The trend toward fragmentation is at odds with the needs of system integrators and manufacturers in control, instrumentation, building management, and energy management fields. Over the past two decades, these fields have been characterized by industrywide collaboration in the creation of open standards that have exposed suppliers to more direct competition, while at the same time expanding their market reach. The result has created significant benefits to the industry as a whole. The convenience, added value, and efficiency of this approach is under threat from the new silos.