What would it be worth to you if building systems could respond to the enterprise?
What if your building could respond to you and your tenants? What if your building was responsive to normal business processes, so that a simple invitation to reserve a room on Saturday set the operating rules for the air conditioning and security systems? What if your tenants did not have to hunt down facilities staff? What would that be worth to you?
What if you could tell how well your building was operating, without expensive on-site expertise? What if you could eliminate unnecessary maintenance? What if your building could tell you when it needed a filter change, so you replaced only on request? What if building system problems were fixed before your tenants knew about them. What would that be worth to you?
What if you could share operating information with off-site experts who would tell you what to fix before it breaks? What if you could find air conditioning problems in the spring instead of on a hot summer’s day? What if these systems could track live energy pricing , so every repair recommendation included the additional cost of not making the repair. What if you could schedule repairs to never inconvenience your tenants. What would that be worth to you?
What if you could tell your building when the repair contractor was coming? What if your access control system could let him in, using his company badge? What if your building logged the time he arrived and left, and f that log were linked to the original service order? What would that save you, in time, in billings, and in staff?
What if your building could negotiate with the power company, buying electricity when it was cheapest, and storing it later use? What if you could disconnect from the grid when prices were high? What if you could offer your tenants power that would not damage their computers, not damage their equipment. What if you could sell energy options back to the power company, and get new revenue from your building? What would that be worth to you?
For the last five years, representatives from major buildings controls companies have worked on an enterprise -ready interface for embedded building control systems. Building control systems include all the intelligent engineered systems in a building, whether HVAC, Access Control, or Medical Gas Distribution. These systems are traditionally invisible and uncontrollable, using protocols little known in the IT world.
Four years ago, oBIX (open Building Information Xml) became a committee of OASIS, (www.oasis-open.org), the premier open standards organization for the enterprise. oBIX 1.0 provides low level access to essential control system functions. oBIX 1.0 offers normalized access to system watches, points, events, and histories. Building systems are no longer invisible and uncontrollable.