Honeywell Introduces Attune Advisory Services

3/20/2012

Honeywell Introduces Attune™ Advisory Services, Connects Cloud Computing and Facility Know How to Cut Energy and Operating Costs

• Cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service Technology Provides Easy Access to Sophisticated Monitoring and Analysis, and Honeywell Specialists • Recommended Building Improvements Delivered by Skilled Technicians • Online and Onsite Expertise Combine to Trim Facility Expenses Up to 20 Percent MINNEAPOLIS, March 20, 2012 – Honeywell (NYSE: HON) today introduced its new Attune™ Advisory Services, a suite of professional services that combines cloud-based tools and analytics with a global network of operations centers, and energy and facility experts to provide enhancements that can reduce utility bills and operating expenses up to 20 percent.  Attune Advisory Services help building owners wherever they are on the energy- and operational-efficiency spectrum, providing technology and support to gain baseline awareness of building performance, make improvements to reduce energy and operations costs, and define an ongoing strategy to manage and optimize a facility. “The performance of building systems and equipment can degrade by as much as 5 percent every year, which translates to energy and operating costs that continually escalate,” said Paul Orzeske, president of Honeywell Building Solutions. “Companies are starting to realize the significant impact this can have, as well as the opportunity it presents for bottom-line savings. With Attune, we’re providing the ease and convenience of cloud-based technology with expert advice and actionable guidance so companies can capture and maintain those savings.” Facility managers are under increased pressure to go beyond simply monitoring building systems and providing base-level comfort. They are being asked to translate facility information into actions that deliver energy, operational and environmental outcomes. However, many don’t have the resources to assess building performance, identify opportunities to upgrade infrastructure and operations, or prioritize retrofits. In fact, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), buildings account for nearly 40 percent of energy used in most countries. The IEA says the potential for savings is significant and can often be achieved at low or no costs. However, many barriers work against energy efficiency in buildings, including lack of useful information. “We’ve gone to great lengths to reduce energy costs while keeping occupants safe and comfortable,” said Tom Damsell, technical services supervisor for Brookfield Office Properties, which owns and manages One Liberty Plaza in lower Manhattan. “Working with Honeywell, we’ve already cut annual electricity use at One Liberty Plaza by approximately 7 percent .Now, we’re looking for the support to help uncover the next level of savings — to find the improvements that are less obvious but highly impactful.” Attune Advisory Services turn building performance data into an action plan that pinpoints potential upgrades and their expected return on investment. The service suite enables facility managers to optimize their budgets, personnel and systems by combining powerful cloud-based tools and analytics with insight and advice from a global team of Honeywell consultants, and customized support provided by skilled onsite technicians. The services exceed typical facility management software, which often only provides a steady stream of data, but no insight or recommendations. Attune offers three levels of assistance — awareness, improvement and optimization — with programs focusing on either energy or operational efficiency. The new energy-focused services include: Attune Energy Awareness Energy Awareness enables facility managers to access and monitor electricity and natural gas consumption using a Web-based, software-as-a-service dashboard that collects information from utility meters to provide insight on building performance and create a baseline to help identify savings opportunities. Honeywell also provides lobby signage that allows organizations to showcase the results of their efficiency efforts in clear-cut, graphic-driven terms, helping educate occupants, and spurring them to alter their behavior and energy use. Attune Energy Improvement Energy Improvement turns building data into actionable recommendations with the advice of Honeywell’s experienced analysts. Facility managers receive periodic reports that provide information on efficiency opportunities with related recommendations on upgrades and replacements. Building retrofits made as a result of these services can deliver energy savings of up to 10 percent, potentially paying for themselves within months. Attune Energy Optimization Energy Optimization delivers a powerful combination of improved building knowledge and actionable recommendations, backed by detailed monitoring, measurement and verification to help ensure facilities operate at their peak. Optimization can deliver energy savings of 10 to 20 percent on average, with the potential for even greater savings in older facilities. Honeywell plugs into a building to gather systems data and assess performance using cloud-based fault detection and diagnostics. Local service technicians collaborate with a global team of optimization experts to review the findings and present a plan to help facility managers reduce utility consumption. Ongoing assessment and monitoring allow building owners to see that upgrades continue to deliver results to the bottom line. Attune Operations Services The goal of Operations Services is more efficiently run buildings. Facility managers can select different combinations of 24/7 equipment monitoring, remote and onsite response to alarm conditions, and Honeywell consultation for uncovering other potential improvements and lowering equipment life-cycle costs. By providing secure, cloud-enabled support, Honeywell is able to help address the issues building operators routinely face — assistance the company is already providing to more than 3,000 sites that are connected to its global operations centers. Attune Operations Services provide guided solutions aimed at saving money and reducing downtime, and the improved insight allows Honeywell to dispatch technicians only when needed. It’s a cost-effective way to improve overall efficiency and another step toward optimization. Additional Information: • Attune Advisory Services website• Attune Advisory Services overview• Attune Energy Awareness video• Attune Energy Improvement video• Attune Energy Optimization video• Honeywell Building Solutions on Twitter• Honeywell Building Solutions website Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell’s shares are traded on the New York, London, and Chicago Stock Exchanges. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywellnow.com. Honeywell Building Solutions is part of the Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions business group, a global leader in providing product and service solutions that improve efficiency and profitability, support regulatory compliance, and maintain safe, comfortable environments in homes, buildings and industry. This release contains certain statements that may be deemed “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that we or our management intends, expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. The forward-looking statements included in this release are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to economic, competitive, governmental, and technological factors affecting our operations, markets, products, services and prices. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ from those envisaged by such forward-looking statements.

News Release from GE - Oblong

08 March 2012

FROM SCIENCE FICTION TO REAL SOLUTIONS, OBLONG RECEIVES INVESTMENTS FROM MORGAN STANLEY AIP, GE-NRG ENERGY-CONOCOPHILLIPS VENTURE AND FOUNDRY GROUP

LOS ANGELES, March 8, 2012 – Oblong Industries, the company that created the computing environments depicted in the film Minority Report, has announced that it is partnering with two new funders for its Series B capital raise: Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners, and Energy Technology Ventures — a GE-NRG Energy-ConocoPhillips venture. The Foundry Group, already an Oblong investor, led the new funding round.

Oblong and its partners view this latest investment round as an opportunity to fuel growth, further extend the company’s technology leadership position, and deliver solutions to a broader market.

Oblong’s g-speak™ spatial operating system provides data visualization, analytics, and integration capabilities across multiple computers, screens, and applications. The g-speak environment supports many different kinds of computing and input devices, from desktops and laptops to mobile devices, from large-screen “mission control” centers to walk-up information kiosks. Oblong pioneered the development of gestural interfaces and continues to ship the world’s most scalable and accurate system for interactive hand and object tracking.

Oblong’s Mezzanine™ product, built on the g-speak platform, introduces next-generation, real-time collaboration with integrated telepresence. Mezzanine allows any user on an enterprise network to share content and applications with any colleague, any where in the world, dynamically and interactively.

Video of Oblong’s products is available at the company’s website:http://www.oblong.com/.

"We believe Oblong's spatial operating system is revolutionizing the way people interact with their computers," said Jamey Sperans, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners. "We are delighted to be partnering with Oblong's team of visionaries in pursuing the multiple market opportunities for this transformative technology."

Oblong’s technology research began over two decades ago at the MIT Media Lab. Today, the team is comprised of developers and engineers formerly with companies including Apple, Google, Pixar, Microsoft, Accenture and Walt Disney Imagineering.

Kwindla Hultman Kramer, Oblong’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We founded Oblong because we want to make computers better, smarter, and easier to use. We're proud of the multi-user, multi-screen, multi-device spatial operating environment we're supplying to partners like Boeing, SAP, and GE Digital Energy. And we look forward to taking that platform to broader markets in 2012.”

“We seek to invest in brilliant innovations that solve real problems with a talented team that can execute. We found that in Oblong. Their groundbreaking technology has the potential to fundamentally change how we interact with and act on data,” said Kevin Skillern, GE Energy Financial Services’ Managing Director of venture capital and representative of Energy Technology Ventures.

Oblong will use the new investment dollars to scale product commercialization and custom solutions development. Partners are critical to this scaling, and GE recently announced that Oblong’s technology has been licensed by GE Digital Energy for use in new Smart Grid analytics software. The product will enable utilities to use integrated digital tools and data sources designed to make decisions, both in infrastructure planning and real-time operations.

GE’s partnership with Oblong was conducted through GE’s ecomagination Accelerator program. The $20 million ecomagination Accelerator program, a spin-off from the $200 million ecomagination challenge, is designed to scale offerings of leading start-up companies through GE as a global growth platform. In addition to equity investments, GE funds commercial pilots through the Accelerator program in key growth markets like the smart grid.

Financial details on the Series B financing round in Oblong Industries were not disclosed.

Computers Become More Phone-Like

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Apple and Microsoft Unwrap Products That Resemble Phone Apps

By JENNA WORTHAM and NICK WINGFIELD

BARCELONA, Spain — These days much of the action in the world of gadgets is happening in smartphones — like their sophisticated design and the apps that run on them. That has left desktop and laptop computers looking a little dull in comparison.

So computers are suddenly getting more phonelike.

Microsoft and Apple are leading the charge in this area. On Wednesday, Microsoft took the wraps off its latest operating system for computers and tablets, Windows 8, which mimics the look and feel of the company’s new software for phones. And Apple recently offered a preview of its next operating system for Macs, incorporating familiar elements from the iPhone and iPad.

“All of the major innovation for PCs is coming from the mobile phone,” said Tim Coulling, an analyst at the research firm Canalys.

The companies hope this strategy will give them added leverage in the market for tablets and smartphones, which is growing to rival the market for personal computers. And it could also help them sell more computers or, in Microsoft’s case, software for computers.

People who buy an iPad or iPhone, for example, might be more inclined to also buy a Mac computer if they work together seamlessly and have features that operate the same way on both devices. For Apple, which still has only a small share of the computer business, that could be a big advantage.

In Microsoft’s case, it needs to defend its traditional dominance of the PC operating system business with software that is versatile enough to also run on tablet computers.

This idea of a “continuum of computing” across various devices has long been “a promise of the future,” said Carolina Milanesi, a research analyst who covers the mobile industry for Gartner. “But now it is critical for success among consumers.”

How Microsoft Could Lose Its Grip on 'Rugged' Devices

Excerpt from an article in The New York Times

Monday, February 06, 2012

How Microsoft Could Lose Its Grip on 'Rugged' Devices

By BRIAN X. CHEN

When a UPS delivery worker shows up at your house, the bulky handheld that he yanks out for you to write your digital signature is known as a "rugged device." Microsoft's older Windows Mobile operating system is running on the vast majority of these devices, but competitors are offering rugged alternatives on newer software, and it's questionable how long Microsoft can fend them off.

Rugged devices are designed to tolerate the abuse of being outdoors on a regular basis. They're often sealed to prevent rain, moisture and dust from getting inside, and their cases are sturdy enough to survive falls. Workers in field services like telecom, utilities, oil and gas typically carry these devices. You've seen them in the hands of delivery workers, and you may have seen some healthcare providers carrying rugged handhelds for viewing patient records and vital signs.

For several years, Microsoft has dominated the rugged-device niche. The company got a head start on mobile software when it released Windows CE, its pocket PC operating system, in 1996, when mobile computers were mostly affordable to only big businesses. For over a decade, Microsoft has formed relationships with major enterprises who have deployed their business software on Windows Mobile devices.

But the Windows Mobile software hasn't received a significant update since 2010. And Microsoft is focusing investments on its new Windows Phone 7 software, a smartphone operating system tailored for consumers, which is not compatible with the older Windows Mobile apps. Furthermore, Microsoft has said it is not ready to announce its plans for business customers for Windows Phone 7. This leaves an opening for competitors to come up with alternatives.

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Dell OEM Partners with SUSE

News release from Dell:

Dell OEM Solutions Makes Available SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to Customers

SUSE is the First Linux Vendor to Join the Dell OEM Technology Partner Program

Date : 1/24/2012

Dell and SUSE today announced the Dell OEM Solutions division will offer customizable, integrated systems based on SUSE Linux Enterprise with services and support for customers worldwide. Now, Dell OEM Solutions customers can customize any Dell-standard hardware within its extensive portfolio and utilize the versatility, performance, reliability and security of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, helping reduce cost and time to market.

   Gartner conducted a primary research survey of 547 IT leaders in organizations (excluding technology and service providers) in 11 countries in the second half of 2010. More than half the organizations surveyed have adopted OSS solutions as part of their IT strategy, with nearly one-third citing benefits of flexibility, increased innovation, shorter development times and faster procurement processes. Lower total cost of ownership was a key driver.*

"Enterprises are increasingly using Linux in integrated systems, ranging from consumer electronics, to industrial control, aerospace and military technologies," said Nils Brauckmann, president and general manager, SUSE.

"This partnership marks another milestone in our ongoing relationship with Dell. It combines Dell's OEM product, industry standard hardware and global services capabilities, with SUSE's flexible, reliable and cost-effective operating system and tools, to meet the specific needs of the embedded and OEM markets."

Dell will use SUSE Studio, a powerful image customization and provisioning tool, to build and deploy application stacks based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server onto Dell OEM Solutions’ embedded, built-to-order and customized solutions. Using SUSE Studio, Dell can help its OEM customers reduce the complexity and overhead costs associated with bringing integrated systems to market.

“We are pleased to welcome SUSE as the first Linux vendor to the Dell OEM Technology Partner Program. By partnering with SUSE, we are broadening and strengthening our solutions for the embedded and OEM markets,” said Ron Pugh, executive director and general manager, Dell OEM Solutions, Americas. “Our customers that use Dell OEM Solutions with SUSE Enterprise Linux Server for product design can help accelerate their time to market and cut operational costs.”

More information about the Dell OEM and SUSE partnership can be found on the Dell OEM Technology Partner website.

* Gartner, Inc., Survey Analysis: Overview of Preferences and Practices in the Adoption and Usage of Open-Source Software, Laurie F. Wurster, Bob Igou, Zeynep Babat, January 24, 2011

BlackBerry PlayBook Features Found Wanting by Analysts

Excerpt from January 17 New York Times article with the above title:


BlackBerry PlayBook Features Found Wanting by Analysts 

By IAN AUSTEN and BRIAN X. CHEN

OTTAWA — Nearly 10 months after its debut, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will finally get e-mail and other important missing features in February. But after examining a preview of the software upgrade last week, several analysts said the device’s maker, Research in Motion, continues to struggle with significant technical issues, which could hinder its effort to reverse its declining fortunes.

And they said the upgrade was unlikely to significantly improve sales of the tablet computer to businesses, a target market. RIM’s continued inability to make the PlayBook work directly with its global network means that corporations looking for high-security BlackBerry e-mail on their tablets will first need costly software upgrades to their computer systems. For consumers, it means that the popular BlackBerry Messenger instant-messaging system is still missing from the tablet.

Neither development, some analysts say, is a positive sign for the BlackBerry 10 operating system, a variation of the PlayBook’s software for the coming phones that RIM hopes will restore the BlackBerry’s popularity in North America.

“There are obviously some technical problems integrating this that they weren’t able to solve,” said Mike Abramsky, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets. “They’re being very disorganized and uncommunicative about it.”

Mr. Abramsky and other analysts who attended demonstrations of the software upgrade at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week complained that RIM’s reluctance to provide specifics about the new software, known as PlayBook O.S. 2, led to widespread confusion about its capabilities, particularly for business users.

Given that RIM effectively created the wireless e-mail market with the BlackBerry, there was considerable surprise when the PlayBook appeared last April without e-mail software or software for synching entries from users’ electronic calendars and address books.

RIM has never publicly explained the reason for that omission. But many industry and financial analysts have said the features were absent because the company could not make the device work with its unique global data network. That network connects directly to cellphone companies’ networks. It is a major reason business and government BlackBerry phones have such high e-mail security that it has been a source of contention in nations where law enforcement and security services would like to monitor BlackBerry users’ messages.

For consumers, the RIM network bypasses carriers’ normal text-messaging systems, making BlackBerry Messenger messages less expensive and faster.

But RIM’s network was designed so that only one hand-held device can be used with any particular user’s account, creating problems for people with both a BlackBerry phone and a PlayBook.

From what RIM previewed in Las Vegas last week, it appears that most PlayBooks will rely entirely on Microsoft Exchange Active Sync, the same technology found on phones or tablets that people use on the other common mobile operating systems — Apple’s iOS, Android from Google and Microsoft’s Windows Phone.

RIM has not disclosed what specific roles its network will play in that arrangement. But Tenille Kennedy, a spokeswoman for the company, which is based in Ontario, said PlayBooks with the new software “will significantly leverage RIM’s global BlackBerry infrastructure.”

Nor has the company offered a full explanation about the continued absence of BlackBerry Messenger. In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation last week, Alec Saunders, vice president for developer relations at RIM, offered only this explanation: “Building software takes time.”

In an e-mail, Ms. Kennedy said corporate and government users who want highly encrypted BlackBerry service must update to the latest version of RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server software. They also must use BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, which will not be sold until late February. When it was announced last year, the Fusion software was described as allowing corporations to manage iPhones and Android phones through their BlackBerry servers.

But several analysts said most corporations were not likely to upgrade to accommodate the PlayBook because in addition to cost, there is a potential for errors causing widespread disruption.

“This is not something many enterprises will do proactively unless they already have an active PlayBook deployment program,” said Jan Dawson, an analyst with Ovum who also saw the software demonstrated last week.

Bill Kreher, an analyst with Edward Jones, said the announcement last week was more of a signal that RIM had been struggling to make the new phones work.

“We fear the company is having big difficulty porting native e-mail to the BlackBerry 10 O.S.,” Mr. Kreher said. “RIM has had a poor track record in recent history in delivering their products.”

But Jeff Orr of ABI Research described the new software as “phase one” and said he expected improved e-mail systems to be released eventually. He acknowledged, however, that the development of the new phones did not seem smooth from the outside.

“Until that vision plays out, it’s going to appear fragmented and chaotic,” he said.

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