Originally posted by: Amy Atwood, Marketing Manager at Global Capacity
Today, consumers demand everything from TVs, to phones, to automobiles to be “smart”, or have the ability to connect to other devices or networks. The very structures we reside and work within are no exception. Added pressures from tenants and prospects are driving owners, developers and architects to integrate smart technology within their buildings in order to differentiate their properties and increase Return on Investment (ROI). According to IDC Energy Insights, companies worldwide spent $5.5B on intelligent buildings in 2012, and the figure is expected to rise to $18.1B by 2017 – a 27.1% compound annual growth rate. So, what exactly is a smart building and why is having the right building connectivity solution so important?
Smart buildings, also referred to as intelligent buildings or connected buildings, are properties whose core systems such as lighting, energy management, HVAC, and security are centrally linked and managed over one network. A smart building can be a residential or commercial property such as an office complex, mall, or other mixed-use development. Often, these buildings utilize Building Automation Systems(BAS) that enable a variety of subsystems to connect and pass data freely back and forth through Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication and other network-enabled equipment and devices. As a result, occupants have a more productive, secure, comfortable and energy-efficient environment, while the building’s facility management team has more visibility and control over system operations.
The proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) – which Cisco estimates will reach 50 billion connected devices by 2020 – promises even more opportunities for Smart Buildings, delivering not only an improved tenant experience, but also providing property owners with significant cost savings through operational efficiencies, predictive maintenance, remote monitoring and control, and energy optimization. However, none of this integration, automation and optimization is possible without a network capable of handling large amounts of data and bandwidth across a multitude of connection points, whether at the data center, inside the central office, building itself, or in the cloud. According to Memoori Research, the overall market for systems in buildings will grow from $110.9B in 2014 to $181.1B in 2020. Effective network deployment to keep up with the rising bandwidth demands of the Building Internet of Things (BIoT) will be crucial to the effective delivery of services and the management of data flows.
View this post in its entirety by visiting the Global Capacity blog at http://blog.globalcapacity.com/blog/smarter-connections-for-the-smart-building.