Participation in the ASHRAE Winter Convention and AHR Expo 2007.
Participation in the Winter Convention ASHRAEand ExhibitionAHRExpo2007
January 27-31, 2007 (Dallas, USA)
Downtown Dallas
The city of Dallas, located in the state of Texas (USA), also has an unofficial name — BIG D. In many ways, it received this name due to its large extent — the city is scattered for many kilometers in several directions. It is almost impossible to get around here without a car; Dallas is clearly not a place for pedestrians. However, it was here at the end of January 2007 that the largest exhibition in the United States dedicated to climate control technology and building automation systems, AHR Expo, took place.
Opening of AHR Expo 2007
1,789 companies took part in the exhibition, with approximately 19,000 people working at their stands. In addition, over three days the exhibition was visited by more than 23,000 specialists. The total area of the AHR Expo exhibition is equal to the sum of the areas of 7 football fields. Every year there is a section dedicated to building automation systems and related equipment. In this section of the exhibition, the key topics were:
-Integration of building automation systems from different manufacturers
— Bringing data and control functions to the enterprise level
— Convergence of smart technologies and efficient equipment to reduce overall costs and build “green buildings” — environmentally friendly facilities
Such a crowd of people at the exhibition can be observed all day.
Exhibition section «Building Automation» ;
The American association BACnet International again presented last year’s joint exposition, in which all the leading building automation companies took part with small stands. One can also note the emergence of new players associated with the BACnet protocol. For example, this is Lumisys, a company that deals with integrated lighting systems.
Mike Olson (ABB) at the BACnet International stand.
Siemens stand at the common stand of the BACnet International association.
Many large companies refrained from participating with a separate stand. The following were not represented in the building automation section at the exhibition: Siemens, Honeywell, TAC, AutomatedLogic, Johnson Controls. This is due to the fact that, according to a number of experts, exhibitions held in the southern states of the United States are always less successful than, for example, exhibitions in Chicago. However, the stands of Delta Controls, KMC, Reliable Controls, American AUTO-MATRIX, Cimetrics were present with their own exposition.
Debut of Kieback&Peter on the American market.
Jim Butler and Bob Ofenstein (Cimetrics) .
At a similar exhibition a year ago, there was increased activity and interest among specialists in wireless building automation systems and especially in the ZigBee standard. This time, wireless technologies were also popular, but last year’s “hysteria” was no longer observed. Over the past period, many equipment manufacturers have already implemented wireless solutions in their products. We can note the development of WiSuite by the Canadian company Riga Development, oriented primarily for use in hotels. The monitoring and control system is based on the ZigBee wireless communication standard and controls all devices in hotel rooms.
Management of Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, Inc.
Samson Controls also took part in the exhibition.
Riga Development company stand.
ACI Company Mascot — a regular participant in AHR Expo exhibitions.
The stand of the LonMark International association was located opposite the stand of the Echelon company, where BIG-RU met with the executive director of LonMark International, Ron Bernstein. The subject of the meeting was a discussion of cooperation on the pages of the Building Automation newsletter.
At the Echelon company stand.
In parallel with the exhibition, the American Association of Engineers ASHRAE held its Winter Congress. This is also an annual event and always takes place on the same dates as the AHR Expo. The convention program consisted of meetings of more than 100 ASHRAE committees, BIG-RU’s interest was related to the work of the SSPC 135 BACnet committee.
ASHRAE Bookstore (ASHRAE standards, CDs and other technical literature).
The ASHRAE Winter Convention is the premier annual event for the US HVAC and building automation markets. ASHRAE meetings are held twice a year: winter and summer, but the winter meeting is considered the most important because… In parallel with it, the AHR Expo exhibition takes place. Obviously, this is why all major ASHRAE decisions (such as the election of a new ASHRAE President) and key industry events occur at the Winter Convention.
BACnet-2004 standard.
At the committee meetings in January, a positive decision was made to publish an annex to the BACnet standard, adding physical access control to the general protocol functions. Previously, the Access Door object was added to the BACnet standard object library, allowing the functions of elements of building security systems to be described using a standard method. Several more additions are awaiting confirmation, all of them will be included in Appendix “j” to the BACnet-2004 standard.
Meeting of the BACnet Committee. Chairman — Bill Swan.
David Fisher (PolarSoft).
The AHR Expo exhibition takes place in the United States annually at the end of January. Every year the organizers hold it in a new place, but a certain pattern of exhibitions is still present. The last time the exhibition was held in Dallas was 7 years ago, in 2000. Over the past period, it can be stated that the American building automation market has undergone significant changes; it has its own special features that distinguish it from the European and Russian markets. In January 2008, the AHR Expo will be held in New York.
At the exhibition: Andrey Golovin with & #171;The FRIDGE» (1985 US American Football Champion)
CABA Association meeting. Chairman — Ron Zimmer.
Seminar «Design of an intelligent building».
About Dallas. The city cannot be called attractive for tourists; most of it is one-story buildings located along huge highways. The city’s business center is crammed with skyscrapers that can be seen for miles around. At night, the top of the TV tower glows spectacularly in the form of a large ball. What is striking here is the abundance of multi-lane highways and multi-tiered interchanges. Moscow’s transport interchanges pale in comparison to the tangle of highways in Dallas.
Downtown Dallas — view from the window of the exhibition center.
Next to the skyscrapers in the city center are small houses in the style of the Wild West.
Near the exhibition center there is a park with an old cemetery.
Roman Wroblewski (Johnson Controls).
You can only walk in the city center (downtown). Among the attractions, perhaps, we can highlight the site of the death of President John F. Kennedy, located next to the Dealey Plaza building. The “6th Floor Museum” is located here and many tourists (mostly Americans) come here on excursions. However, we were unable to find either a monument or a monumental slab dedicated to Kennedy.
Planes in the American sky — not uncommon.
Early morning. Sunrise over the city center.
One-story America.
Cars in the USA — a separate topic for conversation.
However, no one is safe here either…
Typical American bar.
Somewhere I’ve already seen this… Frankfurt am Main!
Most likely, Dallas can be classified as a provincial city in the USA. Compared to Chicago, it clearly loses. Even American acquaintances spoke not particularly flatteringly about Dallas, Texas and typical representatives of this state, making it clear that you cannot form your idea of the United States by visiting only Texas. It should be noted that positive emotions were still present: it was very unusual to see businessmen at the exhibition dressed in expensive business suits, contrasting with cowboy boots and a wide-brimmed hat. For Europeans, such an outfit caused a feeling of slight shock, but in Texas this is the norm for business etiquette!