ESSENTIAL AUTOMATION PLATFORMS
OPEN SEASON KNX UK President, Paul Foulkes, casts his vote for the ideal automation platform. Is the cash cow that was lighting and AV automation on its last legs? Does a business model built on discount points still work in today’s multi-faceted smart control market? People want much more in their homes and workplace: in addition to the relatively easy lighting and AV wins, they want to integrate heating and cooling, shading and energy control and security. And why not given the existence of a proven, robust open-system automation platform that makes bringing it all together easy? That’s KNX. During the weird year of lockdown and tiers, KNX has gone from strength to strength. It celebrated its 30th birthday as the de facto global open control protocol and signing up Sony took its count of manufacturer members past the 500 mark. Yes, that’s 500 manufacturers making controls that are guaranteed to work together, guaranteed to be backwards compatible, and guaranteed to enable you to broaden your horizons by designing interworking between applications controlling every aspect of home control. The real value add in automation comes from the quality of a systems integrator’s thinking, and the combination of skill and talent that creates scalable, flexible solutions that meet customer expectations and, above all, are just reliable.
58 APRIL 2021
Don’t limit yourself by starting with a proprietary control system that only controls AV and had to link to another system for the rest of the building, start with a platform that offers the control of the majority of the building then add the AV control on top. The big risk with proprietary solutions is that they might require you to update an installation’s central controller when a new range of keypads is released? You know who we mean; and you know that the big discounts don’t make up for the client’s ire when they learn at the cost of the upgrade! Meanwhile a KNX integrator will have been able to programme a new, KNX-certified keypad design into the existing system, make a quick physical swap onsite and then sit back and continue to enjoy an amicable and profitable long-term relationship with the customer. There are KNX devices and solutions for every application, it may be lighting control with Theben DALI Gateways, BMS integration with the ABB application control or visualisation & remote access with the Gira X1/S1 combo. But that’s not to say you have to ditch your favourite systems or familiar products because, for the most part the proprietary players have already made the KNX choice for you. They have created the gateways that let the magic
happen. Control4 and Savant both offer a native IP connection to KNX simplifying the integration of KNX lighting and comfort, with audio and video entertainment for homes around the world. Crestron has an IP to KNX gateway, a bi-directional Ethernet interface capable of addressing up to 250 KNX objects, while Lutron can be interfaced using third party software. Even consumer solutions are coming to the KNX party with Sonos, Apple Homekit, Siri, Alexa and Google home all able to either control or be integrated with a KNX system. For advanced users, SDKs and Object servers enable custom integrations to other platforms. With KNX as the underlying automaton platform the limits are endless so there is no need to be restricted by the limits of a proprietary platforms. KNX integrators in the UK have been delivering high end residential projects in the UK market for many years. That’s possible because of the range of user interfaces not in spite of them, like other solutions. The KNX ETS programming software hasn’t actually changed fundamentally, but the skin it lives in has evolved making using it ever-easer.
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