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Intelligent Buildings

A MODERN APPROACH TO CONNECT,

CONTROL, AND PROTECT

HYPER-CONNECTED BUILDINGS

REMARKABLY SIMPLE, HIGHLY RESILIENT, AND RADICALLY SECURE NETWORKS FOR
SMART BUILDINGS

JEFFREY HUSSEY
CEO
Tempered Networks

COMMERCIAL AND CORPORATE REAL ESTATE practi- dencies that create long deployment times and are fragile
tioners are bullish on applying the latest technologies for to maintain.
building automation systems (BAS) with an eye on slash-
ing energy costs, increasing operational efficiency, and It’s time to remove the complexity, cost, and inflexibility
improving building maintenance and operations. The ROI caused by traditional networking and security methods,
for BAS technology is substantial, tangible, and we’re just which are really stone-age tools in today’s world. Current IT
hitting the tip of the iceberg. That makes investing in BAS networking practices actually undermine successful BAS
technologies a no-brainer, right? With such high expecta- deployments. During one of our recent webinars, a sys-
tions across the board, why are we still witnessing delays tems integrator chimed in with the question below, which
in adoption? unfortunately is quite common due to the networking
hurdles they continually face.
After decades of working with technology—creating new
companies and carving new markets—I’ve seen a broad “My customer has various building control system
spectrum of trends and hype that come and go. Today, devices they want us to monitor remotely. Due to
whether you call it smart buildings, intelligent buildings IT restrictions, the customer got his own dirty IP
or Internet of buildings, we’re in a transformative and addresses (a common, albeit unsecure, solution). But
exciting time for this market. It’s certainly real—not hype. now he’s lost his admin credentials for the network
But it’s still early in the process, because while there’s an router and can’t add new devices or otherwise manage
incredible amount of BAS innovation happening, custom- his BMS network. Can you help?” BAS Technician
ers cannot easily leverage all these technologies and tap
their full potential until we address a critical element in The root cause of the connectivity conundrum
our journey to hyper-connected buildings. Namely, how The root cause of convoluted networking stems from the
can we efficiently and reliably network all these distrib- use of TCP/IP, which was developed about 35 years ago
uted building control systems, sensors, unconventional and is quite long in the tooth. The principle behind TCP/
devices, and legacy systems? And, once we do, how is it IP is to be able to easily and reliably connect everything.
sustainable and secure? It’s better in concept than in actual application. When
you can connect everything, you are inviting trouble.
Traditional approaches to networking and security such Hackers, cyber-criminals and government sponsored
as VPNs, VLANS, firewalls, ACLs, etc., are not well-suited electronic espionage have proliferated as the Internet
for the growth and scale of smart building technology. has grown and as almost every system on earth has
For most facility managers and practitioners, it’s foreign become connected.
and too complicated, creating impassable deployment
barriers. The value of smart building data is frequently The fundamental flaw within TCP/IP is that it combines
hampered by customers’ complex legacy networks and location and identity in a single address, using what we
security infrastructure. We see too many network depen- refer as an ‘address defined’ networking model. This cre-

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