I was sitting in a cramped room, surrounded by several software engineers who were passionately arguing among themselves about a data model and how we could integrate two systems seamlessly. I interjected, being the glutton for punishment that I am, what is the value this will deliver? They turned and looked at me with a look that beamed, "Who is this guy and why is he asking about value? Doesn't he understand that there can't be any value if the systems can't even talk?"
Recent posts by Phil Zito
4 min read
Five Things to Consider Before you Integrate
Topics: building automation systems Building Controls integration
2 min read
The Hidden Costs of First Cost only Thinking
It sucked, I literally wasted 3 hours of my life one Saturday waiting to buy tickets for a dance recital. What really sucked was when I realized 2,000 other people were doing the same thing. There we were standing cramped in a small dance studio waiting to buy tickets for a dance recital, what an awesome use of my Saturday morning.
Topics: building automation systems Building Controls life cycle costing
3 min read
Guess who Just Hacked a Building Automation System?
Woke up to news early this week, IBM X-Force hacked a Building Automation System using a combination of common vulnerabilities. Based on the report IBM produced, here is what happened.
Topics: Security building automation systems Building Controls cybersecurity
1 min read
Yet Another BACnet Explorer- My Favorite BACnet Library
This is quite possibly going to be my shortest blog post ever. When I am coding integrations I often have to use a BACnet library. Because I can't share my production library that I use for my "company code", I had to find another library that I could use for any code I share online. Because I like C# and .NET for a variety of reasons I had to really dig to find a C# BACnet library.
Topics: BACnet Library building automation systems BACnet BACnet/IP
3 min read
What are The Green Rating Programs For Buildings -Part 1
This is the first of two articles that discuss what are the green rating programs for buildings.
When I say green what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Do you think buildings? If so why not?
In case you haven't heard, there's been a push around creating Green, sustainable, net-zero buildings. The "Green Building" craze that has come about over the past ten years and only now are the green rating programs for buildings starting to catch on. Therefore I can't really fault you if you're not completely up to speed.
Topics: Energy Green Programs building automation systems LEED
8 min read
How to Optimize Your Building Systems
How to Optimize Your Building Systems
Well it's good to be back!
Topics: building automation systems Building Controls integration optimization
5 min read
Will Interoperability Destroy A Hospital's Network?
Today, I had the privilege of attending a one-day seminar put on by IHE USA. IHE, which stands for Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise is one of a few select groups like HL7 that is working towards creating a standardized data exchange framework. I believe, based on my experience as a solution architect designing technology for healthcare environments, there is a chance that interoperability will destroy a hospital's network. There are a multitude of factors as to why I believe this...
Topics: healthcare Information Technology
7 min read
The Basics of Web Servers
Web Servers make the world go round. If you are connecting to your bank online, you're connecting to a web server. Do you like Amazon? Guess what also a web server. Just about everything you connect to out their on the internet is by definition a web server.
Topics: how to web servers Information Technology
7 min read
The Basics of Sub-netting
In this article, I am going to take a brief segue into Subnetting. I talk to so many people who tell me sub-netting is hard and I just don’t get it. I have watched many videos and read a lot of books and each one has a different method for sub-netting.
The methods I present in this section are a compilation of many different authors and my own personal experience. I want to ensure that I give credit to Todd Lammel as his method has the largest influence on this method.
Topics: it subnetting Information Technology
3 min read
Top 5 IT Certifications for those in Automation
Let’s face it our field is moving closer and closer to converging with IT. We have witnessed the birth of open protocols, the conversion from client-server to true web-based systems and now we are witnessing the transition to big data analytics and cloud based software solutions. As our industry further converges with IT and other fields we need to be aligning our skill set to be ready for the future. With that being said I am laying out the Top 5 IT Certifications for those in Automation (with one tie along the way). that you should pursue if you are going to be staying in this industry for the next 5-10 years.
