Comfort Supply teamed up with KB Watson Enterprises to
provide contractors with a suite of cloud-based calculators. The platform of
cloud-based Web apps - including residential load calculation, residential
equipment selection, residential duct design and more - runs on any device with
a Web browser.
NASHVILLE
- Comfort Supply, a Nashville-based wholesaler of Ruud HVAC products, has
teamed up with KB Watson Enterprises to provide contractors with a suite of
cloud-based calculators designed to simplify the most common tasks performed by
HVAC comfort advisors, system designers, installers, and service technicians. A
beta version of the platform, designed by Kenny Watson of KB Watson Enterprises
and distributed by Comfort Supply, was released to the market
recently.
"We're excited to share the HVAC Web Apps
platform with our contractors. We look forward to receiving feedback about how
this new technology helps them," Comfort Supply purchasing manager Ogden
Rattliff said. "As a company, we continually look for ways to create value
for our customers. As the sole distribution channel for HVAC Web Apps, we've
been able to do just that."
"Comfort Supply is already a recognized
leader in the industry because of their employees' innovative use of
technology, specifically using iPad tablets loaded with HVAC apps, which is why
we targeted them," Watson said. "It's a forward-thinking company
that's unafraid of finding new ways to evolve."
The
platform of cloud-based Web apps - including residential load calculation,
residential equipment selection, residential duct design and more - runs on any
device with a Web browser. Given the wide proliferation of mobile devices and
their increasingly common use by workers in the field, Watson designed a
platform that is accessible by any technician, anywhere, regardless of the
device being used.
"There weren't any truly universal HVAC
apps in the market, so I decided to create some," said Watson. "I
quickly learned that a lot of designers put tremendous resources into having a
different app for every platform, which seemed expensive and inefficient. I
wanted to fashion a platform of apps across devices, making it cheaper and
easier for the contractor. HVAC Web Apps are cloud-based, which means they
place virtually no demand on the user's end. The network of computers in the
cloud does all the heavy lifting."
Noting
the trend of fewer and fewer technicians carrying large, cumbersome laptops to
worksites to perform calculations, Watson realized the rich potential and value
the technology would provide the industry. Devices such as iPhones, Android
smartphones, and tablets, he said, are just more tools on the HVAC technician's
belt.
"The
best thing about the platform is that it combines a bunch of tools in one
location," Comfort Supply salesman Wayne Dube said. "You don't have
to have a refrigerant chart or a pipe size chart, for example, when you're at a
worksite. Calculations that used to take contractors up to an hour to compute
now take about a minute."
"It's a great training tool for the industry
and the next step for bringing our industry into the IT age," Dube
said.
A beta
test site for HVAC Web Apps is live at
www.hvacwebapps.com.
The platform of cloud-based Web apps - including
residential load calculation, residential equipment selection, residential duct
design and more - runs on any device with a Web browser.
Publication:Feb. 6, 2012