In this time of great change and industry renaissance, it is important to try to identify key harbingers that we must watch to better understand how our IT-connected future may unfold. I am writing this column before BuilConn in Palm Springs on May 16-18, and you will be reading it afterward, so you will have the advantage of hearing the complete messages from the following harbingers.
The harbormaster in Palm Spring is, of course, Anto Budiardjo, the winner of AutomatedBuildings.com's "Newsmaker and Industry Shaker of the Year" award. The Palm Springs event has provided a home for our industry's harbingers like no assembly has ever done before. This flocking of the industry's forward-thinking folks to a common location is, in fact, an indication that the time is now to begin the renaissance.
A large part of the Palm Springs event is the Cisco Connected Roundtable, "Mapping the Future of Building-IT Convergence," a first-ever event, which is sponsored by Cisco as a by-invitation-only meeting for key stakeholders in the building automation industry. The purpose is to discuss the needs of building owners and the issues regarding the supply of products and services. The context of the roundtable is the increasing adoption of IP-centric systems in building systems. I am very pleased to have been invited to this meeting and will report back to you on the outcome.