The BACnet Interest Group of North America and the BACnet Manufacturers Association announced that nine industry-leading companies have signed on as sponsors of the upcomingBACnet Conference and Expo. Platinum sponsor companies are Automated Logic Corporation, Delta Controls Inc., KMC Controls, Reliable Controls Corporation and TAC. Belimo and Siemens Building Technologies are Gold sponsors while Johnson Controls Inc. and York International are Silver sponsors.

The BACnet Conference and Expo will be held October 23 - 25, 2005, in Nashville, TN. The conference is designed to educate mechanical system design professionals, integrators and endusers on the benefits of the BACnet open protocol. ASHRAE has endorsed the event, which will feature a variety of seminars lead by industry professionals and a trade show including multi-vendor interoperability demonstrations.

"The nine sponsoring companies are all strong promoters of open BACnet systems for building management and develop products for the use with BACnet systems," said Jon Williamson, product marketing manager, TAC and marketing chairman of the BACnet Manufacturers Association. "Sponsoring the BACnet Conference and Expo is a way for these companies to demonstrate their leadership and support the industry."

The conference theme is "More Freedom than Ever" because, according to Williamson, end users have never had more freedom to put together a complete BACnet system using multiple vendors that interoperate with many building systems.

"Whether you are new to BACnet, or a seasoned expert, there will be topics and products for you to explore and learn about at the BACnet Conference and Expo," said Williamson.

Details are available at www.bacnetconference.org.