Richards-Zeta and Frost & Sullivan Release Industry White Paper on Intelligent Middleware for Intelligent Building Systems

Business Wire, June 25, 2008

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, Inc. (RZ) has partnered with Frost & Sullivan to compose an industry White Paper focused on assessing the need for Intelligent Middleware and Intelligent Building Systems (IBS) solutions. Richards-Zeta is a global leader in Intelligent Building Systems and a key advocate and innovator towards the convergence of building systems and IT. The company provides powerful technology based solutions that integrate and elevate building systems to global IT standards.

Richards-Zeta's vision is to open up the traditional building automation systems (BAS) by using the interoperability of its technology. Buildings are on a path of migration toward open systems that can provide a wide gamut of advantages such as seamless integration which allows individual brilliances to come together, an aspect that forms the basis of an Intelligent Building. The goal of this White Paper is to analyze and interpret the needs and challenges of building systems integration.

This white paper calls on industry testimonials from companies such as Accenture, Cisco, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, Constellation New Energy, Edward K. Smyers, Co., Facility Solutions Group, Google, Inc., Johnson Controls, Marc Services, McKinstry, NetApp, Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI), Secutech Automation, Simon Property Group, and Wipro Technologies.

"Companies are not going to be held captive by the BAS companies that don't want to play," says David Shroyer of NetApp. "They are not going to stand for it. They will rather spend the money versus being held hostage."

With the right equipment, infrastructure, and solution, building owners and facility managers have the ability to embrace the diversity found within buildings and provide a future-proof integration infrastructure.

Furthermore, bringing together open communications protocols for control devices and IT provides customers with options and functionality at cost levels that were never before possible. Educating the end-users about open and interoperable solutions has been a key challenge. With a lack of industry wide standards and reigning confusion over the definitions of open and interoperable building automation systems, expectation levels among end-users are often higher than what can be practically achieved. This often results in customer dissatisfaction limiting demands for building automation systems.

The future of building systems is likely to see a lot of convergence and is expected to address the challenges of building integration. This driver is likely to result in collaborative efforts between the IT and the building domain specialists who share a highly positive synergy when it comes to Intelligent Buildings Systems (IBS).

To download a copy of the White Paper, contact Richards-Zeta at sales@richards-zeta.com or visit www.richards-zeta.com.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit www.frost.com.

About Richards-Zeta (RZ)

Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, Inc. (RZ) is a manufacturer of IP centric building integration solutions, including a hardware and software solution known as the Mediator[TM]. The Mediator[TM] provides an integration framework, known as the Multi-Protocol Exchange (MPX[TM]), which allows for the convergence of multiple disparate building systems onto an IP network. RZ goes to market through a channel of trained System Integrators, located on 6 continents, which understand the unique requirements associated with the convergence of BAS and IT, building the foundation for Intelligent Buildings. In addition to manufacturing and supporting this solution, RZ also actively supports System Integrators and End-Users by providing engineering, configuration, programming and graphics services through Building Intelligence Group (BIG), a full-service division of RZ. By abating the pain traditionally associated with system integration, RZ integrators are freed to focus on applying technology in a manner that solves our customers' actual problems, which in turn leads to well managed facilities. For more information on Richards-Zeta please go to: www.richards-zeta.com.