ESSENTIAL PROGRAMMING AND COMMISSIONING
SIMPLE MINDS?
Can programed and pre-programmed systems live together?
Cliff Stammers, EI regular, experienced programmer and founder of Clever Rooms, takes a look at the state of play in programming and commissioning. A lot of thought has been given in recent months
company was founded 50 years ago. There have
into cohesive working realities, chiefly because
to try to understand where our industry is today.
been many attempts over the years to make
yet another project had overrun, and the next
Not to mention, of course, where it is going to
things easier for their customers to successfully
one down the line needed maximum attention
be tomorrow. And at the very forefront of this
deploy their products. But none of these ever
already. This meant that focus was difficult
attempt to continue to make sense of our work is
really took hold. Not, that is, until Crestron
to maintain. Couple this with a degree of
the subject of how users interact with increasingly
Home was launched over five years ago. Finally,
belligerence from programmers when called
complex automation systems. How then to make
for Crestron, it seemed that here was a product
upon to release the code they had written, the
integration systems as unfussy as possible as
that had found a way to deliver that most
consequence of which was effectively to hold
the products that they control become ever
elusive of goals: programmable product without
clients to ransom over code that they owned…
more diverse. Let’s take a quick look at how one
the programming.
well, then something had to happen.
But how successful has this been? Is it still
Seen in this light then, it’s clear that a way
In this age of ‘Out of the Box’ pre-
a fad, or is it something more profound? Is it
to make the commissioning of a system an
configurable systems, there has been enormous
really a fundamental sea-change in the way that
inherent part of the actual installation of one
investment made by companies to simplify how
our industry has evolved, or will it all eventually
was always going to be a smart idea. To take
their products are controlled. A full-scale charge
revert to type? My view is that it’s all of these
the functionality of an integration system away
away from bespoke programming has been
things. Like the concept of control systems
from a prickly programmer and place it into the
going on now for quite some time. In the case
itself, there are dozens of ways to look at it.
hands of a competent installation engineer,
manufacturer is tackling this conundrum.
of Crestron, for example, it’s long been their
There’s no doubt that the issue of bespoke
seemed like a thoroughly good move. And
particular holy grail to be able to dispense with
programming had to be addressed. For too
Crestron Home is probably the most successful
the third-party programming services that have
long service-providers had been struggling
interpretation of this that our industry has
been baked into their product range since the
with good intent to make ephemeral ideas
achieved in recent years.
44 MAY 2022
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