Author: Howard Berger, Managing Partner, Realcomm. Ask 100 different people for their definition of a smart, connected, energy efficient, high-performance, sustainable, intelligent building and you will get 100 different answers. People look at buildings from various perspectives, often with different agendas and issues. Energy management, security, maintenance, occupant experience (WIFI and DAS), parking, water…the list goes on and on.
If you attempt to optimize each of these business processes independently, you may in fact improve the efficiency within the unique process, but in the end you will have 8-10 very well organized, disconnected systems— and therein lies the challenge. Will they all require their own network? How will security be addressed? What would happen if you tried to get these systems to communicate? Without careful planning that starts with comprehensive, strategic network design, you could very quickly find yourself in a corner.
Quietly, one engineer from Transwestern, and his team, decided to take the idea of a smart building to the next level. One network, converged disparate systems, integrated, interoperable and able to grow as the team discovered new opportunities…including adding a revenue stream by providing tenant services.
Transwestern manages Pennzoil Place, a 1.4 million square foot, twin 36-story, glass-walled towers in Houston, Texas. Built in 1975, it’s… Full Advisory
