What is KNX?

Founded in the late eighties by a number of major European manufacturers such as Siemens, ABB, Gira, Jung, Merten, the KNX Association (then the EIBA) now guides and defines the strategy of KNX for the future. Historically known as Instabus or EIB, KNX quickly became well-established in Europe. Being totally scalable, it is suited to installations from flats to airports, and at the last count, is estimated to be installed as a base level building control system in more than 40% of all new-build commercial space in Germany.

After Germany, the largest markets are Holland, Spain, Belgium and Scandinavia. UK has lagged behind, but is catching up fast with the largest commercial projects, such as Heathrow Terminal-5, and many residential developments incorporating some or all of the functionality.

With around 140 companies already manufacturing KNX equipment, three of which are based in the UK, the future of KNX as a dominant technology is assured.

KNX is approved as:

• International Standard (ISO/IEC14543-3)
• European Standard (CENELEC EN50090 and CEN EN 13321-1 and 13321-2)
• Chinese Standard (GB/Z 20965)
• ANSI/ASHRAE Standard (ANSI/ASHRAE 135)