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; White Paper and E-Zine release from Project Haystack; BAS Control PUB Talk with EasyIO’s Mike Marston; Josh Bradshaw’s Silicon Valley Smart Buildings coverage; 2015 ControlTrends Awards Red Carpet interviews and Hans Kranz’s Hall of Fame induction; and a guest interview with OpenBMCS General Manager Chris Schneider from Australia.

Honeywell E-Learning: Next RedLINK Tool. Free, Live Product Training! Join us to learn about the solution HVAC installers have been asking for. The Honeywell Equipment Remote Module (ERM) is designed for use whenever it’s too costly or time-consuming to run wires from a condensing unit or boiler to control devices. The ERM eliminates wiring needs and assists in the connection of hard to access pieces of equipment, making it ideal for most installations.

J2 Innovations: Bringing Equipment and Points from Niagara into FIN Stack! This week’s video focuses on just how quick and easy it is to bring data from a Niagara station into your FIN Stack server. The video starts off by demonstrating how to connect Niagara to FINStack, using the nHaystackService (Niagara) and Haystack Connector (FIN Stack). Once the connection is established, bringing the data into FIN Stack is simple. How it works: By utilizing the ‘Add Haystack Equip’ tool within the Haystack Connector, you can select multiple equipment folders from their Niagara Station to become haystack equipment.

New White Paper and E-Zine from Project Haystack. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE! New White Paper and E-Zine from Project Haystack Discuss the Benefits and Value of Tagging and Semantic Modeling for Today’s Smart Buildings and the Internet of Things. RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, March 15, 2016 — The Project Haystack Organization (www.project-haystack.org), a collaborative open-source community addressing the challenges of utilizing tagging and semantic modeling to streamline the interchange of data among smart devices and software applications, today announced two new publications supporting the organization’s work.

2015 ControlTrends Awards Red Carpet Interviews (Caution: Superstars and Super Heroes Entering Stage Right). Great ControlTrends Awards interviews with Ken Sinclair, Automated Buildings and Brad White, SES Engineering, discuss the Young Guns Awards (Climate Superheroes), the AHR EXPO Industry Service Award, the global growth of ControlTrends Community and Hans Kranz’s Hall of Fame induction; along with interviews with Johan Schakenraad, CEO, EasyIO Europe; Allion and Scott Cochrane, Cochrane Supply; Alerton’s Amy Doran and Kevin Callahan; BASSG’s Alper Uzmezler; McKinney’s Leroy Walden; Jason Briggs from J2 Innovation; Siemens’ Josh Felperin; Thermokon’s David Alliband; Chris Lane and Dimitri Papadopoulos from Johnson Controls (Congratulations on Facility Explorer’s 10 Year Anniversary); John and James Donahue from Control Consultants, Inc.; and Blue Ridge Technologies’ Bill Dunkleberger.

Smart Buildings: Silicon Valley Delivers Data-Driven Office Space. A new friend, Josh Bradshaw is worth paying attention to. Josh is a technology enthusiast and visionary. He coined the phrase “Don’t Work for Technology; Make Technology Work for You.” Check out his website WorkTechWork to get an idea just how broad his coverage of technology is, and how it is effecting us now and will in the future. Josh recently co-chaired a Smart Buildings Event with Jim Young, RealComm/Ibcon for the movers and shakers in Silicon Valley. As you can see from the video, some great perspectives and dialogue. Nice job Josh and Jim!

ControlTalk NOW guest Chris Schneider, General Manager, OpenBMCS. From sunny down under, Chris’ tells us about his latest focus, which is about producing a video support package for the OpenBMCS software package — a fully web based building automation head-end to manage everything about your Sedona site: graphical front end, programming, alarming, trending, and controller management. This step by step video guide walks you through installing a system, adding a new controller, and an in-depth review of the alarming package. OpenBCMS has recently launched two new modules, which can be added through their website: Tenant Billing and Maintenance Log. Visit OpenBMCS now to see more!

Episode 3: Mike Marston’s BAS Control Pub Talk with Brian Anderson. What do Jimi Hendricks, Mad Mike Marston, and saving energy have in Common? They all know Brian Anderson from Commtech Asia. On this episode of BAS Control Pub Talk with Mike Marston, Mike introduces us to the fascinating Brian, as they talk controls, rock and roll, and check out chicks in Thailand. Here is a bit of Brian’s history: Brian left school at 16 in 1961 and became a drummer in many several rock bands, playing rock an roll for over 2 decades. To put this in perspective 1961 was the year that Mike was born. Mike, how come Brian looks so young? Speaks well of the after effects of over 20 years of S__, D__-s, and Rock and Roll.

Hans Kranz, Fabled Controls Wizard from Landstule, Germany, Inducted into ControlTrends 2015 Hall of Fame. Perhaps the greatest highlight moment of the 2015 ControlTrends Awards was the special pleasure of watching Automated Buildings’ editor and owner, Ken Sinclair, induct Hans R. Kranz into the ControlTrends Hall of Fame. Hans’ incredible sixty year career in the HVAC industry began at the age of 14, and progressed with one achievement after another, becoming known as the father of Standard BACS Functions. Hans has served on the Presidial Board of DIN (German Standardization Institute), is a member of the DKE (German Electrotechnical Commission) and the VDI (Association of German Engineers with 150,000 members). For more on Hans Kranz’s outstanding life achievements and biography, please see below.