An anniversary missed

It had to have been all the other things going on, including a couple of short BACnet videos to be taped this afternoon that I completely forgot an anniversary yesterday.

It was 10:30 AM Thursday, August 17th 1995, when Alerton company owner Tony Fassbind called a company meeting in the lunchroom. I went of course, like everyone else.

In this meeting he talked of opportunities, and how Alerton came into existence when its founders took the idea of a microprocessor-based building automation system (BAS) to their employer and were rejected. He said that this industry, unlike most, had a second wave about to roll through it and that wave was "BACnet" -- a *standard* (by ASHRAE) communications protocol for building automation. And that there was an opportunity for Alerton to take the lead in the market by offering BACnet products top to bottom, from the operator workstation to the lowliest controller.

Then he held up a copy of the BACnet standard, said "This is our Bible," and to my surprise he put it in my hands and said, "You are now our expert -- learn it!"

I did; and 14 years (plus one day) and two acquisitions later, I am still here.

Somehow I missed the anniversary... but unlike a forgotten wedding anniversary, I skate on this one.