How to connect and scale an enterprise of buildings using "best of breed" technology

The security and scalability of BACnet/IP: why the 'B' in BACnet is singular and stands for a Building not a widespread Enterprise of Buildings. BACnet/IP is an extremely important protocol in Richards-Zeta's (RZ) product arsenal: this is how open, multi-vendor M2M communication is predominately done today. RZ fully supports BACnet/IP, however we do not require this architecture over the internet, WAN or between facilities. The majority of the industry problematically uses BACnet/IP as the vehicle to aggregate information from multiple buildings/sites (enterprise) into a central server (client-server architecture with a single point of failure) where management and data visualization occurs. RZ on the other hand pushes that functionality towards the edge forming peer to peer "cloud" architecture. This important architectural difference has significant implications that touch fault tolerance, security, management and overall scalability; both from the perspective of adding additional buildings (Mediators) and feeding data hungry services like Automated Fault Detection and Diagnostics (AFDD) that mandate robust and reliable data delivery to reap their value.

With the inception of the internet and its associated standards, coupled with building owners and facility managers increased demand for connected buildings, controls vendors and technology providers have been struggling to provide solutions and maintain market share. With go to market technologies and standards that were created and adopted prior to the inception of the internet, these players are attempting to provide a new standard that allows the advanced technologies of today's pervasive internet to apply to Building Automation.

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RZ releases several superior products to expand the current offering of intelligent building solutions

In an effort to advance intelligent building systems, RZ has released several new products, both hardware and software.

The RZ IP-100 is RZ's latest IP based I/O controller. The IP-100 is a flexible and advanced IP based fully programmable distributed control module to be used in RZ Mediator applications. The IP-100 comes standard with 10/100 TCP/IP, 8 analog outputs, 8 digital ouptuts and 16 digital inputs. Any combination, up to a maximum of 3 additional expansion boards, can be added to the IP-100.

The RZ VAV-B a native BACnet, direct digital controllers designed for VAV terminal units. An integrated actuator and the selectable profiles make this an ideal controllers for temperature setback, overrides, proportional reheat and other HVAC sequences. Install these versatile controllers in stand-alone environments or networked to other BACnet devices. As part of a complete intelligent building systems, the RZ VAV-B controllers provide precise monitoring and control of connected points.

Meet TIM. TIM is an acronym for perfectHOST Templates processing In the Mediator. First introduced at the Ashrae show in 1988, the Graphical programming technology embodied in the Richards-Zeta perfectHOST program has been expanded in perfectHOST Version 7.0 to include the embedded Mediator hardware platform.

In perfectHOST, building automation logic and programs are created by placing graphical symbols called Templates in a Drawing and connecting the inputs and outputs of Templates to control the flow of data through the program. Each Template can be thought of as a programmable scientific calculator associated with an image that represents its internal function and I/O connection points. An Application program consists of a collection of drawings which, in turn, contain a collection of templates and their connections to each other.

Until TIM, the perfectHOST application programs only ran in the Richards-Zeta control hardware; the RZ-100, RZ-1000 and MoZaic controllers. Now the Mediator can natively run those same applications. The perfectHost hierarchy of Application, Drawing & Template has been unified with the Mediator’s Node Tree to allow a common way to access Template data within the Mediator or within an RZ controller. TIM empowers the Mediator to become a very powerful supervisory control platform incorporating any integrated system, device or protocol into complex intelligent building applications.

RZ's Intelligent Thermostats are available via BACnet/MSTP or LonWorks and for varying applications. The RZ VT7600 PI thermostat family is specifically designed for single stage and multi-stage control of heating/cooling equipment such as rooftop and self-contained units. The product features an intuitive, menu-driven, back-lit LCD display which walks users through the programming steps, making the process extremely simple. Accurate temperature control is achieved due to the product’s PI time proportional control algorithm, which virtually eliminates temperature offset associated with traditional, differential-based thermostats. All models contain two digital inputs, which can be set by the user to monitor filter status, activate a remote temporary occupancy switch, and/or used as a general purpose service indicator.

RZ's portfolio increases with impressive new End-Users

Through advanced System Integrators and RZ's Building Intelligence Group (BIG), RZ's portfolio of advanced integration and middleware projects expand as the Mediator becomes the critical infrastructure for advanced integration and the foundation for intelligent building systems (IBS).

End-users such as Wipro Technologies, Network Appliance, Inc., Google, Inc., Simon Property Group, Inc. and Concurrent Technologies Inc. have all installed the Mediator Multi-Protocol eXchange (MPX) platform as the core infrastructure for their Intelligent Building Systems (IBS).

The Mediator MPX is a middleware solution comprised of both hardware and software which is designed and built upon the open sourced technologies of Linux and Python. This domain agnostic integration framework is able to communicate with a number of disparate protocols. The MPX software framework plays a central role in the integration process by normalizing both IP and legacy serial based protocols, which in turn allows for intra-protocol communication, the uniform application of services such as logging, and the common presentation of information that is sourced from the array of intelligent machines found in buildings. Mediator’s are designed to work together in groups or “clouds” which form the enterprise Intelligent Building Systems (IBS) architecture.

Using the Mediator’s embedded suite of tools, custom web-pages may be designed and hosted on the Mediator that are then used to present a window into the real-time condition of building systems. Alarms, logs, control sequences and other common features may also be configured using these tools. Since the Mediator abstracts and treats all data in the same manner, there is no special distinction or friction associated with creating user defined causal relationships between sub-systems. Any value or combination of values taken from the HVAC, Lighting, Electrical, Security or any other system, can change the operation of others.

Since all points within the framework are identified by a unique identifier (URI) and all information can be presented in common formats, such as HTML or XML-RPC, the Mediator allows for a number of other parties to securely consume and manipulate this information. These different parties might include both operations staff performing diagnostics and executives examining customer reports via their browser. These benefits are also extended to value add service providers that specialize in specific areas such as building systems analytics, predictive maintenance or renewable energy solutions which rely solely on the RZ Mediator as a systems aggregator; to tenants controlling their personal environment via their VoIP phone and other intelligent machines performing automated operations. Once this data has been liberated by the Mediator and these disparate protocols represented in a uniform IP-centric fashion, all of the information from these systems, which exist in virtually every building in the world, can now be leveraged for the sole benefit of improving operations.

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AHR Expo 2008

Javitz Center New York, NY
January 21-24, 2008
During the AHR Expo, the RZ Team will be providing interactive demonstrations of all new products (perfectHOST 7.0, RZ IP-100, RZ VAV-B and Intelligent Thermostats) as well as on the RZ Mediator MPX.
Booth# 264

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GlobalCon 2008

Austin, Texas
March 19-20, 2008
T he RZ Team will be exhibiting at the the annual GlobalCon expo with our partner Facility Solutions Group (FSG) an Austin-based and nationally affiliated RZ System Integrator.
Booth# 227

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BuilConn Americas 2008

Santa Clara, CA
May 20-22, 2008
8uilConn® is a unique event that unites all the individuals involved in buildings and IT to take an objective and comprehensive view of buildings and facilities, understand the technologies and trends that shape it, and discover the steps required to implement truly intelligent, integrated buildings.

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Richards-Zeta esteemed member of NewEnergy Alliance

The NewEnergy Alliance is an organization founded by Constellation NewEnergy that includes leading equipment manufacturers, building automation companies, system integrators, and software application businesses. The purpose of the new alliance is to work with Constellation to drive innovation and create a new electricity Load Response model that will surpass the current utility demand response offerings. This new approach will provide greater building efficiency and allow facility owners more control of energy costs while maintaining comfort and operating standards. On a broader scale, it will effectively drive socially responsible behavior and embrace environmental sustainability as well.

Read the interview on AutomatedBuildings.com

Richards-Zeta joins forces with reputable wholesale distributor to deliver advanced integration solutions for Intelligent Building Systems (IBS)

Richards-Zeta (RZ), a manufacture of intelligent building solutions has joined forces with a reputable wholesale distributor to deliver advanced integration solutions to the building systems market. The relationship is formed from the mutual understanding and recognition of each company’s leadership within their domain.

For a product demonstration on this relationship, please visit RZ's booth at the AHR Expo, Booth # 264.