Thursday, June 21, 2007

KNX is now an International Standard for Home and Building Electronic System (HBES)

KNX is the only worldwide approved INTERNATIONAL STANDARD for home and building control. It already meets the requirements of both the CENELEC EN5009 and CEN EN 13321-1 European standards. Its recent approval as an international standard (ISO/IEC 14543-3) now confirms its global importance.
The predecessor specifications to KNX, Batibus, EIB and EHS, came into being in the early 1990s. At that time nobody could foresee their individual future. These three highly important homegrown European solutions for home and building control initially tried to develop their markets separately and tried to find their own places in European standardisation. Batibus did particularly well in France, Italy and Spain, whereas EIB enjoyed success in the German speaking and north European countries. EHS was the preferred solution for manufacturers of white and brown goods.

In 1997, the three consortia in charge of the above mentioned specifications decided to join forces to develop the market for intelligent homes with the agreed goal to develop a new, common industrial standard that could also be proposed as an international standard. The KNX specification was published by the newly set-up KNX Association in the spring of 2002. It is based on the EIB specification, supplemented with new configuration mechanisms and communication media originally developed by Batibus and EHS.

In December 2003, the KNX protocol as well as the two media, TP (twisted pair) and PL (power-line) was approved by the European national committees and ratified by the CENELEC Bureau Technique as the EN 50090 European Standard. The KNX Radio Frequency communication medium was approved in May 2006.

As KNX increasingly provides specifications that are not only used for the automation of electrical installation equipment but also for HVAC applications, the KNX Association proposed its specifications to CEN for publication as a European standard for building automation control systems. CEN accepted the proposal and the KNX specifications were published by CEN as EN 13321-1.

In view of the large interest in KNX compatible products outside European countries and its proven technology, the KNX association also initiated the necessary steps to have the KNX standard approved on an international level. Countries active in CENELEC proposed the European EN 50090 norm for standardization by ISO/IEC at the end of 2004. In November 2006 the KNX protocol, including all transmission media (TP, PL, RF and IP) was approved for publication as the ISO/IEC 14543-3-x International Standard. This makes KNX the only worldwide open standard for home and building control.

This set of International Standards will encourage users and planners to implement intelligent controls in homes and functional buildings worldwide. Thanks to the published standard, appropriate guidance is now available for parties interested in the use of home and building control. The KNX association expects the publication of its specifications by ISO/IEC to accelerate the development of the market for intelligent home and building controls considerably and offers its services to researchers, suppliers, installers and users worldwide.

Non-European suppliers offering products based on ISO/IEC 14543-3-X will benefit from the well-developed European KNX market for products that meet these specifications and will be able to sell their KNX specified products to a well established customer base. At the same time, suppliers and installers outside Europe will be able to develop their home markets since they are able to offer a wide range of applications from the start.

By joining the KNX Association, companies from all over the world can benefit from the transfer of know-how and licenses within the association, have the opportunity to include their products in the manufacturer and product independent design and commissioning tool, ETS (Engineering Tool Software) and participate in the partnerships and research programs of the KNX Association.

KNX Association is the creator and owner of the KNX technology – the world’s only open STANDARD for all applications in home and building control, ranging from lighting and shutter control to various security systems, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, monitoring, alarming, water control, energy management, metering as well as household appliances, audio and lots more. KNX is the only global standard for home and building control with a single, manufacturer independent design and commissioning tool (ETS), with a complete set of supported communication media (TP, PL, RF and IP) as well as a complete set of supported configuration modes (system, easy and automatic mode). KNX is approved as a European (CENELEC EN 50090 and CEN EN 13321-1) and an International standard (ISO/IEC 14543-3). This standard is based upon more than 15 years of experience in the market including its predecessors, EIB, EHS and BatiBUS. Over 100 member companies worldwide from different application domains have almost 7000 KNX certified product groups in their catalogues. The KNX Association has partnership agreements with more than 21,000 installer companies in 70 countries.

http://www.knx.org/

For more information / material please contact:
heinz.lux@knx.org

Pictures can be downloaded at:
www.knx.org/news-press/press-room

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