OASIS Blue issues press announcement

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The OASIS Blue Member Section operated from Oct 2009 until Sept 2012. OASIS Technical Committees affiliated with the Blue Member Section remain active and the archives of this work are publicly accessible. Information on this web site is preserved for legacy purposes only.
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IBM, Constellation NewEnergy, CPower, EnerNOC, Grid Net, HP, NeuStar, TIBCO, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Others Collaborate to Address Sustainability Challenges

The OASIS open standards consortium today announced the formation of a new Member Section, OASIS Blue, which will bring together a variety of open standards projects related to energy, intelligent buildings, and natural resources. OASIS Blue will leverage the innovation of existing electronic commerce standards and the power of the Internet to achieve meaningful sustainability. An international effort, OASIS Blue incorporates work that has identified as a central deliverable for the U.S. government's strategic Smart Grid initiative.

"We have a global imperative to develop new models for the mindful use of energy and other natural resources--models that support efficient, effective economic growth and enable rapid innovation," said David Chassin of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, chair of the OASIS Blue Steering Committee. "OASIS Blue provides a safe, neutral environment where stakeholders can cooperate to define clear taxonomies and information-sharing protocols that will be recognized by the international standards community."

Several Technical Committees will coordinate efforts under OASIS Blue. The Energy Interoperation Technical Committee defines standards for the collaborative and transactive use of energy within demand response and distributed energy resources. The Energy Market Information Exchange (eMIX) Technical Committee works on exchanging pricing information and product definitions in energy markets . The Open Building Information Exchange (oBIX) Committee enables mechanical and electrical control systems in buildings to communicate with enterprise applications. OASIS Blue welcomes suggestions for forming new Committees related to its mission.

In addition to David Chassin, the OASIS Blue Steering Committee includes Steven Bushby of NIST, Bob Dolin of Echelon, Rik Drummond of the Drummond Group, Girish Ghatikar of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Francois Jammes of Schneider Electric, Arnaud Martens of Belgian SPF Finances, Dana K. "Deke" Smith of buildingSMART alliance, and Jane L. Snowdon, Ph.D., of IBM.

"The name 'OASIS Blue' reflects the thinking of Adam Werbach, former head of the Sierra Club, who maintains that real strides in sustainability will only be realized when we view our efforts in terms of business opportunities, not sacrifices," explained Laurent Liscia, OASIS executive director. "OASIS Blue extends the sustainability goals of the 'Green' movement to incorporate economic principles such as the value of greater efficiency, reduced infrastructure cost, more effective use of resources, and the benefits of economic growth."

Support for OASIS Blue:

CPower
"OASIS Blue represents an outstanding opportunity for our industries to provide facility operators with access to standardized, flexible and ubiquitous means of managing energy use, via vehicles that offer real business value to both the facility and the grid," said Dirk Mahling, Chief Technology Officer, CPower, Inc. "CPower is excited at the opportunity to participate in this ongoing effort."

EnerNOC
"The adoption of standards is essential to accelerating the emergence of new technologies that can deliver real value to energy users, and EnerNOC is proud to be a part of an organization that is leading the charge," said Terry Sick, Vice President of Engineering, EnerNOC.

Grid Net
"The real-time smart grid requires a secure, standards-based, Internet interface between the transmission & distribution networks and the building and retail energy markets. The OASIS oBIX and eMIX initiatives are critical components in defining a secure open energy market that interfaces to the real-time smart grid, which includes electric distribution grid devices, smart meters, smart appliances, electric vehicles, solar PV panels, and energy storage devices," said Ray Bell, Grid Net founder and chief executive officer. "As long-term participants in smart grid standards development efforts, we have ardent supporters and technical contributors to the smart grid
framework being released by the US Dept of Commerce's NIST Agency. We are excited about the formation of OASIS Blue and support its efforts to deliver improved energy resource management and a greener planet."

TIBCO
"A great deal of the knowledge we have about high-performance enterprise applications and transaction systems is directly applicable to the challenges we face in increasing industry adoption of smart energy grids," said David Burke, Director, Product Management, at TIBCO Software Inc. "That's why we look forward to working with the OASIS Blue Member Section and its various technical committees to advance open standards that will ensure smart grids are truly effective in advancing sustainability and economic opportunity."

About OASIS

OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of open standards for the global information society. OASIS promotes industry consensus and produces worldwide standards for energy, security, Web services, SOA, business transactions, content technologies, and other applications. OASIS open standards offer the potential to lower cost, stimulate innovation, grow global markets, and protect the right of free choice of technology. OASIS members broadly represent the marketplace of public and private sector technology leaders, users and influencers. The consortium has more than 5,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries. 

Press contact:

Carol Geyer

OASIS Senior Director of Communications and Development

+1.978.667.5115 x209