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Intelligent BUILDINGS

Industry (Still) in Transition

Tom Shircliff Rob Murchison
Intelligent Buildings, Inc. Intelligent Buildings, Inc.

In the November 2009 issue of the Nevertheless, the culture is in
RealcommEDGE, we wrote about fact beginning to change in real
Cisco’s bombshell acquisition estate as we cross the chasm into
of the small middleware company high tech, data-driven facilities. The
Richards Zeta and their flagship ‘high tech’ aspect happened years
product, The Mediator. It was the ago when the aforementioned
beginning of a seismic shift in the building systems such as HVAC,
industry, whereby new technology, lighting, metering, elevators, security
new channels, new relationships and and others began manufacturing
a new class of building management their systems to be dependent
would emerge. on IT networking such as servers,
switches, fiber, protocols, etc.
This type of acquisition had The ‘data-driven’ aspect is now in
previously been considered only as full swing as big data, cloud and
the subject of backroom conjecture, analytics have descended upon
driven by continued IT infusion into our industry. In just a few short
building controls systems and the years, analytics has become the
surprising lack of IT interest from the dominant topic at IBcon, and case
architects, engineers and property studies abound with low cost, high
managers that designed and value software available en masse.
managed those systems. Indeed, information technology (IT)
is continuing to assert more control
Fast forward a few years, and Cisco in building operations—where the
has moved on from the Mediator building automation system (BAS)
and is no longer in the BAS sector used to be the prevalent control. The illustration of the battling gorillas in
selling that kind of product. However, that 2009 article applies now more than ever.
it should be noted that Cisco’s vision was accurate, and their bold move
a clear indication that industry transformation was in full gear. They have Analytics Continues the Transition
since settled into a role consistent with their CEO’s public statements: Big data, cloud and analytics are standard fare in most major industries
that they will stay closer to their core expertise of switching and routing such as healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and even farming,
as well as continuing to espouse and support the Internet of Everything where the Wall Street Journal recently reported “…algorithms and
(IoE). They have maintained a rightful presence in the industry because of
their leadership in the necessary networking of buildings and portfolios. human experts crunch all
The networking and middleware are part of a larger, continuing the data and can zap advice
transition that is reshaping the industry. directly to farmers and their
machines.”(WSJ-February
The Culture Influence 25, 2014)
Cisco and many others have found that one of the key challenges for
any traditional IT company entering into the real estate space is culture. However, the real estate
There are decades of processes and norms that are among the most industry often lags a decade
entrenched of any industry. It is difficult for an IT integrator or channel behind in adopting current
partner to step into either a real estate boardroom or a facility boiler IT practices for buildings.
room and readily understand the issues and sensitivities of this industry. Better late than never, because building analytics are in full operation
It takes IT awareness, business savvy, and time in the trenches to navigate and have made a transitional impact throughout millions of square feet;
and establish legitimate change in real estate and facilities. analytics has been the subject of numerous groundbreaking case studies

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