Gridlogix, creator of XML Web Services-based integration solutions for remote control and automation systems, announced  the completion of the enterprise-wide integrated network for the eBay Denver data center, one of several regional mission-critical operations.

Using Gridlogix’s EnNET integration framework, Denver-based systems integrator Setpoint Systems successfully integrated eBay’s disparate control systems into a single SOAP/XML Web Services interface. EnNET is an off-the-shelf software-based system that analyzes existing device networks and quickly establishes real-time, two-way communications using the native protocols of the automation network.

“The history of integration shows us that people expect a difficult journey to enterprise-wide integration with reverse engineering and complex customization, but Gridlogix’s EnNET software completely eliminated this painstaking step,” Aaron Nahale, Setpoint Systems president and CEO, said. “As a result, eBay facility managers can track, monitor, and control the whole enterprise and have immediate knowledge of any problems with the system.”

The eBay project was divided into two levels of integration. The first occurred at the local level where seven disparate facility automation systems including HVAC, power monitoring and lighting were integrated with the native BACnet system through Gridlogix’s independent Web-based front-end solution.

The second level of integration involved implementing mission critical alarms through a Web Services application, which in turn, were translated to the enterprise’s IT network utilizing Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), the protocol used by the IT industry to monitor and manage the network infrastructure. The Denver eBay data center has more than 35,000 real time alarm points, 4,000 of which are deemed mission critical.

Because the backbone of eBay operations is the computer network, regional data centers are established to protect its massive Web hosting and server infrastructure from severe weather, electrical outages or other unexpected occurrences that could bring a data center off line.