OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF
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Tuesday 4 February 2014 >>> Holistic design p3
>>> A bigger ISE p4
>>> Audio Forum p6
>>> Investor Showcase p6
New platform for building automation The new Smart Home Joint Initiative by Cisco, ABB, Bosch and LG was introduced for the first time last night to an international B2B audience. The project offers a common platform for data exchange across multiple appliances and disciplines. During the Opening Keynote Address of ISE 2014. Cisco’s Dr Dirk Schlesinger said the project was a reaction to a market ripe for consolidating and finding a common language. “The ‘internet of everything’ and its physical manifestation, the smart
InfoComm offers free vouchers Free and discounted InfoComm University training is being offered to all ISE 2014 showgoers. On receiving a show badge, all attendees are awarded a voucher for two free InfoComm Professional Development courses, plus the opportunity to purchase additional course vouchers at a discounted rate. The free courses, which run on a first-come, first-served basis, include a special series of courses designed for education technology managers, including classes on designing learning spaces, lecture-capture systems and smart education facilities Once you have chosen a course you’d like to attend, simply present the voucher at the door. Stand: 11-N100
Dirk Schlesinger: kick-starting a market
home, has never taken off as hoped, mainly because of siloed solutions, too many standards which were not cross compatible and too many suppliers. As a customer you never had investment security. “This whole platform idea to kick-start a market is not an obvious business model,” conceded Schlesinger. “It’s not set up to generate huge profits. The real value of the platform is to enable business for its partners.” The platform is proposing the integration of existing protocols like KNX or LCN, bringing them
together to create a holistic solution. It would allow a disparate kitchen made up of a Bosch fridge, Miele range and a Whirlpool dryer to connect for energy savings, cross-domain and cross-company. “We have seen domain-specific solutions not work in the past, either only heating or security or access control,” said Schlesinger. “Attempts to drive a company or provider-specific solution haven’t worked either. We should allow competing companies to use the same platform to bring their services to the end-customer.”
Smart building: abundant opportunities With buildings accounting for some 41% of primary energy consumption – more than either transportation or industry – much still remains to be done to harness the power of technology in improving the efficiency of the built environment. That was one of the major messages delivered by Jim Sinopoli during the keynote presentation at the third Smart Building Conference yesterday. Sinopoli, managing principal of engineering and design company Smart Buildings, began by pointing out that the world’s first smart buildings, with their ability to maintain a constant temperature of 68°F, were the Pyramids. Facilities management, he implied, remains a subject that is under-valued and under-resourced. “Data mining and data analytics are now commonplace in commercial organisations such as
Jim Sinopoli: Facilities management remains under-valued and under-resourced
Amazon,” he noted, “but when it comes to smart buildings, not so much.” Those same vast amounts of data exist to enable building performance to be understood and improved, he said, yet there are few users who take advantage of the opportunity the data presents. Demonstrating what can be achieved – especially in terms of monetising the benefits of the
smart management of buildings – Sinopoli cited a trial project undertaken by Microsoft at its world headquarters. The vast campus features no fewer than 30,000 pieces of mechanical equipment, and consumes around two million kWh of energy each day – and, in the pilot project alone, was able to demonstrate savings of $1 million each year.
www.iseurope.org SHOW HOURS Tuesday..................09.00-18.00 Wednesday............09.00-18.00 Thursday................09.00-17.00
>>> Welcoming AES67 p8
CEDIA training at ISE: “An awful lot going on” ISE 2014 sees no fewer than 13 training courses on offer from CEDIA, covering almost every conceivable topic of relevance to the residential installation market. “From designing residential energy management systems to the importance of documentation to the impact of 4K technology – there’s an awful lot going on, and it’s an excellent mixture of technical and business training,” said Matt Dodd, director of Education for CEDIA Region 1. “And,” he continued, “delegates can sign up on the day – there’s no need to preregister.” He is also delighted to see how many countries are represented on the courses, taking advantage of the opportunity ISE delivers. He is also keen to promote the learning opportunities to be found at the Residential Solutions Theatre (Stand: 7-W180), a new venture for ISE which sees a broad selection of industry participants presenting on subjects as diverse as home automation standards and using science to solve sound quality problems. Dodd is a man on a mission – a mission to transform CEDIA training. “As CEDIA has grown, the way that we’ve historically done training was becoming more difficult to sustain,” he said. “We’re developing structures, processes and standards to change that.” Continued on page 4>