Warner Interview
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Brian Jones, Editor of The Gateway, recently conducted an interview with Richard Warner of O&M Engineering, Inc (O&M). Mr. Warner is the President of the company and has 15 years of experience in the field.
BJ: Mr. Warner, would you please provide some background on yourself and O&M for our readers? RW: My formal education is in Electrical Engineering. I finished coursework for my masters degree, however, I was unable to finish my thesis work in evolutionary algorithm control methods for power system voltage stability due to the increasing success of O&M Engineering. O&M, which stands for operation and maintenance, was founded to meet the diverse needs of facility operations and maintenance professionals. Although the company originally focused on design and consulting services, the computer application and information technology solutions would soon dominate our strategic focus. Our goal is to be the premier service provider of graphical interface systems and information technology solutions that establish optimum and innovative operation and maintenance of facility management systems. Although we still provide design services, we render these primarily on building automation systems for fault-tolerant environments. As our registered tagline implies, we provide “Innovative Facility Solutions”. BJ: Please describe the typical project that O&M works on. RW: We typically categorize our projects into either Human Machine Interface (HMI) development or Facility Management System (FMS) solutions. Although, a typical project is generally not so “typical”, the use of well defined standards, innovative methods and efficient processes combine to deliver customers their “right” solution from many different perspectives. BJ: What advantages does adding graphics and animation to a Facility Management System offer? RW: A well designed and properly configured user interface increases operations efficiency dramatically. Integrated alarm reporting, maintenance management, trending views, links to technical documents, etc. can also increase the efficiency with which facility operation and maintenance personnel diagnose and manage system problems. Consider trying to browse the internet without graphical interfaces and web pages. A lot of us remember what that was like before NCSC Mosaic and Netscape Navigator changed everything. Graphics interfaces can also be designed with a lowest common denominator in regards to operator interpretation. Most facilities do not have the luxury of a facility management expert monitoring their entire system 24/7. Sometimes individuals with very little or no intrinsic knowledge of the systems being controlled are expected to acknowledge problems and take actions to dispatch the appropriate personnel. BJ: How do you see your service offerings changing as standards and open system have more impact on the building automation industry? RW: I really see the opportunity to implement our solutions across more system manufacturers and subsequently more customers. I also see better solutions and capabilities being implemented as more effort can then be directed on the solutions development and less on the systems integration issues. BJ: Where do you see Facility Management Systems / Building Automation Systems heading in the near future? Do you think that the integration of FMSs with enterprise, IT, networks will become ever more prevalent? RW: I see FMS/BAS systems becoming more versatile and capable of delivering the information they measure and collect to enterprise level systems. The ability of certain customers to operate and maintain, for example, a 24/7 “lights-out” remote data center would certainly benefit from such capabilities of their FMS/BAS system. For the companies who focus primarily on remote facility management services, this technology and its implementation will prove to be a strong competitive advantage. BJ: With BACnet and Web Services both gaining in popularity do you see the time where customers will be able to mix and match head end systems with their automation controllers of choice? If so, how far in the future do you expect to see this happening? RW: The BACnet initiative has not seemed to have gained the hoped for wide-spread acceptance by the BAS manufacturers. Unfortunately, early BACnet solutions suffered the tendency of most building automation vendors to engineer their own proprietary network communication solutions. Integration of competing BAS vendor BACnet implementations has never been the “plug-n-play” experience that I had hoped for. The “not-invented-here” mentalities and proprietary standards that have plagued the BAS industry and their customers are still fairly prevalent. Presently, true web services are virtually non-existent in the BAS market. That will change significantly in the coming year. It will be interesting to see if the same mentalities present themselves in the implementation of web services. In my consulting experience, when shopping for BAS vendors in the 21st century, customers are outraged that they still face proprietary communication protocol issues that lock them into a particular vendor for future expansions. They are upset at the lack of commitment by the manufacturers to implement open system solutions. BAS customers expect the manufacturers to rely on their core competencies and consistent performance to secure and maintain their loyalty. Unfortunately, most BAS manufacturers see the proprietary head end, programming and configuration applications as the primary way to control the future buying decisions of the customers. I don’t expect to see this change in the near future. I do think that ultimately, as in the industrial market, commercial automation will have no choice but to develop open systems in order to satisfy the future customer requirements. BJ: We really appreciate your participation in the Beta testing of the S4 Open: N2 Switch and the S4 Open: OPC-N2 Router . Can you share your thoughts on how these products will fit into your future service offerings? RW: I am excited to be involved in such an important development. My customers depend on me to present them with alternative solutions. I see the N2 switch as such a solution. The simple fact that the upstream side of the products is engineered to open standards fits with O&M Engineering’s commitment to open interoperability. BJ: How did you find The S4 Group? RW: Steve Jones and I met through a mutual acquaintance while consulting on a data center project. I was very pleased when some of the great ideas that Steve had conveyed to me culminated in the formation of the S4 Group. The S4 Group is a great complimentary relationship for O&M Engineering. BJ: What did you find unique about our products and services? RW: The S4 Group is another of the alternative solutions my customers expect me to offer them if their needs dictate it. What I find unique about the product and services of the S4 Group is having the ability to offer the customer an IT solution to their BAS information access and propagation problems. BJ: You have a very unique set of services to offer your customers. What are you doing to maintain your position of leadership in the services that you offer? RW: There are two things that we rely on primarily:
BJ: Thank you for spending this time with us today. Is there anything else you would like to add? RW: I would like to thank the S4 Group and yourself for the opportunity to answer a few questions for your readers. I believe that if my vision holds true, there are going to be exciting days ahead for consumers of the FMS and BAS products and services. |
Building Automation Non-IT System Integration Enterprise Integration S4 Open Appliance Applications
SNMP OPC Gateway Applications
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