So how’s that sound? Negotiate a logo here. Okay. Now I have, I have something maybe better, maybe worse under the box next to me. Oh, okay, perfect. Give her a box. Your name, which I told you, or option B in this box right here. Okay. So what’s it going to be? All right. Our community. You can choose box a or box B, but you have to wait. You get to Detroit to choose box be right? Yeah, yeah, no, I’ll give you a sneak peek ready. Okay. Okay. Oh No. Okay. So what, what’s the, what’s the code? What’s the code? My control fence. He said controlled trends. Eric controlled trends. That’s it sounds like a deal, right? I’m going to put that in our listeners. We will, we will put it, we’ll put a link 10 percent discount. That’s to make it happen on the website. I’m in big trouble, but we’re, well, hey, there won’t be the first time. Right.

Eric Stromquist: 00:34:38 You know, you know the, the thing you know about, well I love about Scott is it, you know, your people try to keep you away from us because we put you in these situations and they just, they’re always trying to come. Well I told her, I said you can turn it in. I mean yeah, we’ve got approval to do this. So Nice. Nice. Well excellent. Excellent. Well Scott, let’s talk, let’s cycle back around to apps a little bit cause it don’t last. Control con and I think maybe you’re the only a distributor. I know maybe since then somebody has, but you guys created a really cool app, works great and you do your credit, you guys demoed it live on stage. It’s not like you guys even had a safety net talk. Talk to our community about your app and how that’s important or why it’s important, what it does and how they can get it.

Scott Cochrane : 00:35:22 Okay. So our apps called Raven and what it allows you to do is to take building event information from the Niagara Framework and turn it into a push notification for a mobile device.

Scott Cochrane: 00:35:36 So Raven is the APP, you get it on the APP stores and uh, it works with a Niagara Connection into a building. And, uh, and with that, um, you know, you can control your, basically control your notifications, how you want to get them through the APP. So a, you know, you can mute them or turn them off the apple, log them separately so you can kind of get your building notifications in one place. And then you can also do it based on proximity. So if you’re, if you’re in the building, you get the notifications or if you leave the building, you stop getting them. So, you know, because the building isn’t like you go there for the night or you want to know about it. If you’re not there, if you leave the building, you usually don’t care about it unless you live there. So stop getting them if you walk away. So we built those settings in and uh, yeah, it’s going great. It’s being deployed primarily with people with critical interests. I mean, you know, when you, you know, data center people, um, industrial, we’ve seen some acceptance there. You know, when you have a critical environment dense, it’s a better, it’s a quicker way of making somebody aware of a situation. Well not only that, admit it, best value to it, but go ahead.

Eric Stromquist: 00:36:46 But the other thing too, Scott, that I thought was really cool about it was, you know, something, people get somebody alarms, they just become null and void to him. Right. And, and I felt like me and emails is I get too many emails from me too, so I just don’t look at any of them. Right. And I think that’s part of what goes on as he system spit out these alarms over and over and over. And this allows you to sort of configure them and get them on your time schedule when you want to more likely to respond to them. Is that fair statement?

Scott Cochrane: 00:37:13 It is. It is for sure. It definitely gives you a better way of parsing it. And again, having the APP allows the notifications to connect to the individual in a new way. Like I mentioned, um, the ability to know if they’re in the building or not is based on the location services. And their mobile device. So we actually, uh, we actually harvest that information and use it as a, as a convenience way for them not to have to be bothered when they leave the building. Right? Right. That’s something that happens automatically. So that’s a little iot example, right? Um, guys in the buildings today, there are a good zillion examples of these iot applications that can be built. And so that’s why I keep pressing on our vendors. Where’s the APP? Whereas like, yeah, well that’s, that’s a, that commercial where there’s the APP because I’m like, you got to have the APP to get the individual to capture their data. You have to have an APP right now unless until we get like wearables and stuff all figured out, like I guess watches could count, but you still, you put the APP on the watch, right? He’s still writing. Anyways, that’s a, so with a controls con, one of the things we’re hopefully going to do is to show you guys some new apps in terms of that. That’s nothing, nothing artificial involved in this is it? Like I said, we’ll be piloting some technology there. We have to actually have to build it like a censor wall and some other exciting stuff, which was not in the original controls can budget as they’ve told me like a thousand times already. But I’ve said we go forward, but budgets, your ultimate four letter word and people mentioned budget to you and you just kind of go, budgets, budget, let’s just come on, let’s blow the place out.Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That’s one of the things I love about you Scott. Steve Jobs, Cochran is it man, you never do anything halfway and it shows when you go to controls con man, it is, it’s one of the best, best things happening. So, uh, thank you.

Ken Smyers: 00:39:22 It’s an innovation that uh, again, it’s born out of, out of necessity. And I think you did it because you knew that you had a team that could support, uh, you know, the presentation of all this new technology. I mean, in other words, you dared to go out and create a summit that compared to the corporations, you know,

Scott Cochrane: 00:39:42 I mean I was inspired a lot by the Niagara Summit and what inspired me so much in the early days of the sun. That was the relationships I got around the country from those meetings. And you guys were with me. You guys remember how many people we meet, including, you know, the time I got to spend with you guys. And really that helps me more make decisions about my business than anything else is collaborating and just at a personal level, getting to know people in the industry and how they look at things and how they deal with things. Um, so you know, and I, and in terms of my customers, I want to give them that, you know, that’s something I want to provide to them as well. And so that’s why I felt controls con was important was to bring that also that, that ability of that community thing together on a semi regular basis. Get people used to it and then they see each other again and again and again and they generate relationships and well, I like it. Yeah,

Ken Smyers: 00:40:38 you’ve educated, I mean we got the collaboratory and the Ken Sinclair and Marc Petock, came up with a, I guess was a six years ago now because I did the annual fifth annual one, but I think that one of the things I’ve noticed in terms of trends in recent history is that it’s the fastest way that information gets disseminated. That is the fastest way to get the approval rates and to get the innovation shared amongst, you know, whole country at one time and one meeting is happening. So the whole old standard way though, the old school way of meat here, you know, every six months or a year, and then you go back to wherever you came from when you forget about it, where this, this new style of of of meet and greet and the networking and the summit sal of dissemination is so powerful that you can actually sense it. You can feel sometimes when these people get together and you see all these primary players from all these industries meet or from the contracting world. But he said with the distributors actually hitting head on with, with the right kind of forum and a lot of really neat things happened there. I mean, and you can it,

Scott Cochrane: 00:41:31 yeah, no it for sure. You know, don’t, don’t you guys don’t give me all the credit. You two have done a bit of damage yourselves. I mean, you guys said outstanding job of making all this knowledge, uh, accessible, archived. Um, and you guys, your fan base just keeps growing. It’s incredible to me. And uh, you know, you guys Brag about how I help redefine distribution. I mean, forget about it. I feel like I’m not worthy. I mean look at you like, ah,

Eric Stromquist: 00:42:03 thanks Scott. . The love of the industry of all time. I mean, this is like every industry needs a game show host. So, and Kenny and me, we got it down. So we are definitely the game shows, but there’s only because we know people like to they can, can make to make things happen. Dude, thank you for that. I want to shift gears another time how your most recent article on automated buildings.com and if you don’t go to automated buildings.com you’re really missing out. Missing out was kind of on OT versus Iot and you know, you talk about a visit out to the west coast. So tell our community about that.

Scott Cochrane: 00:42:38 So yeah, so oe of the things that were fast learning from studying the cyber security requirements of, you know, of industrial based systems, as you know, we kind of screwed up in the bas industry by putting all these systems on owners networks. We really are very vulnerable to, um, a lot of problems in the future. Um, and uh, with that, one of the new, you know, of course, and every manufacturer in the bas space now has a full IP offering. So we have a lot of customers preferring to put in, you know, flat architectures with all Ip controls. Um, and so with that, the calamity with the owners network is getting louder and louder. And so, um, one of the new rules of thumb that we’re deploying with these deployments is we’d like to lead with this concept of, you know, we believe is systems should be air gapped before it gets networked as a concept. In other words, if you’re building a bas system and it’s all Ip controls, you actually have to build your own IP network first to support that properly before you go onto another network. Now we’re not saying you’re not going to end up on the owner’s network, we’re just saying you can’t really deploy 400 Vav boxes on an owner’s network. That’s not even in the building, not to commit the owners. The owners networks might not be the owner’s networks because the owner might change. So what are you going to do then? Right? So you got 400 plus devices on their network. So what do you do when they leave? So stuff like that. So, so the new concept is to air gap that build up your own network and then decide how to connect it. And when you connected you firewall so that you add a level of security between you and the network infrastructure you’re touching. So anyway, so with that concept, I went out to one of our customers for a long time now, which is Stanford University in Palo Alto. And just kind of as an experience, I decided to tell the it group that supports their deployments that they need to air gap everything. And uh, the guys had just about blew off because basically he’s been working for the last 10 years to get it all on the network and all secured and all this other stuff. So, uh, it was a lively debate and, uh, we had, uh, we had a good talk about it and I, I wrote an article about it. It’s pretty cute. Um, it is, you had to eat, they did win the debate with me, so they are going to continue to put these deployments on their networks. But I will say that, you know, they, they’re, they’re, they’re top notch in terms of the testing documentation standards, you know, they, you know, they knock it out of the park on those. So, so their deployments are definitely, well done, . And if you may, but you’re still going to see more bas systems that will have to get air gapped hearing.

Eric Stromquist: 00:45:23 Well, no, completely agree. One of the things that I found fascinating cause part of the debate and I was tracking, I think it was live on CNN. Larry King I think was the one who was monitoring this, but one of your point, which I thought was very, very valid as we got new construction because all the bas stuff needs to be commissioned before the it structure gets put in. Yeah, I thought you had a hell of a point there, but they countered with what ?

Scott Cochrane : 00:45:50 you’re going to take the article away. Why wouldn’t anybody go read it if I tell you what

Eric Stromquist: 00:45:54 it is a good point man, see this is why. This is why you’re Steve jobs.

Scott Cochrane: 00:45:59 Got To go to the article, man, automatedbuildings.com . I mean maybe I already gave away. No, no you didn’t. You didn’t give it away. You know what? That’s a great point Scott. Kenny will put a lively debate though and I think I did a good job of capturing it in the article and thank you again to Stanford for letting me publish it. I, I do think, again, this is part of the story. We have to start telling that, you know, yeah, we have to air gap everything, but a lot of things aren’t going to be air gapped. What do we do then? You know, they’re coming, they’re coming to a ControlsCon. Oh, absolutely. They are. Jerry is one of the panelists on our day too, and he’ll be talking about that and a lot of other, um, you know, it, he’s, he’s just got an incredible story about how they’d be bald as a department from according the building. So he’s going to tell that story, which is great. So very, very cool. Awesome. Awesome. Okay. What do you, what else do you have buddy? That was it. That was the only thing. Yeah, the talking points we had, but uh, I, I, I tell you what, now that show, now they show can begin.

Eric Stromquist: 00:47:00 I think people need to make an effort. I’m knocked the door with Chloe in it. Qualys. Scott’s uh, how old is calling a little dog? I got ’em locked in their bedroom. He ain’t here. That’s such a commitment to the industry. I mean you know how many people would lock their kids Saturday man. You know, Scott, I kind of want to cycle a couple of other things can be real quick. Cause while we got Scott, dude, you know we sort of have talked about, you know, the master systems integrators and sort of what they need to be able to do. I’d like to hit on two other sort of parts of the supply chain if you would. Uh, before we, we call it a day to day one is for the manufacturers. Cause I think a lot of them are struggling. Kenny and I’ve talked on the show in the past a little bit about the fact that it’s almost cool of you’re coming into this industry now, it don’t have legacy systems to support cause it’s almost easier to design a product for today. And I’d have to support the legacy. But what advice would you give the manufacturers? And the second part of the question is going to be, if you’re a distributor, there’s been around for awhile, how do you stay relevant in this tsunami of change that’s sort of coming at us?

Scott Cochrane: 00:48:12 Well you guys know I pounded the it drum for a long time in terms of incorporating, incorporating that into your business. And you know Eric, I didn’t mentioned in that to the distributors for many years now and you and I have talked offline about this. So we know, I mean that is still at the core is you have to have an it competence then the, the industry is becoming a cyborg industry. We are not all mechanical electrical anymore and we are a mix of it. And a, you have to have the right support around you in terms of that. And if you don’t, you’re going to have a hard time making the right decisions for your business on that every level. And you know, you talk about our vendors and I, I I feel like, you know, in terms of, you know, I know in terms of distribution, I haven’t seen as many people hire it. People as I would’ve liked to have seen. Right. Not Saying I’m like pissed but I am a little disappointed. Right. I would have thought more people would have taken, taken that on quicker in terms of, Oh real quick, cause I have hired one and I’ve hired one named Batman. His last name is Batman.

Eric Stromquist: 00:49:16 So Scott and for the Control Trenton Industry. Okay. I am looking for a second it professional. The only thing you to crack here, you have to be good and your name has to be Robin because Stromquist.com will be the first HVAC and Smart Building controls distributor that will have Batman and Robin doing tech support. we have taken your advice and there’s a problem. Thank you for that.

Scott Cochrane: 00:49:36 But anyways, the vendors, the vendors, I give them the same advice. I mean like I can’t tell you how many times I’m with their product experts and none of them are it savvy if you may. None of them. Like no one in the room is, remember I don’t consider myself it savvy when I need 90 savvy person in the room, I bring my chief technology officer who moves very it savvy. Okay. Cause I’m not it savvy. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. But I can bring up and he can sit next to me and we can bring up a good value to you because we collaboratively can understand things that most people can’t. Right. So, so you know, that’s where, that’s where I see our vendors really struggling is how to incorporate this it community into their products, into their groups that work on products, into the engineering and the products. You know? How did they do that? You know, it seems like a lot of them are separating hardware and software. They should actually, I think be getting closer together in some ways. Yeah. They’re thinking in terms of it’s going to add cost because there’s the, they’re still thinking about price, right. Versus value. A lot of them because they go in it well that would be, I had more cost to the product. We need to keep the product is a inexpensive as possible. And that’s certainly one way to go, but I’m not sure that that’s going to be the winning formula going forward. It sounds like maybe you’re agreeing with that. Yeah, I do. I do. I think again, they need to really look at their staff and as they, as they add new staff, I would recommend they look at more people with true it backgrounds coming in.

Ken Smyers: 00:51:10 So that goes back to your original statement, where’s the APP? Whereas the APP exactly. Cause we can key person, they’d say, well to get that data you’d have to have an yeah, well how do I do it as well? You, yeah, it doesn’t hurt to have one around you. So, and then next thing you know, you invest a ton of money and next thing you know you’ve built an APP, you have got to make data, an APP, you’re like, wow, that’s expensive. But it is worthwhile. I’m not complaining it is worthwhile because it is. That is the industry in a nutshell. I believe in the future. And I think when we talk about distributors, we know Kenny, I’ve talked a lot on the show about the fact that distributors have the opportunity to become the most relevant part of the supply chain or they can become quit completely insignificant.

Eric Stromquist: 00:51:54 I don’t think there’s much middle ground there. So a couple things is that the manufacturers are not gonna provide that it savvy expertise and this obviously I’m not paying for the distributor to step up and differentiate themselves and create value with that. Right? So that, that, that’s a key piece there. And then the other thing is somebodies got to go sell it. Right? And you know what, what I’ve gleaned from this and other conversations with you as part of that sales process is you have to understand the owner’s point of view from an it perspective because the building automation controls, that’s going to have some influence. But if you don’t get the high t piece and if you don’t understand the fact that operational savings is going to be a bigger driver and 10 and experience is going to be a bigger driver and probably anything else, then you’re not going to be relevant in terms of the sales process. It, it, you’re just going to be, you know, working numbers up on bid day and hoping your price as well.

Scott Cochrane: 00:52:47 That’s exactly right. You got it. You got it. When we go, man, what a lot of, I find a lot of my job is in terms of where I sit because again, we’re, you know, we’re not selling projects, we’re just, you know, supporting deployments a lot of times in terms of our end user relationships. So in, in that regard, I mean we’re seeing all sorts of, uh, you know, new opportunities from these digital systems that go in because you know, the, the owners now are becoming very savvy about the technology they have and they are learning that this, the new business and using that to get more funding to get on, you know, to get better looks from their superior management on projects in terms of not low bid, but actually we need this technology because it is going to bring a lot of business value. Right. So, so now we’re seeing the layer that we sell into at the buildings. They’re starting to learn how to sell to their bosses and we’re starting to see more, more project fund money coming in. And I shouldn’t call it fun. It’s just exciting because you know, it gives us a chance to deploy this new task. Right? Yeah. So, so that part we’re seeing that change going on, which is really exciting. So what do you see the whole game sorta changing eventually with the whole construction process? Is that going to happen anytime soon? Where the consulting agent. Okay. Yeah. Think about that Yo pat and out from bad Rocky’s going to talk about that at our controls con and you’re going to see where they definitely have technology as one of the high, you know, in terms of decision making. It sits at the highest levels within their organization and those decisions are made and they’re made with uh, with budget considerations for sure. I mean they’re not just throwing money out, but uh, but when they’re made there, it’s going to happen that way. And I’m the technology providers on the job sites, they fall in line when told what to do with a good plan. Right. You know, a lot of times when they try to deploy new technology without a good plan at all levels, like get the engineer owner level as well as the contracting level. Um, you know, those oftentimes go over budget and the value’s not there to the end user. But if the owner has a design and they’d lead it and it comes from the top down, those are the projects where we see some real big successes coming in under budget with a huge value to the project. So that’s very encouraging. Yeah, it’s neat to see it coming together. So anyways, bedrock Joe is going to talk about that. We’re excited about that. So very cool. Cool. Yeah, we also have Mike Miato from Ford Motor and Mike is an awesome guy cause Mike Mike is, he’s actually like a guy in charge of it infrastructure for Ford and he lives in a world much, much bigger than what we’re talking about in terms of the it deployments. And uh, he’s had a dip his toe in the Bas world and look at some of the deployments were doing it and it’s going to give us his view from his level of what we’re doing and give us a sense of what’s going on around us in these huge it infrastructures. So, uh, so that’ll be an exciting, that’s a neat story as well. So lots of neat stories. Hopefully again, we’re going, we really want this to be educational. The controls, I think it’s going to be cool. So remember we have a link, there’s a special that you can get and we played, let’s make a deal earlier with Scott Cochran. Maybe just type in control trend and you need to know that you needed that in the next two weeks after two weeks. I have to do one more, one more thing here. Just sitting here listening to this. You know, I think that all

Ken Smyers: 00:56:24 the manufacturers should send representatives. I mean everybody in the control business, you have a lot of them already common and you have a lot of great sponsors and, and uh, and I’ve gone through them. It’s a very impressive lineup. But you know, I can’t see how people in this business don’t have a representative come to this thing. I think it really and truly would be behoove anybody that’s trying to keep up to date with all his fire. You know, uh, just there’s so much information coming at you. It’s a fire hose and you can’t really filter and whatever. But this filters at this brings the important issues and important people in the industry to one place for two days. How could you not really see the value in it? So I, I just, this is a call to all the folks who listen out there across the country. Make the investment, get to controls con and you’ll, we’ll be rewarded

Scott Cochrane: 00:57:07 for sure. Detriot Motor city and we’ll put the dates. We’ll put the link there. Listen, Scott, I’m getting a copy. No, it’ll all be mounted. Well, listen, I’m getting it. I’m getting a couple of texts from our live audience. Some questions. I’ve gotten three from three different, Jennifer’s about let’s play. Let’s play a deal. Just Jennifer Lopez, Lawrence and Aniston. They want to know if they sign up, whether it be photo ops available with Scott and then secondly, a guy named Walter Isaacson. I think he wrote a biography on Steve Jobs, one of the best ones ever. He wants to know if you have a book deal yet because it’s all there and more and more. There you go. I guess has been the one, the only Scott Cochran. Dude, thank you so much for taking time to be with us. Cochrane supply.com or Cochise always. Yeah, for sure. [inaudible] dot com we will have a link to the show.

Eric Stromquist: 00:58:03 Remember, use controltrendsand get 10% off. The Jennifer should be there and getting their photos taken with Scott. He usually has not to around him. So it sounds like maybe we already have beautiful women around you, so you’re even up in your game. So dude, I’m proud of you. Way to go. Thank you so much, Scott Cochrane.

Scott Cochrane: 00:58:19 Thank you guys. As always. Thank you from the industry and uh, see you next time. Kenny. Amazing stuff from Scott Cochran.

Eric Stromquist: 00:58:27 As always, man. Excited about control con. Be sure to register for it if you’re not already going. And remember it was, I could deal Kenny and I don’t negotiate on your behalf as the game show host to the industry. So Kenny, uh, you know another thing, we’re sort of changing up your a little bit. As you know, we used to sort of go through all the posts on control trends that were there for the week and we realize that you can just read those. They’re there. We don’t need to rehash every single post. So one of the changes we’re going to make on the show is we’re going to have a deep dive post to the week and we’ll take one post and we’ll go and do it. Go to a deeper dive on. So Kenny, what is the deep dive posts on the show this week?

Ken Smyers: 00:59:05 Well, it’s, um, the 2019 Haystack connect and project Haystack and, and a little bit more about the, uh, the networking of the sharing, the creating of synergies, the generating of business opportunities. But as we all know, Haystack tagging turns thousands of complex data points into efficient dashboards, meaningful alarms, and simple schedules. So what we’re seeing, Eric, is we’re seeing the implementation and the development of a protocol that’s going to make our worlds, uh, simpler, easier, faster, more efficient, and get to those, you know, those, those desired points without any deliberately meddlesome, uh, you know, traffic in other words. So if somebody comes out of a box and it’s 10, you know, it’s registered or it’s, it’s using Haystack or somebody could, it’s an APP and it says, hey, stack, we’re going to start seeing in the couple of years that will become probably the protocol of choice because it has so many merits.

Eric Stromquist: 01:00:04 Right? Was it, you know, and we were there at the very first meeting. We’ve been to every single Haystack convention and as, Kenny is saying , Haystack really is a tagging conventions are the agreed upon tagging convention and the stuff it allows you to do. It wasn’t that you couldn’t do it before, but there’s a term and, and if you’ve been called this, you know it’s not a derogatory term, but it was just sort of a reality called the link monkeys. And basically if you wanted to, to get data out, you basically had to manually go into your software to link different pieces of data up and pull them out. So it was very, very time consuming. And this sort of came about because people want to extract the data from their systems where they can make it usable. All right, but it was just cost prohibitive because it was not an agreed upon tagging conventions. So Kenny might call an air handler air handle, write it out to that one on my called, hey she one, Scott Menuch would probably call it drone one cause he’s a drone captain. But now with this convention, it’s kind of the best of all worlds because you can call it all those things, but then it’s going to translate to one meaning. And then now what allows your integrators to do is to extract this data without having to the cost of being a link you. So we’ve watched over the years when this first came out, our first meeting in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Kenny, I mean, you know, it was, it was kinda tough sledding there. Nobody really adopted it. But it’s such a great idea that the manufacturers, the biggest one be a Tridium. No, came out in the not too distant past and say, we, we are accepting this standard now. So it is really, and truly the stuff, if you are a user or a consulting engineer, you want to ask and make sure that Haystack tags are included in your controllers and your system. If you’re an integrator, you want to become part of the Haystack organization. If you’re in, you know, and if your distributor, you better know what it is too. And the great news is, if you’re not caught up on this yet, you will be, because there’s a big event coming up and San Diego, right? Kenny,

Ken Smyers: 01:02:08 all insurance. In fact, the registration, uh, it might be closing down. That was one of the, our midweek, uh, uh, urgencies was that these early bird registrations or, and I think a Haystack. You May, if you look at it today being Sunday, March 17th, they might, might, might have missed the, uh, the clothes off. But yeah, so the registration hotel, we have that link right on our website. And uh, you know, you could book your, to book your hotel room directly through the Haystack connect website for discounted conference rate. So that’s, that’s, that’s a good incentive. Uh, it gives you good details on the sponsors, the exhibit halls, the agendas, the speakers. In fact, there’s still a call for speakers for the Haystack connect. Uh, it’s in a beautiful area. It’s a private island paradise. So this is going to be a paradise point. The San Diego island resort and it’s extraordinary. It’s beautiful. Uh, it’s a, it’s going to be a, so all the downtime is going to be near the beach or you know, just in a beautiful environment. So it’s got all the components of being a very worthwhile important networking. But like you said, going into the deep dive, you know, the, the technical information that the Hastag provides a unique open forum for professionals involved in automation control Internet of things to learn, share the latest technologies and techniques for connecting systems and utilizing data device data and applications including intelligent buildings, energy management, remote monitoring and other iot devices and applications. And this year is competence of course is May 13th through the 15th at Paradise Point Resort. And I just want to do some name dropping. It got some of the industry’s stalwarts that we’ve had, like John Petze, mark p talk, Brian Frank, uh, you know, Scott meant, you mentioned him earlier and you know, Jason Briggs, we’re seeing the critical mass here and the OEMs that are involved are making this thing inevitable. So it’s not a question of if you’re going to get onto the project Haystack train or, or the Haystack templating. It’s not a question of if it’s a question of when and,

Eric Stromquist: 01:04:21 well, and we’ve seen so many great demonstrations. I, you know, it compliments to both Jason Briggs and Scott Menuch because the very first one we went to, they get out, they got up on stage and their overalls and their, their straw hats and they essentially live in front of an audience without a safety net connected all these diverse systems almost instantaneously through the use of Haystack tags. We saw him do it again in Colorado Springs. So the power of Haystack, I mean it’s palatable when you see how quickly they were able to bring on systems from all around the city and almost instantaneously. It’s phenomenal. I’m not doing it justice. You have to see it to believe it. As a matter of fact, I think uncontrolled trends, we might have some videos of them doing that. We do, we do. But the videos didn’t even do it justice. So if you haven’t been to a Haystack connect, uh, beg, steal, plead, tell him Ken and Eric sent you, you know, by Kenny said the dates might’ve passed, but hey, we know people, so just, uh, we’ll, we’ll help you out if you really want to go and you should want to go. So, yeah, well I’m just goes, Forrest Gump says, that’s what I have to say about that. Hat’s off to the Haystack connect organization. You know, we have the links on there, the, the Haystack connecting project Haystack. You know, you’ve got some brilliant people in behind that and thinking about Haystack too is it’s global, it’s having a big impact on Australia. It’s having a big impact. We heard from one of our colleagues, the reason why Australia has become such a leader in building automation and any, any new innovation that know can help buildings become more efficient and you know, increase the utilization of data Australia, you have to do it. They have laws down there that say, hey, guess what, we don’t, we’re not going to tolerate, it’s like a title 24 on steroids. It means I, I didn’t realize it until it was explained to me that, you know, they don’t even have a choice. You have to comply with these, these, the top energy efficiencies and everything are mandated. So they think that the Haystack is, you know, was, was pivotable deployment of a protocol that everybody benefits from so that everybody’s on the same sheet of music , What was the guy’s name that we met? We need to give him a shout out to from air masters that uh, has been, he’s a big, big deal at Haystack. Mcelhaney. special shout to Richard. He’ll probably be there too. But to your point, man, people from all over the globe come here to a that and then right after that you got to get back on your point, get your passport ready cause you got the EASY IO Global Conference in Holland. So we’ll be there too. So with that Kenny Smyres, we got stuff to do. You got to go play in the snow, get a snow Tan, and you know, I’ve got to go take care of my kids. My wife is out of town for 10 days, guys, so I am babysitting the six year old Evelyn and the three year old Axel, or should I say their babies city May. With that, a special thanks to our guest this week, Scott Cochrane from Cochrane Supply.. Be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel and remember, be bold, stay in control, and stay relevant

Ken Smyers: 01:07:48 indeed.

New Speaker: 01:07:48 Indeed. Kenny Smyers, and that’s a wrap.

You might like these posts too

The post Episode 307: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for Week Ending Mar 17, 2019 appeared first on ControlTrends.

The post Episode 306: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for Week Ending Mar 10, 2019 appeared first on ControlTrends.

How will Artificial Intelligence Change the Smart Buildings Industry? Dollar Driven Decision-Makers want Data into Insights, Insights into Action, and Action into Revenue. Will AI Deliver?

CTN 305 Interviews:

Show Notes

Eric Stromquist: 00:00:00 Hi. Welcome to Control Talk Now, you’re Smart. Buildings video cast and podcast for the weekend in March 3rd., 2019 . We give you all the Smart Building and HVAC Controls News of the Week. and That’s right. Folks marches here. Episode 305 I am Eric Stromquist. , I am joined as usual by your co host and mine The Man, The Myth, the legend the one, the only Kenny Smyers the control man from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kenny. you’ve been out sunbathing today, right?

Ken Smyers: 00:00:26 No, I have not been sounds good. We got another two to four inches of snow again last night. And, February beat us up pretty bad, but we’re looking forward to the break in the weather.

Eric Stromquist: 00:00:52 well, listen dude, we don’t have time to talk about that. We don’t have time to talk about much of anything. You know why we got two fabulous guests lined up. So, let’s get right to that. But before we do check out the post on controlled trends this week a big one, our friend Aaron Gorka, another next generation innovation podcasts dropped on Friday,, so be sure to check that out. Alot of good stuff on the on that which we’ll come to. Well you just have to go to the site to read it at controltrends.com Kenny with that, let’s introduce our first guest

Ken Smyers: 00:01:27 Our next guest is the one and only Ken Sinclair, owner editor of automated buildings. And this month we’ve got something really interesting because I think Ken is going to help us differentiate between artificial intelligence and automated intelligence. Welcome to the show. Ken Sinclair.

Ken Sinclair: 00:01:45 Welcome Ken! Thank you very much. ControllTrends. Always a pleasure to be here I appreciate it.

Eric Stromquist: 00:01:51 I guess we should just start with you have to be intelligent before any of that’s relevant.

Ken Sinclair: 00:01:59 Actually. Actually you’re quite right on, I’m one of the tweets. They actually picked that up and uh, they just pointed out that the, the, the intelligent part is us. We keep forgetting that we, I think we tried to imitate the artificial piece of artificial intelligence rather than the intelligent part. Uh, and it’s hard. It’s harder to be the intelligence.

Ken Smyers: 00:02:20 No, I guess just going to say Ken, you know, it’s another great addition. Uh, just, uh, keep a common and is an amazing benefit to our industry that you’re, you’re able to grab all this new stuff coming out and start to make sense of it because when I read, whereas reading some of your, your, uh, entry, sir, in your first, uh, your editorial, when will we ever see a artificial or automated intelligence come into being? I mean, we close. I mean like when you didn’t have, are like, say Scown foundry and I had mentioned, you know, you know, you got, uh, somebody collecting information data. So we wrote a program, so you’re autonomize or automate the collection data, sends it somewhere

Ken Smyers: 00:03:00 where it’s being processed by another basically program. So we took the humans out of the elements is going from, you know, machine information, but that back to computer machine information and it completes it. In your opinion, artificial intelligence or what does that sort of striving for is that we maybe try and redefine that a little better once it’s done and once it works and once it’s successful, I believe what it is is automated intelligence, right? And what we’ve done is we’ve learned how, and we probably did that through augmented intelligence and we may have used a artificial intelligence from computers to create that. But in the final analysis, it’s when it’s done, it’s actually a couple of lines of code in this machine and a couple of lines of code and that machine pushing information back and forth. So really all we’ve done is does that look any different than the DDC?

Ken Sinclair: 00:03:59 Looper you know, it’s just, it’s just artificial or pardon me, automated intelligence. I keep getting my words mixed up here. The other thing is, uh, took a look at Wikipedia unwell. They define artificial intelligence and it’s totally clear that they’re confused as well. One of their, one of their best definitions is that they like is that artificial intelligence is what hasn’t been done. And I kind of liked that definition too, is every once in a while we hear somebody thinking about something that’s never been done and they actually believe that they can do it. And uh, once they do it, I think it changes. I think it is no longer artificial. I think it’s either automated and it’s either augmented, uh, it’s uh, you

Eric Stromquist: 00:04:49 Ken, you’re going to go down in the history books for this cause Descartes said, I think therefore I am. And now I think you’ve just rephrase that to I think therefore I am artificial.

Ken Sinclair: 00:05:00 Well actually there’s a good one. Whoever, whoever chose the acronym for for this, this broad method of having machines out think us and they called it artificial, you know, and it’s like wow, artificial has never been a positive word. I don’t think. I don’t think it’s a, it’s an adjective that we, you know, you look real artificial. I think it’s optimistic thinking on our part. But you’ve told us a story right before we turned the recorder on about the, the two machines and the camera. Will you tell our audience that story? Cause I think that is very interesting now. Okay. What kind of goes along like this is a, as we start to automate intelligence, we, we have two machines. The first machine, uh, is, uh, is uh, a ring. Somebody’s doorbell and it, it sees the person walking up and re prerecorded it. And when they push the button and it sends that prerecording to another machine than the other machine determines whether it’s going to allow that person in.

Ken Sinclair: 00:06:02 And there’s all this data going back and forth. But when the artificial intelligence machines, uh, they start to, so the decisions are no longer made by people. The two machines, they get together and they say, these people are so dumb. Why did they bother generating a picture and sending the file when in fact, all we really need is the data. Because we don’t look at, we don’t know what a picture looks like, getting way, we just know what the data looks like. So we see that face. There’s a Pi data pattern. When we see that data pattern, that’s what we let the person in. So all of a sudden this gets really scary because they can do stuff faster, quicker and better than us. Uh, so that’s sort of getting into what I think artificial intelligence is, is when the machines start mocking us. What’s, I think they may be doing a bit now.

Eric Stromquist: 00:06:51 Well, but Ken, I mean this is what Ilan Musk and some others have really gotten up in arms about and concerned about and I, and he’s a hell of a lot smarter than I am, but okay, so let’s take that same conversation between the two machines and instead of, they’re so dumb. They got it. You know, why do we don’t need a picture too? They’re so dumb. Why do we need them? So let’s just, we got him in the building over there was talk to our friend, the building automation system and building x, and we’ll tell building automation says to lock all the doors and turn the heat on and override the bypass on the boiler. So blows up. That’s one where we could get rid of, right? I mean, this is

Ken Smyers: 00:07:25 Guys, you know, there’s several, there’s several books on this and I’ll tell you what, I’m reading one right now and it’s by a Daniel Sora as it is exactly that. It’s the Damon. So the guy passes away and as he leaves behind a, a giant Damon that runs and competes against the top minds in the world where it’s based on a game. So your concept, can I, I’m digging it and here’s why. I looked up their artificial intelligence and it basically just as anything that’s not human. So you have human intelligence that’s, that’s an eight to us that’s coming out of great minds like yours and Eric’s and, and some of mine. But the,

Eric Stromquist: 00:08:01 these are such thing as a dumb ass machine, right?

Ken Smyers: 00:08:05 When anything is not human is considered to be non human or artificial. So, but I think what we’re seeing, um, and, and again, I think we move into it because of exactly what you just said there. The data going on so fast with the recognition a week, last week, our big thrust, uh, on controlled trans was we did a shot, a recognition. So you had to ballistic sensors and things that could move so much faster. It makes so quick notifications. They can, human errors couldn’t differentiate between shot a gun or I’m sorry, a bullet being fired versus a backfire from a vehicle where the odd, the sensor could distinguish it immediately threw the ballistics through the, um, the sound acoustics and, and the, um, the flash she gives and notify something in three seconds, which takes a human that they’re not sure what they heard. They don’t know what to do, they’re stymied or whatever.

Ken Smyers: 00:08:56 So that disbenefit, uh, is, is exactly, I think too, it’s, it’s an artificially gained intelligence where we did, we don’t have the capabilities in Nate Dar, so I’ll, we, we turn it over to our, our algorithms that are powered by Ip conductivities and Zip. We, did we get the benefit of this artificially, uh, you know, provided intelligence that is, or isn’t the bad guy or is, or is it the good guy? Whatever. So anyhow, great, great, great subject.

Eric Stromquist: 00:09:26 No, no, no but, but, but I just want to get one step further. Kenny and Kevin Hart had a chance to listen to last week’s episode, but you know, Roger, even I can Honeywell come up with this sort of, you know, using those centers and then incorporating them so that if something does happen, you know, the first responders know exactly where, where to go and it can save a lot of lives. But Kenny, you know, the next step of this is they’re not going to send first responders. You can just send a drone in there. A drone is going to go into school and track those guys down or are bad people down just like that. So again, it’s very ironic that a one level we get very, very much, much safer and everything has a lot more convenient. But on another level, we’re really open ourselves up to some huge vulnerabilities here.

Eric Stromquist: 00:10:11 If Elon Musk and some of these other folks are right, it’s okay. I’m not worried about gas cause I’m already, you know, Elon Musk has got this deal. He’s already started this company where they got the chips for the brains. And I’ve already, I’m on the, I’m on the waiting list for that and if it gets too bad with the machines, I got a ticket tomorrow so I’ll be out of here. But maybe I’ll go back and spinning off of Ken’s comment is that his definition of artificial is anything that doesn’t involve us. And I think, uh, I’m not sure about you, but I’m not sure I want to talk about anything that doesn’t involve us. So that’s what happened back to automated intelligence and action camp. But the other component has to be the self learning aspect of it too, right? I mean that has to filter in whether it’s automated or harder official that he can begin to learn right. With the cell phone in Algorithms. That’s gotta be a piece of it.

Ken Sinclair: 00:11:02 Thanks Ken. But I’m not sure that, I don’t see that as a, that’s again, as an automated intelligence is basically, it’s just learning, learning how to better automate cause another perception, the way you look at that. Anyway, it’s early days. Um, the, uh, I don’t know if you caught the end of one of my articles there and then I talked about awful made it buildings and uh, uh, we were, we went through eight, we went through a period, it’s actually a 2002 article that I included a linking to. And uh, what happened with, uh, this was as we hit the web. So we went through the DDS, we went through awful, made it building several times. We went through awful, made it buildings. In the early days of DDC we had all these DDC systems that didn’t really work, but there so exciting that we kept on pursuing the, we actually figured out how to make those things work. And then we hit the web and we started getting a whole bunch of stuff as a web controlling MREs, the DDC controller. We have those. And I don’t see this as any different. We’re exactly in the same spot, except we’ve got this intelligence automation that’s Kinda falling from the sky on us. And, uh, we’re, we’re into another period of awful made it buildings until we get this straightened out.

Eric Stromquist: 00:12:21 Hmm. What do you see some of the possible headwinds? I mean in terms of the problems, when you say awful, awful, made it, I mean obviously we went from pneumatics to DDC, there was a learning curve and things sorta had to, to get worked out. Do you see anything different with on the automated

Ken Sinclair: 00:12:38 controls now it’s going to go faster if there’s going to be more people involved in it because of the iot industry. And ultimately I think, I think, but the problem is, is the uh, uh, Ben Ben, back to what Ken said, is it artificial is defined as things that don’t involve us. And I think if somebody, if we turn loose a machine, it’s not going to run the building the way we want, whether it, whether it attacks us or, uh, even if it doesn’t attack this as even tries to run it to the best of it’s knowledge, it’s going to need some guidance and what we need to learn. So what I see the, uh, intelligent automation phase era, that’s the year I think we’re in right now is we need to learn more about what we can do with this technology. How much should we can machine learn, uh, because we got to learn how to walk before we can allow AI to run our buildings.

Ken Smyers: 00:13:42 Well, I, I agree with you and again, it’s always fun to take things to a, you know, an immediate, uh, you know, the word, the farthest point from, from reality, you know, or likelihood. But, um, in the, um, in your march edition, you also, we have another, a great article and great background to some really heady thought, but actually it gives us the, the nuts and bolts of it from a sit. How young thing again and, and, and how, you know, she takes the example of autonomous vehicle and how it would, it does, it reduces the risk of life. It reduces, you know, allows, it frees humans to do more things. Uh, you know, that the car can do that. It alleviates you from doing work. It’s, you know, it’s like a, the amazing thing the locomotive did versus the horse and buggy thing. So she has a great article in there. Um, what, what, what did she bring to you as far as the, you know, her insight using the autonomous vehicle? A analogy to our buildings. I mean, it’s a great article, but I thought, you know, what was your synopsis of that?

Ken Sinclair: 00:14:42 I summarize, summarized it in a, in a tweet this morning and the fact that we were pushing back and forth some stuff and it, uh, I said that, uh, you know, the having your driverless vehicles running into our buildings I think is really good stuff because this whole atonomous side of the automated vehicle has whole bunch of social issues. It has a whole bunch of quick control things you were talking about. There’s no way that you know, that some of this stuff can be controlled so quick, but, and that’s of course, the second part of our theme that we were talking a theme is the automated intelligence with autonomous interactions. I don’t know that we’ve really thought of of it in two pieces like that. Here’s the intelligence of what it is we’re going to do. And then as soon as we do it, there’s a reaction, let’s put in another control loop to control the reaction.

Ken Sinclair: 00:15:38 And I think if we look at the auto industry, they’ve got their spending scabs of bucks on this and they’re moving through. So I think we need to kind of try and understand better what they’re doing. Ironically enough for articles this month or right on our nose talking about, uh, what they’re doing in Stanford there. And, uh, the young girl on energy prediction is amazing. It picks up on last month and fills right in and she’s particularly well spoken and she’s speaks to it. I think what we also have to, you know, get used to, as people are going to call it artificial intelligence or call it augmented intelligence or automated intelligence and, uh, we’re going to be getting used to the fact that maybe it’s just best we call it AI and then substitute our own, uh, uh, okay. Okay. Different definition of that connotative definition. Yeah, that’s, that’s, yeah, I think you’re right. Yeah. Well, okay. Got It. Cool.

Eric Stromquist: 00:16:41 Let me hop in real quick, if you don’t mind, Kenny, before we get to the next article, I think one of your buddies is responsible for all these annoying phone calls I’m getting from these chat bots. Oh those damn things are talkative as hell. But uh, but speak a bit if you would, because it seems like we might be going from a Gui graphical user interface, you s C U I, which you’ve been talking about for a while. But now I see it in black and white and I connecting the dots are going inadvertently can you’re responsible for all these damn calls. I’m getting

Ken Sinclair: 00:17:19 no doubt, no doubt. My only defense is as they all, they all sit that they all come with an autonomous interaction. And the autonomous interaction is as if you don’t ever answer the phone or say hello. They won’t, they don’t do anything. So if you actually can out think them. So if you, uh, when it comes, you get one of these chat bot calls. If you don’t say anything and nobody says anything for about a half minute or something, you can just hang up cause it’s no person. So anyway, uh, the, yeah, the, you see, what do we call it? User interface, text voice. The more, so we’re seeing this, I mean it’s running rampant now with the speakers and all kinds of devices that actually have, uh, these,

Ken Sinclair: 00:18:08 the Hay googles and the Alexa’s built right into them. And I think we’re going to see more and more of that. And now what I think the, the, the conversational user interfaces is that now devices, we’ll start talking like that and we can start using whatsapp, WeChat, uh, ims soldier and in some of these things. And actually, uh, the very quick segue is that we could actually, uh, you know, text to turn the lights on. The big advantage of that is it keeps a record of all of the commands you can, you can, you can say to your wife, you turned the heat up. And she said, no, she didn’t. And she says, it shows that Santa Time you put it up five degrees. So how that conversation goes, that damn machine is obviously wrong. Ken, you’re not going to win that argument or call my lawyer. Actually, I was going to bring that up. I was going to bring that up early when, when Ken was talking about how, how carefree these machines, good thinking. I think that was the biggest single thing is that the machines can move without lawyers. So that’s the thing that mobilizes us all. Well there then, you know what, there might be a silver lining after all I’m ever my friend.

Eric Stromquist: 00:19:27 Ken do you have any more question for Ken?

Ken Smyers: 00:19:30 No, no, no. I just, again, that does so much to talk about every time we were bringing something up. So again, it’s a collection of jewels I think, you know, because uh, you know, going over the march articles and how they come together, like you say, it’s like a phenomenon. You started at subject and all of a sudden something provides, you know, it’s like willing it into being like you get this critical mass and all of a sudden people were also thinking that way and just that part from Sydney. Uh, the article from us sit on a jump. The, that contributions inside that article or immense because it talks about, you know, the, you know, the energy, the automatic provisioning of, of, of, you know, in other words, if we had a limited amount of energy on the grid and we had sustained the most important critical buildings and whatever, uh, you know, we’re going to one day rely on that to be done, you know, through uh, I just watched a presentation on, on a new drive coming from Siemens and this drive is already smart grid ready.

Ken Smyers: 00:20:29 In other words, it’s ready to go to the next level, uh, and not go into the network would go right to the cloud and put VFDs on, on an application, uh, and it can alleviate a btu meters because the, the VFD can calculate the flow and see how many BTUs you’re using saving of Dagon. Holy Moly. This is, this is another thing that you were talking about right before we have our session here. I listened to this and I’m thinking this is getting really, really interesting because if you could put this artificial intelligence or augmented intelligence or automated intelligence to work, we are going to become a greener planet quicker. We’re going to be able to use this to make our take the best steps forward. But you know, I think would you said true that if somebody doesn’t answer the phone, guess what? Nothing happens. No, no artificial or augmented intelligence occurs because people don’t start using this technology in buildings. We’re not getting anything done.

Eric Stromquist: 00:21:31 Well yeah, but you’re saying it’s reactive now, meaning you have to initiate this step, but

Ken Smyers: 00:21:36 pretty easy. Did you have to make this step, you have to take the investment, you have to invest, you have to invest in technology,

Eric Stromquist: 00:21:40 right? No, you have to invest in technologies. But would your, your point, which is a very valid one. We like your, Ken’s point about the following. If you just don’t say anything, right, it doesn’t, it doesn’t activate, you know, the program. Yeah. But, and I think that’s kind of a very calm, you know, good thought. But then eventually it will be where they’ll just be proactive. They’ll figure it out, west cans and clear again. I’m just going to start damn talking cause I know he’s not going to answer first and then, uh, then we’ll start sending pictures or something to you. That’d be crazy. But

Ken Sinclair: 00:22:13 I think this might be the, the edge of the automated automated buildings and automated interfaces and stuff that we need to work out. And I think that’s why we have to be involved in this too, as I, yeah, I’m not sure that artificial intelligence is going to be able to figure that out and come up with any better solution. Uh, what it would say is it’s a solution we don’t want to hear is don’t ever talk to a human. They’re just, they’re just impossible. Only talk to machines. You know? It’s funny you say that because,

Eric Stromquist: 00:22:45 you know, I was thinking while you were talking about what’s the definition of artificial intelligence, you know, Kenny had a good one. You had a good one. And I was going to say that, well, uh, you’d have to have an original thought to not be artificial intelligence, but then I think about it, I’m not sure. Most humans have many original thoughts either. You know, there’s some of us who do, but it’s a, it really is fascinating. And then what I’m really interested, forget the buildings. I am serious about this, putting the brain, the chip and the brain. I mean, have an augmented intelligence on board connected to your mind. And Musk has been working on that. So it’s literally, you know, you’re not gonna have to go to school and, and what are you just going to buy the, uh, the chip for American history and you’ll know everything you need to know about it?

Ken Sinclair: 00:23:30 Actually, uh, I think, uh, as, I was really pleased with Theresa’s article this month, and, uh, I think it came partly from her going up and spending some time with the folks at bedrock and in Detroit and watching what they’re doing up there. She, she came out and she’s picked up on this theme and she calls it the community of practice in building automation. Uh, you can actually even drop the building automation because it’s basically, I hadn’t seen it so clearly as she depicts it, that we all belong to a community of practice and both of your supply companies are, they are communities of practice and basically that’s what you’re selling. Then that’s your, you’re really your value and automated buildings is a community of practice. People who actually believe in somewhat a common belief of, you know, of how we might automate buildings. We also have things like backnet, which is a community of practice.

Ken Sinclair: 00:24:27 We have Niagra and basically what’s happening is they’re becoming the building blocks of our industry. And this is how we build stuff is uh, when you find a community of practice that you haven’t, haven’t been exposed to, you guys are all excited and then you figure out how can we make that community of practice part of our community of practice and that increases your value. That’s a lot of what I, I think we all do is, is basically share this information. The advantage of attaching yourself to a community of practice is it comes complete with resources. People, people who understand that and we need to keep creating those and, and basically distributing that information. So anyway, I think that’s going to be our next direction. That’ll not, that won’t be the theme for, um, April because the theme for April is going to be cybersecurity.

Speaker 4: 00:25:25 But halfway through it I’m going to write an article on the community of practice and just kind of tie all of these communities together. And if you just let your mind role and think how important, how important are all those things to your business, your everyday business. I mean, you could say you could, you could almost go down your drawers there, your La Aisles, and you say this belongs in the back net. This is a Nagra. This is a Johnson. This is a, you know, all of them are communities of practice that you’re doing it. What’s your big claim to fame? One of your big claims to fame is that you crossover many lines of a communities of practice.

Ken Smyers: 00:26:04 Hmm. Not sure when I read that I had this word Papa, they kept coming up with that was, or your collaboratorium. In other words, you know, the, the thing that I think I’ve witnessed or we’ve all witnessed, but in particular is how quickly certain things get done when there’s that collaboration or does community of practice where you overlay all these experts and all this, all these, you know, leading, uh, you know, uh, pioneers because we’re talking about three things right there that we’re are all articles, project haystack, biennial, haystack connects conferences coming up from San Diego, mid May, uh, Co controls con con a skull, Scott Cochran. He’s got a great spring

Ken Smyers: 00:26:44 conference coming up where the, uh, you know, Cochran is going to share a great deal of information, um, you know, regarding new technologies and things that the, uh, you know, it’s very important. So yeah, I did that community practice. It makes total sense what you’re saying would tree says, but um, can you see it? I’ve shared it that she went back to this Nydia and got approval to reproduce this graphic. But if you Kinda, if you kind of just read all the little, uh, you know, things that are written around there, that’s what you do every day, right? Listening, challenging buildings, sharing everything that’s on that thing is basically what your companies do to pull together your community, give and get support. Yup. Yup. So, uh, you know, just it’s, it’s kind of, I dunno, we used to, you know how you have to filter because there’s so much out there. Uh, the malty general generational engagement. So there’s our young guns. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s kind of amazing that, that this is kind of a map of who we are and where we came from. Um, and I think we need to work more on this map so we can better understand what I might be talking about. Cause I probably don’t understand what automated intelligence might be. I think what we have to do is kind of maybe do an intelligence inventory.

Eric Stromquist: 00:28:14 You know, Ken, listen, listen, you’re missing the whole point here. Look, I’ll have my machine, my machine call, uterine machine and they a lunch and figure all this stuff out. We’re not going to have to communicate anymore. We just have the machines. We’ll have the community of practice. That’s, that’s where you’re going with this, right?

Ken Sinclair: 00:28:30 Uh, well I dunno, look, look at, look at all the touchy feely things on the, on the docket there. Yeah. That’s one thing that machines aren’t y’all like, you know, like you’re saying caring, healing and listening or new superpowers. Yeah.

Eric Stromquist: 00:28:46 I’m going to tell you some, most of it you have to ask yourself a question is empathy, which is what all those things are. Is that a learned skill? Cause I told you this on a show before when I was in southern California about two years ago, the debate on the radio, because they just come out with the sex Bot and they were teaching them artificial intelligence that can be more empathetic and the debate on the radio as a view if you had sex with the sex bot where you cheating and so it’s, you know, it’s, I maybe you think about it. I think empathy is learned. We teach our children how to be empathetic. I think I’m at least, I think that we could debate that. Whether that’s an innate human quality or dress up. We just learn when we get culturized by growing up by our parents and going to school. It is the question, then we’ll be able to program it into the machines and there’ll be more empathetic than we are.

Ken Smyers: 00:29:36 Well, to Ken’s point, I think that’s both. I think that’s what you can’t put inside the artificial intelligence or machines is you can’t put

Ken Smyers: 00:29:42 that inate stuff. And you know, you have different psychologists saying different things, but we all come from the same well of consciousness. You know, we pass through a w what’s his name, your different Freud. Another colleague came through with young where we all with this guy, Joe Campbell travels the world, hundred 50 countries and how 150 different countries come with the same basic belief system. You know, about how you got here and where you’re going afterwards, you know. But to your point, I think, um, the, uh, subjects that we’re talking about is, is that this thing almost looks like a 1970. Remember how we did the we generation iGeneration we generation or the me Generation Innovation is almost looks like our whole concepts or taken a different direction where it used to be individuals, there were the major players in the industry and they dictated science stuff and now we’re seeing all this technology come in and it’s just dumping all these new possibilities.

Ken Smyers: 00:30:41 And so this community of practice to me is an extension of of basically the thing you did with the collaboratorium. I’ve never seen so many people be willing to share so much what used to be like a sensitive information or proprietary information, but they want to get something done in order for them to get their agenda done quicker. They collaborate with somebody that’s also doing something better than they are and instead of each trying to create your own wheel, they’re putting together a, you know, this, this, this community and it’s an amazing thing because Hastac is it? We’re going to talk about haystack some at some point and, and we just have to celebrate what they did because that’s what they did. They did this, this amazing linkage of, of a lot of people that couldn’t really define how they were going to get there. Somebody laid down a map and then people contributed to it. And next thing you know, you’ve got a yellow brick road.

Eric Stromquist: 00:31:29 Well listen, I want to, Ken, I want to follow up, uh, on your last episode, uh, El or semi last, last month’s edition because you know what, you had become quite a cult hero amongst the young young guns in our industry for, for numerous reasons. But the big one is a, and I’m going to ask you to expand on this is, you know, when you become, when you’re disrupted disruption. And so one of the questions we got from our community has asked, can you know, talk about the process of disrupting disruption. I mean, how would I do that? Because you know, you’ve seriously the young, I mean we were bringing in it kind of like a hero to these folks. Now again, how do we disrupt disruption? Well, I think it’s interesting once you learn how to grow younger, which is a, is a skill that takes a bit and you basically,

Ken Sinclair: 00:32:27 yeah,

Ken Sinclair: 00:32:27 bring these guys on his trusted advisors and start to understand and try to get inside their heads are at least closer to it. You understand this whole what the significance

Ken Sinclair: 00:32:40 of being a digital native is. I mean, we’re looking at this from such a wrong way. You know, all our, we keep going off on these tangents. They don’t even think about that. They grew up with all this stuff falling on them and they understand they had been, don’t have the fear of the machine that we do because they understand the machine, they understand data that give it the data. We take the data away, you know, and uh, I think they just see it in a completely different light. So for them disrupting disruption, although they do it to themselves as well because they’re there a way ahead on the front. Some of the stuff they’re disrupting is totally amazing. I barely understand. But our disruption is easy. It’s easy to disrupt us and to disrupt the disruption is, is uh, is easy as well because our industry is slow to move.

Ken Sinclair: 00:33:32 And, uh, we’re actually starting to see some of this stuff coming. We’re actually seeing, uh, you know, wifi sensors. We’re seeing the wire disappearing in our buildings and more, more devices, more it devices starting to appear. So that’s, that’s very disruptive. But it inside of it comes a gazillion opportunities and we’re getting where we had a, like a very small slice of the industry, things that were involving, now we’re involving integrator piece of the industry. So yeah, I don’t know. That answer wasn’t very good answer. I was kinda hoping you’d say something like, we know we got to kill the machines or something like that. You know, that’s what I was going for, Matt.

Ken Smyers: 00:34:20 Well, I’ll tell you that again. You got an amazing job to kill the kids first day. Cause that’s the, they’re, they’re, they’re becoming closer and closer to these machines and they’d rather talk to the machines and us. I saw somebody put a, uh, I don’t know where it was, linkedin or somewhere, but it had all these kids in this beautiful museum in front of one of the most classic art and they’re all single child was looking up at the art, uh, and they were on their phones, iPhones or smart devices or whatever. And it just really caught it. Oh know to be in the middle of it, you know, our world thinking that we had, we had put these things on the wall to the epitomize the highlights of humankind and our loftiest, you know, artists and these kids just totally not interested. And so we’ll accept it. It’s funny cause sometimes the guys looking at it and what they’ll tell you is that’s not really the original. The original is in Spain, in the small town, this is a copy.

Ken Sinclair: 00:35:21 We’re always checking facts. You assume that sometimes they’re, you know, they’re doing something different, but sometimes they’re just, they’re just way ahead of you. And lucky. Now, I’ll tell you what I learned my lesson and I, when we were talking about an old timer, walks into the office, a Johnson controls had a uh, a, a couple years ago, Eric and I were at it and they explained the mistake. They’d invested so much money in recruiting the top a young guns that could possibly get their hands on. Uh, and, and then they were losing them after the second year and it all boiled down to their boss and, and the one classic example they gave through where they had the outbrief thing and the people had to, could, could hear what they were being accused of or the bosses criticism from the young person’s perspective. And here it was that the guy who thought they were all screwing around on their smartphones and they were actually doing work and research because the companies that their, their, their, their computer system was so slow and lagging and they had so many security still at that they couldn’t get the information they needed to complete the project that was due.

Ken Smyers: 00:36:20 So they were actually doing double time using their own device to get some information that the computers that they were given to is their work. Computers couldn’t perform and be, he looked outside, he said, everybody’s playing with their phones or playing games. There was an assumption that they were screwing off and here they were very, you know, professionally you’re trying to get the Dang job done. And they were being, you know, uh, there were being hindered by, anyhow, we, you’ve got a couple of good articles, this thing by Marc p talk and it’s got a picture and it says, you know, the built environment has been changing drastically, but what, what does mark say he says is two nights, 2019 the year of truth for the built environment. And he has all these questions. He has, well, two nights, 2019 be the truth that our dialogue senators around the proven technologies. So what’d you think about that? And it’s like the 10 commandments of, of the built space.

Ken Smyers: 00:37:14 Yeah, that’s good. I’ve been, I’ve included in my article a link to it. Uh, it’s super mark. Mark always is very succinct and being able to kind of pull out around, uh, and it’s okay. So maybe this is the truth of artificial intelligence that I’m talking about is that I’m saying maybe, maybe we don’t want to call it that. Maybe we want to call it art or a automated intelligence. And I don’t know, sometimes by just calling something different, you start to discussions and I think that’s what I really want to do is start the discussion. We can, I think you’ve got an add on. Your name needs to be automated buildings and intelligence. How’s that? That’s right. Well the other problem is if I didn’t call it automated intelligence yeah then that’d be obsolete. I’d have to, I’d have to, how I got it. There was two choices. I either had to change automated buildings.to artificial buildings.com and I don’t think I would’ve sold with it after 20 years. Automated building Sterns to artificial buildings. So we had to, had to go to automated intelligence. I like that. I do automated versus our, I don’t like artificial either. Not to think about it cause you know, it always meant something unnecessarily sinister but not necessarily

Ken Smyers: 00:38:31 as, as as you know, as firing as it could be. Artificial means that’s made up and, and, and not genuine. And so maybe we will help the mate, the next group of solution providers change it from artificial intelligence to automated intelligence.

Eric Stromquist: 00:38:46 So Ken, uh, listen to about march of March issue is out automatedbuildings.com, be sure to check the I can, would you be able to hang around a bit longer and talk with us with our next guest?. Okay. Ken. So where are you going to be traveling this spring where it looks like we might be crossing paths a little bit. Okay. Well we’re off to Detroit and early May to control con we was just before this conference call, I was talking with Scott and the bedrock, a Joe from bedrock and uh, exciting stuff happening there. Actually. He, he just come back from Korea and some going to be some amazing stuff. I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you, but don’t, don’t, don’t do that. We’re going to be there too. So it’s going to, okay, I told you today I’d have to kill you. But Scott was Scott.

Speaker 4: 00:39:32 It was Scott in Korea or a the gift. Actually, Scott Scott was a fighting icebergs and a theory coming out of the lake or something like that. He was driving in his car, asked for video, and he took his phone and held it up against the windshield and told me I was driving. So, so listen to, you can still go there. Are there links both on automated buildings.com site and control trends, uh, hey, be get a chance to go to this conference is fantastic. And uh, the next big conference had coming up is haystack and our next guest is going to be able to talk a bit about that, Kenny. So how about introducing him?

Ken Smyers: 00:40:07 I’d love to, in fact, um, I’d like to introduce Ruairi Barnwell. He is a group principal at d l r and the DLR group, uh, was recently recognized that the controlled trends awards because they won the project haystack award. And that’s a very, very exciting thing. And, uh, we’re very happy to welcome to the show, Rory Barnwell. Welcome to show Roy everyone. Good to see you again, buddy.

Ruairi Barwell: 00:40:32 Hey guys, how’s it going? Great to be here.

Eric Stromquist: 00:40:34 Good to see you too. You were on episode 222 and uh, I’ll always remember that it was great, lively conversation and, uh, could you give a sort of a refresher and an update on what’s going on with DLR group?

Ruairi Barwell: 00:40:48 Sure. Well, thanks again guys. Really excited to be back on again. Um, I guess just to recap on DLR group who we are and what we do. And so we’re a large design firm. Um, you know, 1200 people, 30 offices around the, around the globe, um, architects and engineers, um, you know, our core American sectors or education, workplace justice and civic, uh, hospitality. We’re actually the largest education design firm in the world. So that leads us down some pretty interesting paths. Um, so yeah, that’s kind of a, we’re busy. I’m sitting here in Chicago right now and looking out the window and, uh, all the cranes and all new construction going on. So, yeah,

Ruairi Barwell: 00:41:32 we’re trying to make it,

Ken Smyers: 00:41:36 yeah. Good stuff. All right, well, we’re really happy to see you down in Atlanta and, uh, recognize you right away. And we have to say hello before the show actually gotten underway. But, uh, you wonder, pretty impressive. Tell us about the project Haystack Award and how you guys won that.

Ruairi Barwell: 00:41:54 Well, it was quite an honor. We’ve obviously been big believers in haystack and you know, practitioners, the haystack methodology and what we do and how we, you know, collect and, uh, organize and analyze data to our, our smart building a praxis are amongst monitoring based commissioning. Uh, you know, how we, what we call building optimization. That’s the practice I lead. Um, so yeah, it was quite an honor, right? I mean, well, the night that was a controlled times Lord.

Eric Stromquist: 00:42:36 Yeah. So an engineer and designer standpoint as well as a, you know, an energy optimizer and buildings for our community might not know. What do you see the advantage is to project haystack?

Ruairi Barwell: 00:42:49 Um, well, again, for us, you know, a large part of what we do within DLR group, uh, our building optimization practice is, I mean, it’s just dealing with data and at the end of the day, um, we’re answering the try to answer the same questions as everyone else in our community is what do we do with that data? How do we make it actionable? How do we organize it, you know, create some actionable insights from that data. So what are, we’re trying to optimize the energy use of a million square foot commercial office in downtown Chicago or, you know, a college campus in the suburbs. MMM. It’s, you know, it’s the same drive trying to answer the same questions as everyone else.

Ken Smyers: 00:43:35 What are your clients asking for now? What are your types of clients and what do they ask? So you’re the largest provider of services to the education world. What are they asking for?

Ruairi Barwell: 00:43:46 Yeah, I mean, as an example, you know, we’re working with large school districts here in Chicago across the country. Um, you know, going and getting ready to go out for a large bond referendums, you know, they’re trying to answer some big questions like, are we, uh, you know, how are we, you know, here in Chicago, we’ve got a couple of districts going out for $180 million contract for, and then down in Texas, they don’t, they’re close to a billion. I mean, figuring out Texas, right? But we’re all trying to answer the same questions. You know, are we, should we build new versus renovation, throwing good money after bad, you know, how are the buildings performing and should we invest in these existing buildings? Should we decommission them, build a new, know you were high performing buildings and, um, you know, they’re, they’re asking the same questions. You know, how, you know, how do we benchmark buildings?

Ruairi Barwell: 00:44:40 You know, I think we’re, we’re recognized as a, as an industry and this community in particular that, you know, energy benchmarking alone. There’s not a, it’s not a good indicator of how well, or poorly performing. So we’re starting to look at the other key performance indicators that, you know, how is, how, how, how well a building is performing. I in indoor environmental quality tracking, indoor air quality and thermal comfort of occupants, Acoustic Comfort, visual comfort, your user functionality. Now these are, these are things that we’re trying to tie real data to versus, you know, we’ve, we’ve talked about him, I think this conversation has been pretty mainstream for the last couple of

Ken Smyers: 00:45:22 the metrics. Are you able to provide additional metrics to improve the understanding of how important those, those things that you had mentioned, lighting, acoustics, I mean, does that, does that really have a profound impact on the educational environment or is that more, is that hard?

Ruairi Barwell: 00:45:38 No, no, absolutely. I think we’re getting past, we’ve made a very focused decision to kind of try and there’s so much noise and marketing, you know, yeah. Spills everyone to call them. Um, we’ve already focused on trying to get some good case studies and trying to, you know, for example, in a couple of cool projects you’re working on right now we’re doing a large project with the GSA. We’re part of the Harvard School of Public Health. Um, it’s doctor Joe Allen’s group, um, where we’re trying to evolve their post occupancy evaluation process. Um, really tried to add another dimension to, um, to their, you know, what they’re, they’re trying to fill it up and evidence based design library so they can continually iterate there. We’re working directly with their workplace, um, uh, workplace global workspace leader and um, you know, adding in that realtime indoor air quality, indoor environmental quality is more than just the air quality and all the occupants satisfaction.

Ruairi Barwell: 00:46:44 Um, putting real metrics to that and tying that back to work or productivity. So that’s again, I think that’s been a manager in conversation now for, for a couple of years where I’m, I’m pretty excited with the crossover between, you know, worker productivity, the workplace, um, you know, getting some proper metrics for that to education. So now we’re starting to see equal amounts of research being done and if not a little more now at the moment with, um, you know, students, you know, student achievement, you know, how does the, out of the class, how did the before, how does the performance of the built environment, the classroom impacts a student’s learning ability, you know, the cognitive of a, of a child brain. How that, um, how, you know, is is the classroom ventilated enough? Is it too hot, too cold or the acoustics poor, the lights too harsh or too damn, you know, we’re working in a school districts that have, you know, kind of okay lighting retrofits that were driven by energy, not so much the, you know, the function of the classroom. Um, and, and again, and try and tie that back to, you know, how engaged the student is and ultimately student achievement. And I think we’re looking at more or less the same ties as a, as far as on the workplace side and an office and productivity.

Ruairi Barwell: 00:48:11 Okay. Well, uh, honestly we’re in the middle of, uh, of working on this GSA project is ongoing. It’s on the boards right now. That’s why it’s top of my mind. But he’s kind of, well, I’m, I’m excited about. Um, so I would say look for the, I think this would be the third iteration of the cog effect study from Harvard School of Public Health. Um, and so that, you know, that’s only going to get, there’s just going to be more iterations of that until, you know, I think, okay, we’ve withdrawn it’s common sense, you know. Um, I think that we’re just trying to put real data to it. Um, you know, another project I’m really excited about, we’re working with Chicago public schools and the third largest school district in the country where, you know, there, uh, there, uh, exploring an initiative for a lot of textile and that’s zero school and you know, we can have a, it’s really easy. You haven’t that Sarah School, right? Turn off the light board up the windows, tell the kids the worst, some colts and light some candles. You know, we want a second, but Marcy sophisticated approach than that. Um, so we’re, uh, you know, using the same data gathering, collecting, collecting data, organizing it, analyzing it, modeling it for future retrofits, you know, trying to show, uh, I’m not, uh, basically a roadmap for how can we get to the zero? What is it feasible? I mean, that’s the question we’re trying to answer.

Ken Smyers: 00:49:51 Amazing work bringing our, bringing emotions to buildings. In other words, we’re taking the things like comfy that began way back when, where it was giving people with smart devices the opportunity to interface with building automation system to get some kind of an immediate response if they needed air conditioning or heating, whatever. And as soon as they were company, they hit a button, say coffee. So Ken has done a lot of studies and a lot of work on it. Can, I know you got to have a good question for Rory regarding these, these exact studies because isn’t this the chance that they, the, the emotional side of a building can be exposed through these new retrofit new programs?

Ken Sinclair: 00:50:29 I think he has an excellent start. And actually I’d like to start by applauding what, uh, what he’s doing. And his company is certainly for a major consultant to embrace haystack and, uh, the other health parameters of buildings and put them in their lead is, is significant than I think he is definitely an example to, oh, a lot of consultants who are, are kind of hiding, hiding their head from all of this. And uh, so he’s well on his way and as the exposes all his data, he is going to be able to interpret the emotion of a building. I’ll be better than anybody. And uh, the fact it’s going to be in haystack standards, uh, is also exciting, uh, because that means that when we do analytics and we start to use a voice interface and device lifts interfaces and the autonomous interactions, uh, I think he’s ahead of the game and even even to speak to our, uh, our march theme, the Automated Intelligence, uh, I think he’s well on his way to achieving that as well. So I would probably just start with a whole bunch of Kudos.

Ruairi Barwell: 00:51:51 Thank you.

Ken Sinclair: 00:51:54 No, actually the question I would like to ask you is how do we get a string of consultants like you? I mean that’s our problem as an industry is really have traditional consultants that are controlled by lawyers that are immobilized and they’re putting in their 1956 system because they worried that they’re going to get sued if they try anything new. So you guys somehow, uh, moved over into risk management. They’re looking at changing world. How’d you do that?

Ruairi Barwell: 00:52:31 We’re talking about energy or whatever we’re talking about indoor air quality, indoor environmental quality in general. The level of transparency. We’re at the tip of the iceberg there. Um, you know, the sensors are becoming cheaper and more available. You know, we can, where we can practically do realtime indoor air quality monitoring. We’re working because you know, a friend of the show, Albert, he’s on it, you know, how is already working on a real time. We’re going to be using his sensors for, to, to track this real time. It’s very affordable sensors that are high quality that are going to still meet the well building standards for accuracy. The problem with answers as you got what you pay for. So if you can get, you know, the correct, mmm,

Ruairi Barwell: 00:53:26 nope. We’re tracking typically CO2, that’s the one we all kind of default to, but also PLCs, how the material selection impacts the environments. Um, pm 2.5, you know, how the, how to particulate matter in the air stream, you know, how well are we still trading the air, how clean was the air. A lot of this technology comes from China, I believe it or not because the outdoor air so poor over there. This is kind of initiatives, you know, the badge of honor in China is to show that, hey, it’s not necessarily I got to lead platinum building , I’ve got to building with clean air.. You start to see initiatives like, uh, you know, the recess, uh, certification reset in the certification. That’s primarily based on just, uh, it’s only based on indoor air quality, you know, so,

Speaker 6: 00:54:19 right.

Ruairi Barwell: 00:54:25 Well, you know, it, it’s, it’s, it’s a fun vibe, you know, practice a little bit. You know, scary time, you know, for, for uh, when we disclosed this amount of information to a building operators, we work with property management firms. We work with a nutshell reads, um, ourselves as a design firm. Now our level of transparency, our post postdoc, the evaluation for our own designs, it’s become a lot more rigorous. So, you know, not only are we focused on energy and the outcomes and okay, are we know we got to hit this Gui for the building. What now? What are we going to hit this threshold for co two levels for particulate matter or you know, for um, the materials that were, that, you know, everything from them at the carpet that’s been selected impacts the indoor air quality impacts.

Ken Sinclair: 00:55:16 Go ahead. No, I was just wanting to pick, pick up on that. That’s another interesting side of it is as the devices and the things are starting to talk to us, I just came off a conference call with getting ready for the control con event in Detroit and Joe from bedrock had just come back from Korea and he’d been talking to the LG folks and the LG folks on their units are absolutely prepared to provide complete open all of the information they have internal to their units and so all of a sudden pick up. That’s like a whole new world to us was where the OEM always kind of kept everything and you bought it and you know he never really knew what it does now into your transparency of data. You’re having this, these machines and as a consultant you can control that in the fact that you say, I want devices that are more transparent and that they give me new data. If they don’t give me my data, I’m going to buy product B, not product day because

Ken Sinclair: 00:56:24 this guy gives me more data every week. Gives me the most data, maybe the product as long as it gets

Ruairi Barwell: 00:56:32 after your original question. And how do we get more people on board? I think the really nice thing about working with an entity like the GSA is that they’re doing this to be the, to be a leader. Everything we’re doing is going to be published publicly available. There’s no secret there. You know, everything. We’re going to be doing this completely open and we’re kind of share best practices super. And that’s why, you know, so we’ve teamed with Harvard, uh, there they’re just going to continue to do great things and change the industry. Um, uh, we’re starting to see, you know, Lawrence Berkeley national labs and the Department of Energy got on board with these, you know, these same metrics and uh, um, ourselves and, uh, four or five or order pure group, uh, your, um, companies are, are currently work in the early stages with the national labs and Department of Energy to, to kind of just a roadmap out how prevalent types of analytics that we’re doing.

Ken Smyers: 00:57:34 A couple of things, you just came back from an important trip this morning, didn’t you? You were in Minneapolis, Minnesota this morning and you came back.

Ruairi Barwell: 00:57:41 Yeah. Minneapolis is a near and dear to my heart. That’s where if my second city, so I grew up in Ireland. If you can’t tell from my accent, cargo is my city. Been here for 20 years now, but my wife is from Minneapolis, are on Minneapolis office. Nope. We’re kind of tied at the hip with, with, uh, with them how we’re structured regionally, our CEO, it’s up there. Um, so yeah, I came back from probably the only place right now do any major city that’s colored in Chicago at the mall. I didn’t, I wasn’t very sure if I’d make it out with the smell. Um, but I was up there. Yeah. For a, a very special read them. We were actually taken off, well, don’t kick it off. My good friend, uh, broad culture over at Hga, uh, has, uh, has over the past a year, 18 months. It’s been very successful with a couple of more teammates that heads up there and getting the big TC, uh, group going up at the building intelligence group, twin cities. And um, so we had a great, uh, meeting. We thought I had some great meetings over the past couple of months and that’s really, uh, so last night there was maybe 60, 70 people. Um, kind of the same cross section of card that you’d see at real calm. I’d be gone, you know, systems integrators, vendors, you know, some more proactive, um, design consultants, you know. MMM. Usual Xbox, you know. Um,

Ruairi Barwell: 00:59:22 but everyone comment that, um, there’s really no outlet for smart. There’s really no smoking. We got USG, we see receive, got Ashrae for the engineers, but there’s really no local connection point or you know, people in the smart building industry. I was amazed. I had done a fantastic job up there. In fact, I should probably got him on

Eric Stromquist: 00:59:46 right. It’s very dynamic individual.

Ruairi Barwell: 00:59:50 Oh yeah. It’s fantastic. And uh, he’s done a great job with that. So, um, as a result of the success of a big building intelligence group, twin cities, we’re going to start a big shy here, April. So we’re saying we’re going to basically start the Chicago franchise here for anyone out there that’s in the Chicago area. Hit me up and I’ll give you the details on the first meeting. It’s going to be on April 11th year. We’re going to host the first one at our office, uh, looking for volunteers and Geneva, our committee members and everything else. So we’re looking to get a good group here. It’s a kickoff. The, uh, the first one,

Ken Smyers: 01:00:30 critical. How’s the soccer program going? I understand. Last time we talked to you, you are, and your soccer outfit because you were heading down practice,

Ruairi Barwell: 01:00:39 right? You know, uh, I got one thing I have in mind for soccer. I have plenty of sad.

Ken Smyers: 01:00:45 Yeah.

Ruairi Barwell: 01:00:47 Liverpool happened to have my liver big Liverpool Fan, so nervous times at the moment that we got them to every run in here for the Premiere League. Hopefully. Uh, the first year [inaudible] 92 I think so,

Eric Stromquist: 01:01:07 yeah. We’ve got a pretty good soccer team down in Atlanta now that make us do

Ruairi Barwell: 01:01:12 awesome. Yeah, no, I’m a, I’m a big Chicago fire power as well. They were doing nearly as good as your guys are doing.

Ken Smyers: 01:01:21 Yeah, you can pay more money.

Eric Stromquist: 01:01:31 You know, I wanted to sort of ask and sort of cycled back around to, it seems like you’re doing things and getting things done that, you know, we treat very few consultants sort of getting the traction. You aren’t terms of changing how people are doing, building automation controls and, and making a more emotional and all that stuff. You know, for our audience in mind, I know you guys have all of the offices I think in 30 countries or there abouts.

Ruairi Barwell: 01:01:57 Well it’s, it’s 30 location. The majority of those are in the Norton in North America. We’ve got an office in Shanghai, Dubai in Nairobi stuff. The kind of global reach it. Yeah. Yeah.

Ken Smyers: 01:02:09 So I was just curious if, if you see things differently or done differently in different countries and is it part of how you guys are sort of being innovative, the fact that you sort of have a global perspective instead of a just a North American history

Ruairi Barwell: 01:02:23 perspective? I think it’s definitely an advantage. You know, I think myself personally, we have a lot of interactions with my, my old college buddies are working across the world and uh, your fellows kind of been a front runner, but I truly believe we’re in the right place here and not there. There’s so much exciting things going on here in North America. I think the change that’s going to happen from here, there’s so much innovation, so much, uh, so much, okay, it’s mainstream now. You know, we’re not talking about someone, not something on the periphery. You know, when you see big players like the GSA, you know, when you see people like Chicago public schools, you know, I’ve mentioned there their public sector. I think I actually Ma personally got most enjoyable working with developers that I, you know, I enjoy the fast paced nature of a working with developers.

Ruairi Barwell: 01:03:16 And you know, when you start to see, you know, the people who are typically focused on dollars and cents and bottom line and that’s it gotta be like that when they start to focus on wellness and amenities. But you know, again, it’s still dollars and cents. Attracting and retaining the best tenants in your building is still attracting and retaining the best talent for those tenants. So when you start to see, you know, a smart building, uh, strategies start to filtrate into the, into the mainstream because it makes sense for these dollars are the developers to do it. You know, that that’s a woodwind.

Eric Stromquist: 01:03:55 Yeah. Cause it seems like the buildings are going to be more competitive as Ken Saint Claire, who’s our resident millennial here has pointed out that, uh, you know, you better have a nice space if you want me to come into the office and work. So, so I think, you know, there’s a lot of awareness about wanting to have a great space and energy efficient space and obviously a space that leads to productivity. So it seems like that conversation is shifting. Where will you say developers and owners are more open to having that versus just being driven by energy or low cost when so hopefully that trend will

Ruairi Barwell: 01:04:25 absolutely. Yeah. I mean one of the most progressive developers we’re working with here locally in Chicago, Sterling Bay, you know, they uh, they, uh, Google’s Midwest headquarters, Mcdonald’s global headquarters, moved downtown from suburbs group on Gogo, go down the list. And uh, you know, we’re doing a lot of work with them on their existing building side. But also we’re, we’re really lucky in Chicago. We’ve got a very progressive utility as well. So we’ve got combat in Chicago and we’ve got some legislation at the state level, like the future and jobs act, that kind of mine bass. But these guys have to invest in energy efficiency programs. But we’ve got the monitoring based commissioning program here in Chicago, which is really a, you know, it’s a fantastic deal for, for the [inaudible], for any owner operator, a building, you know, where you know, we can get all Texans agnostic platforms that we all know and love, uh, integrated, uh, you know, get that done at data analytics integrated pretty much for free for the, for the operator, the utility incentive programs, paying for that.

Ken Smyers: 01:05:34 And then there’s an incentive on the, uh, energy savings after that, you know, so that’s great. That’s a, you know, it’s energy driven. But I think now we’re starting to see owners see the value of scrubbing that data, organizing not data habit, you know, following the haystack methodology and now start to leverage that into you are smiling. Okay, well now we have the state, or what else can we ever got? The belly automation system data, a lighting control system some better. You know, from across Europe and thought what are, you know, conference room, uh, management, you know, conference room booking system and how can we optimize the workflow? How could we optimize the workspace?

Ken Sinclair: 01:06:18 Before you came on, we were talking about the community of practice. We were talking about Terese Sullivan But anyway, uh, this what I just heard you saying is you are a big embracer of communities of practice and I’ll call haystack a community of practice as possibly, uh, uh, back net than many others. But what you’re doing is you’re using these communities of practice too as building blocks in your consulting firm. And then the thing that I was impressed with is you were now creating a new smart building community of practice and bringing that to Chicago. So that was kind of an interesting, what I heard you say. So

Ruairi Barwell: 01:07:08 absolutely.

Ken Smyers: 01:07:08 It’s interesting that we use these things as building blocks to build a better community of, uh, of a particular practice. And it’s, it’s kind of interesting how that that does it. And we were talking before, we were talking about when you actually adopt, maybe that’s a good word, adopt a community of practice with it comes all of its resources and people and this allows us to grow I think quickly. And to make the radical changes we have to make

Ken Smyers: 01:07:43 building blocks is a great analogy for what’s happening here in Chicago. We’ve got, these are kind of, you know, fostering are enhancing best practices, you know, so now owners are starting to see the benefits of, of interoperable, you know, using data for, for something other than that. Okay. The base level of saving energy, right? And optimizing systems. But now, well, wow, now it’s done that, where can we go from here? You know? So, um, yeah, it’s, it’s really exciting.

Ruairi Barwell: 01:08:18 Well, just keeps growing. It grows on itself. And the biggest thing is I find is the communities within that community, they will have found another community of practice that will ultimately become important to us.

Ruairi Barwell: 01:08:37 Yeah. We got to keep the lifetime. But you know, having a program like that allows us to generate the revenue to hire another engineer who’s done getting nothing but write algorithms and write rules. So we continue to grow and we continue to evolve our practice. You know, so our north star at the end of the day, no for us, uh, optimizing, building optimization, that’s what we call it, you know, so how, you know, how can we leverage into a, you know, one of the world’s largest design firms and start to impact impact.

Ken Smyers: 01:09:16 No bright lights.

Ken Sinclair: 01:09:25 I don’t know. I heard a good cook and fed. We’ve never moved as fast as we have right now today, but we’ll never move as slow again in the future credit for that one. But um,

Eric Stromquist: 01:09:40 well Kenny, will take credit before. Don’t worry here is, we sort of wind it down here and thank you so much. Uh, I want to ask you a kind of a final question here and then also I want to make sure that our controlled trans community knows how to get hold of you and your firm. We have a lot of buildings as well as integrators. And school boards and all that stuff. So they’re going to want to know how to get hold of you. But, uh, what, what are one or two mistakes you see a building owners and they could be school boards, it could be you know, your other clients that, that if you were going to talk to them just sort of as a friend and say, hey, whatever you do, make sure you do this or don’t do that.

Ruairi Barwell: 01:10:25 I mean, honestly I’d say just have a plan, you know, start, you know, look to the future. So, you know, I mean it’s pretty obvious already, but, um, we’re also focused on the short term quick fix and uh, you know, let’s take a step back for a moment. In fact in master plan out what we want to do at our building stock, you know, whether it’s a school district, that college campus,

Ken Sinclair: 01:10:47 okay.

Ruairi Barwell: 01:10:48 Large real estate investment trust. You know, I think, um, you know, there’s front runners leading the way here and it’s going to lead to some really exciting case there. I’m so excited about the case studies that were flip out words there. And you know, maybe

Ruairi Barwell: 01:11:06 cause we’re excited, we’ve tracked at Harvard, all these stuff we’re starting to, it’s like concentric circles. It’s like their critical mass is getting, you know, it’s condensing smaller, smaller, but it was more incredible gravitational pull and importance, you know, so it’s uh, it’s just exciting super stuff.

Ken Smyers: 01:11:22 Yup.

Eric Stromquist: 01:11:24 Always, always welcome to come back on the show. Hopefully get you back on. What do you said we touch base with you? Maybe once a quarter or at least at least two times a month

Ruairi Barwell: 01:11:31 times a year. You guys, I’ll try and touch base before that maybe. But yeah, we’d love to come back on and giving updates

Ken Smyers: 01:11:45 and give us the website, the website for you guys too, for our community.

Ruairi Barwell: 01:11:49 Um, so you can find the, you can catch me@dlrgroup.com. Um, again, if you’re in the Chicago area and are interested in taking part in the building intelligence group, uh, that we got going, he hit me up on Linkedin or are I have to set up fee or just.com? Yeah, looking forward to, uh, looking forward to what lies ahead or,

Eric Stromquist: 01:12:14 okay. Guys, the clock’s running down. Uh, Kenny,

Ken Smyers: 01:12:20 thank you both for being a very, very well done. And you know, I think it’s the way you’re so articulate the way you really big bringing all those issues together. Again, it’s exciting because we’ve seen, we’ve seen the needle move, we’re seeing progress. I wish our area of the country was as advanced and adept at taking on changes and bringing it, bringing it home into the school classrooms as quickly as possible at every opportunity. Uh, but um, any final thoughts?

Ruairi Barwell: 01:12:47 Yeah, no, I mean gets me all about it in the morning and team. You know, we’re, we’re, we are moving the needle, we’re able to impact an industry and not just the Auger on top of our community in general. You know, the sky’s the limit. Thanks very much guys for helping me on. Look forward to connecting again in the future.

Ken Smyers: 01:13:18 Well, we’ll definitely have you back on and Ken Sinclair and we’re going to bid you adieu to, thank you so much again. The automated buildings March issue is out. And I tell you what between these two guys right here, I mean you don’t have to worry about anything the rest of the month cause you’re covered guys. Thanks so much man. Great stuff from those two guys. What, what great stuff and a, hey we’ve got a birthday girl today, don’t we?

Ken Smyers: 01:13:41 A very special birthday girl. We have Andy Jarvis is turning 22 years old when she turned 22 years old on Friday. So you got younger. She has set special functional devices capability to not get older but get better and congratulations and happy birthday Angie Jarvis.

Ken Smyers: 01:13:57 And if you have not been lucky enough to meet Angie Jarvis call function, do yourself a favor. Call functional devices or call your local distributor. Spend $8 get a rib relay and say I want to meet Hangi. We have a, she is one of the all time greats, her and Sarah Maloney from connector and wire or two of the all time rate. Great people in our industry. Love both of them. So Angie, happy, happy birthday too. And what that can Kenny smile. We have a one or two other shots real quick. We got, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Angie does not share. Shoutouts Angie is the most generous woman I’ve ever met. All right, go ahead. Who else has James Workman? Happy Birthday. Uh, Travis Russell. He, he gave us a like, uh, patrol trans people that are giving us good comments and supporting our linkedin efforts. Uh, Phil Smith again, another like rocky, more celebrating two years.

Ken Smyers: 01:14:53 Automated logic. He used to be a local guy who worked for big American, our matrix and then he went to, was at Blue Ridge technologies, worked for technologies. Boy, you got a great memory. How are you doing? Are you taking special medicines or whatever? It’s supposed to make me more attracted to my wife and when an artificial intelligence smarter, yeah, it makes you smarter. Okay. All right, well there you go. Anyway, says from Siemens, he gave us a lot. A lot of folks are, are commenting on some of the, uh, the posts videos coming up. Uh, uh, Dylan Roci mentioned that, that he wrote back and said, thank you the marketing and the last one. Then we’ve stopped Bush. He’s a seven years at Ferris St Louis, and congratulations to Scott Cross for 25 years at temperature control systems in Texas. Where did it go? Scott Cross, if you’re down in Texas, you better buy your controls from Scott Cross or he’ll hunt you down. But the boy dog did. He is all right, Kenny Smyres. Well, that a very special thanks to our two guests today, Roy Barnwell and the one and only hot dough and didactic, a disruptive Sinclair. So with that, have a great week. Remember, be bold, stay in control, stay relevant, and be a little bit disruptive.

CTN 305 Features interviews with Ken Sinclair who explains that we may be better off with Automated Intelligence versus Artificial Intelligence. Interview begins at minute 2:21.

Ken SinclairOwner/Editor Automated Buildings

Our second CTN 305 interview is with DLR Group Principal, Ruairi Barnwell. DLR Group is one of the most advanced integrated design firms in the world and recent recipient of the ControlTrends Awards 2018 Project Haystack Award.

Ruairi BarnwellDLR Group Principal

ANT Technologies' Aaron Gorka continues his Next Generation Innovation conversation with the Young Minds and Young Guns of the HVAC Industry.

Aaron GorkaInnovation Manager

Previous

Next

You are here: Home / Building Automation and Integration / Roger Rebennack of Jackson Control: Active Shooter Solutions with Honeywell and Shooter Detection Systems

Roger Rebennack of Jackson Control: Active Shooter Solutions with Honeywell and Shooter Detection Systems

FEBRUARY 25, 2019 BY KEN SMYERS LEAVE A COMMENT(EDIT)

Jackson Control leading the way. Integrating Milestone (with Bacnet driver), Honeywell Video, Niagara and Shooter Detection System into one streamlined and functioning threat level management system. Seen here first!

 

An Inside Look at Open Protocols, Open Procurement, and Open Systems — Comparing and Contrasting Open Protocols, Open Procurement, and Open Systems

FEBRUARY 26, 2019 BY KEN SMYERS 1 COMMENT(EDIT)

Source: Engineered Systems, February 8th Magazine

In last month’s article, we discussed the topic of technology — when to use it and when not to. When we start to utilize technology on our projects, we tend to run into the concept of openness.

During my time working in this industry, the word openness has been discussed in depth. Yet, it seems, still to this day, that there is no consensus around openness. Depending on the audience, openness could mean one of three things: open protocols, open procurement, or open systems. As a specifying engineer, each of these forms of openness have different ramifications on the design of your projects.

This will be part one of a two-part article where we discuss the three different kinds of openness and the specific specification language for achieving openness on projects.

 

Topic No. 1, open protocols

When folks want systems to communicate, they enter the design process with a sense of blind trust that the manufacturers will get it right. They assume that all systems will work together, and by the time the project’s finished, everything will talk with one another.

The reality is, this almost never seems to be the case. Some piece of hardware, protocol gateway, license, or form of technology is missed. And when this happens, the finger-pointing starts, and everyone gets irritated with one another. When approaching openness, you need to consider that open communication between two systems depends on those systems being able to communicate with one another. On the surface, that seems like a really obvious statement; however, the reality is a lot of folks don’t realize the ramifications of open protocols.

Protocols, quite simply, are a way of formatting communication. A sentence such as, “The dog bit Johnny,” follows a specific structure. An object — in this case a dog — performs an action. It bites, and it performs that action against someone, Johnny. Now, if we fail to follow the normal grammatical structure of a sentence, and we said, “Johnny bit the dog,” the sentence takes on a completely different meaning even though we’re using the same words in the sentence.

 

So, how do we resolve this?

Today’s technology systems communicate with one another; yet, in many cases, they’re doing so by utilizing different communication formats. This is where protocols come in handy. The problem with protocols is that some are not deemed open protocols. Now, this is becoming less and less of an issue as our industry continues to evolve, but in the early 21st century, right around 2000-2002, the forms of communication that would enable interoperability between systems and their availability was very limited.

Nowadays, we have LON, Modbus, and BACnet, each of which have their strengths and weaknesses. As a specifying engineer, it’s important for you to understand the capabilities of these protocols and what they enable you to do from an integration perspective. I’m not saying engineers need to be experts on these protocols; however, they do need to realize that BACnet/IP is not going to seamlessly integrate with LON/IP or Modbus/IP. Those three protocols will not seamlessly talk to one another. This point seems to be missed on many project designs and specifications.

We address this in our online course, BAS Protocol Fundamentals, and, unfortunately, not a lot of folks are talking about this. Despite this, protocols are still an incredibly important topic for specifying engineers who want to ensure that their systems are interoperable.

Next comes open procurement. As I mentioned, the word openness means different things to different folks. From a technologist perspective, I’m thinking about open protocols or open systems, but from a procurement perspective, my mind focuses on open procurement models. You see, one of the exciting things that is happening in our industry right now is the availability of control products lines that are independent of OEM requirements. What do I mean by that? In the past, there were some robust OEM product lines for control systems. The problem was that no one could actually procure these systems unless they were the OEMs.

Nowadays, we have systems that can be procured directly through distribution and supply channels that are open to pretty much anyone. Because of this, these products, when selected for a project, can provide multiple service options. This reduces both installed costs as well as life cycle costs. They give the owner a greater level of independence from a specific manufacturer. A lot of owners find this very attractive in that it enables them to avoid the dreaded 40-50 percent margin for post-installation service calls because there is more competition, and this has the effect of driving down the cost of service. We address this in our article, “How to Evaluate a Building Automation System.”

It’s important to remember to define what openness means to your end customers. In next month’s article, we will be discussing open systems and how to specify openness in your projects.

Project Haystack Organization Launches New Marketing Website

FEBRUARY 28, 2019 BY KEN SMYERS LEAVE A COMMENT(EDIT)

The Project Haystack Organization (www.project-haystack.org), a collaborative community addressing the challenge of utilizing semantic modeling and tagging to streamline the interchange of data among different systems, devices, equipment and software applications, today announced the launch of its new marketing website marketing.project-haystack.org. The new site, which went live on March 1st, features a modern and sophisticated design to promote the vast marketing activities driven by the growing Haystack community and focused on promoting the value of smart data and semantic tagging.

To date, the website of the Project Haystack Organization has been solely for the developer community, featuring updates on semantic tagging, forum discussions and activities of the Working Groups.

“Given the growing amount of marketing activities our community has been initiating in the past few years, such as our up-coming 4^th biennial Haystack Connect Conference, our 5^th bi-annual issue of Connections Magazine, numerous webinars, exhibits and guest speaking opportunities at industry events, it was easily decided that we needed to provide end-user’s and new developers one place where they could learn more and find out how they can get involved in our organization,” said John Petze, Executive Director of Project Haystack. “It was important that our developer site remain just that.”

While establishing the value of smart data for building systems is where Project Haystack gained its traction and adoption, the Haystack methodology is not just about HVAC, temperature sensors, fans, meters, and building systems. The IoT, BIoT and the IIoT are bringing diverse smart devices into homes, high-rise commercial buildings, industrial facilities, factories and agriculture. The goal of the new marketing website is to help these markets see the potential as smart devices proliferate into solutions no one could have ever imagined even a few years ago, to learn who the suppliers and end-users are from around the world, and why implementing a data management strategy that includes tagging, has become so critical.

“This new website demonstrates the growing acceptance of the value of the Haystack methodology,” added Marc Petock, Executive Secretary of the Project Haystack Organization. “We had a record number of contributed articles featured in our latest Connections Magazine Winter 2019 issue. Now we have expanded the opportunity for the community to contribute articles, videos, promote webinars and events all related to Project Haystack and the value gained from this new abundance of semantic data.”

 

The new marketing website is at: marketing.project-haystack.org. The Developer Site, with information about the Haystack methodology is available at: www.project-haystack.org. The Discussion Forums can be found at: www.project-haystack.org/forum/topic.

Regards,

Robin Bestel

Marketing Manager

Next Generation Innovation Episode 6: Let’s Talk HVAC Software Hacks Young Gun Style

MARCH 1, 2019 BY AARON GORKA LEAVE A COMMENT(EDIT)

On this podcast, I talk HVAC software and controls with the great young minds ( young guns) in the HVAC Industry.

Ok, I know what you industry veterans are probably thinking, why should I listen to a bunch of youngsters? What could they possibly teach me? Maybe nothing… but face it, like it or not , we are here to stay, and you are lucky we have chosen the HVAC profession.

If you are paying attention you know that finding good, young talent is hard. Between the labor shortage and the millennials who think HVAC is a four letter word and Tim Ferriss’s book The Four Hour Work Week is an unalienable right not a concept, it is a wonder we have so many hard working, young professionals at all. So listen up, take notes and learn how YOUNG GUNS ROLL.

This is an interview series from AHR on Software Ally.  Sadly, three interviews didn’t come through with good sound (I will catch-up with Jeff Crandall @ Profit Rhino, James Whatmore @ JobLogic, and Bill Smith @ Elite Software to re-kindle and get-them-up).

However, we DO HAVE Tim Smith @ HVAC Marketing, Michael Martin @ XREF Publishing, David & Sarah from Product and Customer Success Team @ Jobber  …  AND I’ve included from Canada’s CMPX Show: Lawrence Beauchamp @ Arrow Electronics, and Mark Reilly @ TrackEm.

If you have not already, be sure to check out Episode 4: Future Proof Your Business and  Episode 5: The Importance of Team WorkYoung Gun Style

Ken Sinclair’s Automated Buildings’ March, 2019 Editorial Theme: “Automated Intelligence with Autonomous Interactions”

MARCH 1, 2019 BY KEN SMYERS LEAVE A COMMENT(EDIT)

“The term “AI” “Artificial Intelligence” seems to be troweled on top of everything these days. But I feel we all are a long way from its true definition.“

In his March edition of Automated Buildings, owner and editor, Ken Sinclair asks the question, “Is it Artificial Intelligence or Automated Intelligence?” There is an important distinction between the two.

Excerpt from Ken’s March editorial: “Our industry is on a journey towards Automated Intelligence and that for now is the “AI” we are talking about. The interlocking “AI” Autonomous Interaction occurs when we start Automating Intelligence. It is early days but we need to learn how to walk before we can allow true “AI” to run our buildings.” Read more.

More Great March Articles:

Artificial Intelligence for Smart Buildings, Sudha Jamthe, IoTDisruptions

Messaging as a Platform: Human to Machine, Toby Ruckert, UIB

Communities of Practice in Building Automation, Therese Sullivan, Tridium

Beyond BAS – The Anatomy of Disruption, Brad White, SES Consulting Inc.

Smoothing the Bumps, Dave Lapsley, Econowise Group of Companies 

The Most Affordable Energy Monitoring, Michał Bugajski, Global Control 5

Is 2019 Year of Truth for the Built Environment? Marc Petock, Lynxspring, Inc.

Controls-Con 2019 Program Details Released! Kristina Reid, Cochrane Supply & Engineering

The Anatomy of an Edge Controller Part 4 of 4, Calvin Slater, Climatic

The OT vs. IT Debate, Scott Cochrane, Cochrane Supply & Engineering

Integrating Automation, and Helping it Scale, Prabhu Ramachandran, Facilio Inc.

Project Haystack Launches New Marketing Website, Robin Bestel, Project Haystack 

Cutting Through the Hype Surrounding Al, James McHale, Memoori  

Timeline SMART BUILDING AUTOMATION EVOLUTION

Mobile Friendly Menu

The post Episode 305: ControlTalk NOW — Smart Buildings VideoCast and PodCast for Week Ending Mar 3, 2019 appeared first on ControlTrends.

On this podcast, I talk HVAC software and controls with the great young minds ( young guns) in the HVAC Industry.

Ok, I know what you industry veterans are probably thinking, why should I listen to a bunch of youngsters? What could they possibly teach me? Maybe nothing… but face it, like it or not , we are here to stay, and you are lucky we have chosen the HVAC profession.

If you are paying attention you know that finding good, young talent is hard. Between the labor shortage and the millennials who think HVAC is a four letter word and Tim Ferriss’s book The Four Hour Work Week is an unalienable right not a concept, it is a wonder we have so many hard working, young professionals at all. So listen up, take notes and learn how YOUNG GUNS ROLL.

Listen to “Episode 6 : Using Software to get the Edge in HVAC” on Spreaker.

This is an interview series from AHR on Software Ally.  Sadly, three interviews didn’t come through with good sound (I will catch-up with Jeff Crandall @ Profit Rhino, James Whatmore @ JobLogic, and Bill Smith @ Elite Software to re-kindle and get-them-up).

However, we DO HAVE Tim Smith @ HVAC Marketing, Michael Martin @ XREF Publishing, David & Sarah from Product and Customer Success Team @ Jobber  …  AND I’ve included from Canada’s CMPX Show: Lawrence Beauchamp @ Arrow Electronics, and Mark Reilly @ TrackEm.

If you have not already, be sure to check out Episode 4: Future Proof Your Business and  Episode 5: The Importance of Team WorkYoung Gun Style

The post Next Generation Innovation Episode 6: Let’s Talk HVAC Software Hacks Young Gun Style appeared first on ControlTrends.