The 2008 Niagara Summit, the definitive gathering of industry professionals and practitioners developing smart devices, connecting machines-to-machines and delivering pervasive automation solutions built around open, interoperability, integration and connectivity, drew a record number of attendees and sponsors with 667 in attendance and 50 sponsors participating in the event.
The growth in attendance represents a 52% increase over the previous Summit held in 2006. In addition to drawing attendees from the United States, this year’s conference attracted many international attendees from China, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Thailand, Mexico, India, Brazil, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
Marc Petock, Vice President of Global Marketing & Communications for Tridium attributed the success to several factors including “the wider acceptance of the Niagara Framework as the technology of choice for practitioners developing smart devices and delivering pervasive automation solutions, the continued global growth of the Niagara Community and the significant number of new Niagara-based deployments.” He went on to say that “the overall energy and enthusiasm from the Niagara Community was everywhere.”
The Niagara Summit focused on business and technical automation infrastructure technology and device-to-enterprise integration solutions that are being delivered to the marketplace today. Attendees participated in various workshops, tutorials and technical sessions covering the enabling capabilities of NiagaraAX, oBIX, the soon to be released Sedona Framework, wireless, M2M, industrial, energy and residential applications.
On Day 1 a highly charged crowd listened to the keynote address of Jim Young, Founder and Producer of Realcomm, who provided a global perspective on some of the most innovative ideas found at the “Intersection of Commercial Real Estate and Technology”. The group also got a first hand look and live demonstration on the Sedona Framework, Tridium’s newest software framework, the industry’s first, open source software development framework that provides a complete platform for developing, connecting and managing low level embedded devices. Belimo, Hill Rom and Honeywell Environmental and Combustion Controls (ECC) Buildings team based in Schonaich, Germany were announced as having selected the technology to develop their new generation of products.
Day 2 began with enlightening presentations from a global panel representing companies who are applying unique Niagara based solutions. Applications included convergence retailing, the world first, Platinum LEED Certified Building in the Middle East, a multi-building owner, an IP Phone application, Demand Response and medical equipment.
In addition to the scheduled release of the Sedona Framework at the end of this year, Tridium shared updates on several new products including:
GPRS Modem Option Card
The availability of a new GPRS Modem Option Card that plugs into the JACE®-200 and the JACE-600 scheduled for release in the fall
NiagaraAX 3.4
The release in September of NiagaraAX 3.4, the latest version of the company’s award winning Niagara Framework
Touch Screen JACES
The availability in the fall of the JACE-700, JACE- 870 and JACE®-2700, the new family of embedded touch screen controllers, designed to support building automation, energy services, security, industrial, fire & life safety, M2M and residential Niagara-based solutions
Niagara Security
The expansion of the company’s Web-based, security management solution to incorporate video integration (scheduled for release in July), an Enterprise application supporting a distributed database architecture and enterprise level databases (SQL Server, Oracle, etc) that allow the card holder database to scale well beyond a single controller (Scheduled for release in the 4th quarter) and in fall of this year, a Power Over Ethernet (POE) Door Controller that expands the security architecture beyond 485 based protocols
About Tridium, Inc.
Tridium is a global leader in the development of application software frameworks, automation infrastructure technology and device-to-enterprise integration solutions. Our technology extends, connectivity, integration and interoperability to the millions of devices deployed in the market today and empowers manufacturers to develop Internet-enabled equipment systems and device-to-enterprise solutions.
Niagara is a software framework that integrates diverse systems and devices regardless of manufacturer, or communication protocol into a unified platform that can be easily managed and controlled in real time over the Internet using a standard web browser. Niagara is an extensible platform that supports the rapid development of a wide range of Internet-enabled products and device-to-enterprise applications.
Manufacturers adopt the Niagara Framework technology to move their products to the web, reduce development time, migrate legacy systems, develop new service offerings, and open up new markets. System integrators use Niagara products to provide true open solutions without regard for specific protocols, products or technologies. Today, there are over 110,000 instances of Niagara operating in over 9,500 installations in 43 countries in applications that include: energy management, building automation, M2M, telecommunications, industrial, security automation, lighting control, maintenance repair operations (MRO), service bureaus, convergence retailing and total facilities management.
The Sedona Framework is the industry’s first, open source software development framework that provides a complete platform for developing, integrating, connecting and managing pervasive device applications at the lower level.
The company is an independent business entity of Honeywell International Inc.