Brands's List: Green IT

"ANI is Cisco's authorized training partner selected to train you to use and administer Cisco Systems' Network Building Mediator SmartBuilding solution. The Cisco Network Building Mediator (CNBM) training is a four day instructor-led course that guides you through the integration and configuration of legacy and IP-based environmental monitoring and control systems.

ANI is a trusted Cisco Learning Partner with many years of experience in creating IP networks, integrating multi-vendor equipment, implementing applications, supporting mission-critical services and developing employee skills to manage it all. Here is a summary of the Mediator course offerings developed for Cisco's partners - systems integrators, installers and system administrators.
Course Contents

This four day instructor-led session will provide attendees with the skills needed to configure and use Cisco's Network Building Mediator as well as the skills to administer and monitor complex building management systems. The topics covered in this session include: an overview of legacy and network-based Building Automation Systems (BAS); the integration of HVAC, lighting, access control and fire alarm systems into a converged solution; device communication using standards-based protocols such as BACnet, Modbus, Remote Node Abstraction (RNA); installation and configuration using configTool and perfectHost applications. Additional topics include: experience using the software applications that make up the Omega Tools management suite; how to access log files and generate reports; the Mediator software upgrade process; and the remote system management methodology.

Upon completion of CNBM, learners will be able to:

* Outline the features and benefits of the Mediator solution that support the Smart Building design strategy
* Describe how the 'connect any-to-any' (protocol translation) approach utilized by Mediator simplifies building management tasks within a Building Automation System design
* Identify the major communications protocols used i

Automation Transforms a Data Center into Energy Efficiency

Data centers are searching for options to maintain proper temperatures that will reduce energy consumption. The importance of an automated system is elementary as thousands of computers create heat, an unregulated system with 100 server cabinets uses up to 300,000 watts of electricity! As managers research automating operations they encounter a costly replacement project due to a lack of connectivity of the many systems already in place. A 20,000 square foot facility turned to Caspian Technology Concepts to manage the complex task of updating the automation system that monitors and controls the data center. Communication between devices that were otherwise not compatible was possible with technology from Kepware, the world leader in communication software for automation in both OPC and embedded device communications. The solution took the form of two products offered by Kepware. First, KEPServerEX is the communications solution that supports a wide variety of protocols. Secondly, LinkMaster is a solution for mapping data Tags from one protocol to the data Tags of another.

"The three main protocols in this industry are BACnet, Modbus and SNMP. Within a vast data center footprint, various automation components from multiple vendors create a complex connecting of all the components that required careful review. In this project the temperature system is monitored by SNMP whereas most of the facility housed Modbus compliant equipment. One protocol does not communicate with another, leaving an integral part of the infrastructure unable to provide critical data."

"Arrayent has developed a complete Internet of things communication system that connects your products to Internet-based applications at very low cost, with high reliability. Arrayent’s system enables a customer to monitor and control their household products from a smartphone or web browser.

The Arrayent Internet-Connect System has three components, the Arrayent Internet-Connect Server™, Arrayent Embedded™, and the Arrayent Ethernet Gateway™ :

* The Arrayent Internet-Connect Server essentially delivers an Internet “dial tone” to endpoint products. It brokers transactions among product endpoints (e.g. thermostat, lock, health monitoring device), Internet services (e.g. scheduling, weather, and digital content) and the consumer’s smartphone or web browser (to unlock a door, view entry history, receive an sms or e-mail alert.) The Server is implemented as a modern switch-like communication server (like EBay, Facebook and Google use) that is low cost to build and maintain. This low operating cost eliminates the need for you to charge your annual subscription fees to fund operating costs.To lower web application development cost and risk, Arrayent's patent pending “Virtual Web Services Interface” enables Web application developers write programs to the 8-bit CPU as if it were a full strength web server. Without this virtualization, developers would have to program to a dumb serial communication API. Such low level programming adds coding complexity and development schedule risk.
* Arrayent Embedded enables an endpoint product to communicate to Internet based applications hosted on the Arrayent Internet-Connect Server. It is a light weight communication firmware stack that has been optimized to ensure TCP/IP level connection quality. Highly reliable communication is essential to minimize product returns to the retailer. Arrayent’s Embedded code is less than 16 KB of memory which is one eighth the size than a comparable functioning Zigbee or Wi-Fi communication stack. As a comparison, consumer Wi-Fi r

"Cisco released EnergyWise in January 2009. EnergyWise is software based on a version of Verdiem’s Surveyor PC management software that reduces energy levels of PCs. This is a free software upgrade for the Cisco Catalyst series to automatically turn off computers, VOIP telephones and wireless access points. At the core is management of network devices through the use of Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), that is, if the network is supplying power to the devices, the network can monitor and manage the devices. With EnergyWise, an IT manager can set policies on energy use, allowing PCs or networking equipment to go into sleep mode after work hours or at night or whenever they aren't being used.

The Building Mediator About the time Cisco introduced EnergyWise Cisco acquired Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, a provider of building automation middleware, called the Building Mediator. The middleware solution is a combination of system controllers and software. The controller allows for the connection of HVAC systems, lighting control, power management and a host of other typical building automation systems. These are the primary systems consuming power in a building. The Building Mediator allows all connected system points to be accessible over an IP network and provides for two-way communications between systems with different protocols. The supervisory control platform for the controllers will be rolled up into EnergyWise increasing its capabilities to monitor, mange and provide insight into a building’s energy use."