Plugfest 2011 Announced – July 22-24 in Westlake Texas

The next PLASA Control Protocols Plugfest will take place July 22—24 at the DFW Marriott Solana in Westlake, Texas. The event brings colleagues and competitors together to further the industry by testing the limits of control protocols and working out the bugs they encounter. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Plugfest began in January 2009 as part of the ESTA (now PLASA) Technical Standards Program by members of various Control Protocols Task Groups represent a variety of manufacturers. Twice a year, when they are all in the same place at the same time, they bring controllers, lights, analyzers, and various other tools and devices, and connect them all through a network to look for and resolve problems. People attend from all around the world in an effort to improve their products.

Plugfest was originally created to support the Remote Device Management protocol (ANSI E1.20 RDM) but now it has expanded to cover all CPWG protocols, including the popular ANSI E1.31 Streaming DMX over ACN protocol. As the scope has grown, so has attendance, and consequently, the space. It began in a small suite but this year Plugfest moved into a large suite with room to grow. Coffee, bagels, and scones serve to fuel the event.

Although the schedule runs until 10pm, the group can often be found working into the early morning hours. Most of the members of the E1.20 and E1.31 task groups, who wrote the standards, are there and they are happy to provide their expertise. They will answer your questions and tell you about protocols. Take advantage of their knowledge and experience. Drop in and experience Plugfest.

For more information or if you are interested in participating, contact Scott Blair at s.blair@ieee.org or sblair@rdmprotocol.org to register.

ESTA Host 2nd Annual Control Protocol PlugFest January 2011

It’s times like these that I wish I lived in the lone star state! ESTA’s Technical Standards Program is holding their second annual Control Protocol PlugFest in Westlake Texas on January 21st and 22nd.

The PlugFest just happens to be at the same exact time and place as the Technical Standard Program meetings! What a coincidence right! Both the TSP meetings and the PlugFest will be happening at the Marriott Solana in Westlake Texas.

PLugFest goes from 4pm to 10pm on Friday, January 21st, 9am to 11pm on Saturday, January 22.  There is also a date listed as July 25th from 9am to 10pm.  The July 25th date must be a completely separate meeting of the TSP and another PlugFest.

The Control Protocols Plug Fest will be an informal event, with the only people around to see the equipment work or fail being engineers and technicians, not customers. The event will provide an opportunity for manufacturers’ engineers to see if their products will work with the products of numerous manufacturers, find out on the spot what is wrong, fix it, and try again. With all the members of the RDM and E1.31 task groups that wrote the standards on-hand, it also provides an excellent resource to get implementation questions answered and to learn from everyone’s shared experience..

For more information and to register, contact Scott Blair. Registration is important so that the logistics of the equipment delivery, setup, and removal can be organized. There is no charge for participation and the event is open to everyone. Hotel sleeping rooms can be reserved through ESTA.