December 4th, 2008 – San Jose, CA – LONMARK International, a non-profit, member-driven standards development and industry trade association supporting the LONWORKS control-networking technologies announces today that the voting members of the Joint Technical Committee (JTC 1) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have formally approved LONWORKS control networking technology as ISO/IEC 14908, Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.

First introduced in 1990, the LONWORKS control networking technology has been a worldwide embraced technology for control communications and has held European, American, and Chinese national standards designations for several years. Now ISO/IEC have approved the standard to the highest level of international standards recognition.This ratification will enhance the adoption and usage of this technology within the worldwide controls market and specifically in the buildings vertical. While LONWORKS is also used in many other markets, such as outdoor lighting, transportation, utility, process control, and home automation, the majority of the over 100 million installed devices have been installed in or around buildings projects.

“ This formal, international recognition by ISO/IEC further validates the breadth and pervasiveness of LONWORKS technologies,” says Jeremy J. Roberts, Technical Director of LONMARK International. “Already American, European, and Chinese standards, it was the natural progression for LONWORKS to be adopted by our larger, global community; paving the way for other nations to more easily specify LONWORKS control systems without having to duplicate the standardization efforts within their own countries.”

The four parts of the standard set comprise the core protocol; the twisted-pair, free-topology-wiring transfer medium; the powerline transfer medium, and the use of the Internet Protocol (IP) as a tunneling transfer medium, respectively. “ This is very exciting news for the controls market,” states Ron Bernstein, Executive Director of LONMARK International. “This announcement re-affirms the validity and strength of LONWORKS worldwide and will pave the way for even greater adoption. LONWORKS networking technology is used in nearly every aspect of building automation, monitoring, and control, aside from the many other uses of LONWORKS technology in transportation, home automation, and various industrial applications. We are pleased to have been able to spearhead this standardization effort for our members and the market, and are looking forward to the opportunities it creates for all end users seeking true, open, interoperable control networks.”

LONMARK International plans to host an educational seminar and press conference on ISO/IEC standardization at the upcoming AHR Expo in Chicago on January 27, 2009. Interested parties can find more information about these events and the standards on the LONMARK website at www.lonmark.org. Additional white papers discussing the ISO/IEC standard and LONWORKS will also be available on the LONMARK website.

About LONMARK International
Since its inception in 1994 and new corporate structure in 2003, LONMARK International has become a major driving force in the establishment of interoperable guidelines for building, industrial, transportation, residential, and utility automation.
LONMARK membership is open to any manufacturer, distributor, engineer, system integrator, or end-user committed to the development, specification, and use of open, interoperable products utilizing ISO/IEC 14908-1 and related standards.
LONMARK International is a non-profit, mutual-benefit standards development and trade association with close to 600 members worldwide, and local affiliates in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. LONMARK’s mission is to create, support, and promote the standards for open, interoperable products, and systems based on LONWORKS technologies and to cultivate a knowledgeable workforce of professional installers, specifiers, and vendors. For more information about LonMark International, testing, and educational opportunities please visit www.lonmark.org.
Products, which have been verified to conform to the LONMARK interoperability guidelines, are eligible to carry the LonMark logo.
LONMARK and the LONMARK Logo are registered trademarks in the US and other jurisdictions. Other marks belong to their respective holders.