The History of Sedona

The chief architect for Sedona was Brian Frank when he worked for Tridium, Inc. The fact that Sedona has much the same look of Niagara Framework is no accident. Brian Frank was chief architect for Niagara Framework as well. The intent of the Sedona development was in some ways to make a Mini-Niagara for resource-limited devices. It was also envisioned that a Sedona device would be able to operate with less than 100kB of memory space. Another attribute was that it could communicate over a 6LoWPAN wireless network using a Jennic chip and to be so small that the chip would fit onto a tie clasp.

The original vision was to create a solution that would enable rapid development of small, low-cost embedded devices many of which would end up being connected into Niagara systems and engineered with Niagara tools. To make it easy for manufacturers to adopt Sedona and create that potential ecosystem of devices it was open sourced and made available at no cost.

The "single tool solution" was attractive. With Sedona installed on Niagara Workbench, you could program both Niagara and Sedona controllers with just Workbench, and several Tridium OEMs/developers based their product designs on this single tool solution. Tridium started a Sedona certification program and accepted products for certification testing. Although certification was not required, it was an opportunity for companies to prove compliance and for Tridium to receive some income from testing. Certified products allowed the developer to label their product "Powered by Sedona Framework™." That certification program no longer exists but Tridium retains the rights to this trademark and logo and to Sedona Framework™ and their rights should be respected. The Sedona Alliance is not affiliated in any way with Tridium, Inc. and recognizes Tridium's ownership of these trademarks.

Sedona should be considered one of the earliest implementations of today's Internet of Things (IoT). Honeywell acquired Tridium in 2005 and Brian Frank left Tridium in 2008. Eventually, Tridium's development focus moved to other areas, notably Niagara 4, under new management.

However, there are thousands of Sedona products in the field from Tridium partners and other independent developers. These manufacturers, as well as many systems integrators, perceive that the advantages provided by Sedona are unmatched by any other available technology available at the present time. It is fast, provides deterministic execution, it is easy to use, it supports modern IP networks, and it works!

The alliance was set up by companies that see Sedona as a valuable asset, and are committed to developing it further as an open source, royalty-free technology open for all to use - as envisioned originally by Brian Frank.

 

 

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