Richmond, VA – April 30, 2021 – The Project Haystack Organization (www.project-haystack.org), a collaborative community addressing the challenge of utilizing semantic modeling and tagging to streamline the interchange of data among different systems, devices, equipment and software applications, today announced the publication of the ninth issue of their Connections Magazine.
This commemorative issue of Connections Magazine Spring 2021 reports on the latest news provided by the Project Haystack community from around the world and, in celebration of its 10th Anniversary of its founding in 2011, takes a look back over the years of creating a community-driven, open-source standard to consistently add meaning to the vast amount of device data produced by smart devices. Starting from “it’s like finding the needle in the haystack” to today, Haystack provides a comprehensive, open standard for semantic tagging of data that has been embraced worldwide.
Facility owners, operators, managers and service companies recognize that a standardized approach to semantic data modeling has been key to overcoming the hurdles related to effectively using data produced by the built environment. Many of the articles in this issue were written by end users including design consultants, commissioning experts, smart building consultants, property managers and developers – all of whom are demanding smarter, interoperable solutions. This issue also focuses on companies that are responding by providing Haystack-compatible products and solutions.
“Over the past 10 years, Project Haystack has played the leading role in making device data interoperable, providing the industry with a standard metadata model, tools, reference implementations and educational materials, all developed by a true open-source community,” said John Petze, Executive Director of the Project Haystack Organization. “Membership in the organization, participation in working groups, and adoption in real world projects, now estimated to be over 40,000 facilities worldwide, all point to the growth and acceptance of the Haystack standard.”
“In conjunction with the Spring issue of Haystack Connections, we are putting the final touches on Haystack Connect, our open, virtual conference and information exchange taking place May 4-6,” said Marc Petock, Executive Secretary of the Project Haystack Organization. “Haystack Connect is known for the quality of its content and presenters, and this year’s event is sure not to disappoint.”
Consisting of over 70 pages, the Connections Magazine Spring 2021 issue includes an article contributed by Eric Anderson and Therese Sullivan of Tridium, Inc., on “Tagging Niagara Station Components”. J2 Innovations contributed two articles, “HAYSON - New Haystack JSON Encoding” written by Gareth Johnson, and “The Importance of Data Standardization for Retail and Hospitality” written by Chris Irwin. Other contributing companies include Intelligent Buildings and Lynxspring.
Project Haystack Working Groups provided updates to their work and as always, there is a section dedicated to Tools for Developers and Integrators, How to Get Involved, a curation of social media about Project Haystack Member Projects, Practices and Products, and a directory of all Project Haystack Members.
Today, Project Haystack also announced four new Associate Member companies have joined the organization just in the past month: Allander Analytics, Automated Logic, Buildings IOT and Clockworks Analytics.
“The adoption of Project Haystack means less time spent trying to make sense of complex IoT systems and more time focusing on the data,” said Chris Vernon, CTO of Allander Analytics. “Haystack's standardized data models lead to faster integration with platforms such as ours, which leads to earlier fault detection and ultimately greater energy savings. We're excited to be part of Project Haystack.”
“Supporting open standards is a key element of Automated Logic’s strategy to lead the future of building automation, as we continue to advance our open architecture so that we are positioned to offer the most scalable, interoperable, and secure building automation solutions in the industry,” said Troy Maeder, Director, Strategy and Business Development at Automated Logic. “Our participation in Project Haystack reinforces this commitment as it provides standard naming conventions for building and equipment data, helping to provide cost-effective analysis and management of that data now and in the future.”
“Our company has undergone lots of growth over the past few years, with lots more to come. Through it all, we’ve been members of Project Haystack because we believe an open source, community-based tagging methodology is something that brings us all forward. United as Buildings IOT, our executives are proud to continue our involvement with this foundational group and look forward to years of collaboration to come,” said Brian Turner, CEO of Buildings IOT.
“For the past decade, we have worked to build a dynamic information model that can deploy fault detection and diagnostics at scale,” said Nick Gayeski, Chief Executive Officer of Clockworks Analytics. “We are excited to join Project Haystack and drive greater interoperability between vendors like us and the Haystack community, as well as continue our mission to help the industry-at-large turn operational data into real-time insight for more efficient buildings."
Building systems is where the Project Haystack tagging methodology gained traction and adoption, but the Haystack methodology is not just about HVAC, temperature sensors, fans, and meters. The IoT, Building IoT and the Industrial IoT are bringing diverse smart devices into high-rise commercial buildings, industrial facilities, universities, homes, factories and agriculture. The Project Haystack tagging methodology is now being deployed in thousands of buildings incorporating millions of square feet globally.
The Project Haystack Connections Magazine Spring 2021 issue is available for download at Connections Magazine.
The Project Haystack organization consists of Founding Member and Board Member companies Conserve It, J2 Innovations, Legrand, Lynxspring, Siemens and SkyFoundry, and Associate Member companies Accu-Temp Systems, Allander Analytics, Altura Associates, Automated Logic, BASSG, Bueno Systems, Brainbox AI, BuildingFit, Buildings IOT, Clockworks Analytics, CABA, e-Magic, Energy Management Association, Intellastar, Intelligent Buildings, IoT Warez, KMC Controls, KNX Association, KODE Labs, Resolute Building Intelligence, Tridium, WideSky and Yorkland Controls, as well as numerous Project Haystack Supporters involved in Working Groups.
About Project Haystack
Since its formation in March of 2011 the Project Haystack Organization, a 501(c) non-profit trade association, has been providing the industry with an open-source, collaborative environment to address the challenge of making data self-describing using semantic modeling, also known as data tagging. The work developed by the Project Haystack member companies and community streamlines the process of managing, presenting and analyzing the vast amount of data produced by smart devices and equipment systems. The Haystack methodology can be used with virtually any type of system and device data and is not tied to any vendor or communication protocol.
More information about the Project Haystack Organization and membership is available at: marketing.project-haystack.org. For Developers, the Discussion Forums and Working Groups can be found at: project-haystack.org/forum/topic. The Haystack 4 Developers site is being transitioned to project-haystack.dev.