ORLANDO, Fla. - LonMark International announced it would host a series of seminars on building open systems. The series began in February with stops in 20 North American cities.

Circon Systems, Distech Controls, Echelon, Engenuity Systems, Honeywell, Hubbell Building Automation, Siemens Building Technology, and Tour Andover Controls are cosponsoring the program, designed to help facility professionals make the transition from proprietary to open systems.

"It is very clear that there is still a tremendous amount of confusion and misinformation regarding open systems in buildings today," said Barry Hauser, executive director of LonMark International.

"The primary goal of this seminar program is to help industry professionals navigate through the noise associated with open systems to deliver what their customers really want - flexible, yet powerful, automation solutions that lower costs now and in the future, deliver greater value, and have the ability to be easily adapted to future market and technology needs.

"It seems like a tall order, but this seminar series will deliver just this information and show how far the industry has come in making open systems cost effective to specify, install, and maintain."

For more information, visit www.buildingopensystems.com.

LonMark International also announced the general availability of a new, Web-based tool supporting self-certification of devices and controllers compliant with the LonMark interoperability guidelines.

The Self Certification Tool (SCT) is designed to enable companies to fast track their products to achieve LonMark certification. According to Hauser, tool users will be able to perform the entire certification process online, including payments of certification fees.

Publication date: 03/07/2005