Have you heard of the term “Intelligent Buildings”? Sounds a little sci-fi but its true, its here, and its a concept that actually works. Intelligent buildings are essentially large work spaces that are hardwired into a set of environment regulating sensors that help to automatically control light, lighting color (to help you wake up, energize, calm), temperature, security, audio, video and much more. Intelligent space environments are aware of human occupancy and can reduce your electric usage by turning down (or off) certain systems when nobody is present (climate controls, lights, etc…). Another big benefit of Intelligent Buildings is their ability to be a very impressive sales piece for any potential client or future colleague who enters a space full of automation.
There is a tricky part to making all of this work. Almost all devices require their own form of a digital address AND must be properly wired to work in harmony. Your building must be properly wired to handle the volume of data signal going back and forth between sensors and the software that controls them. Intelligent buildings work best when their cabling backbone has been properly designed and implemented. A combination of power cables, copper cables, coaxial cables, fiber optic cables, ethernet cables and other cabling sets must all work without any interference. Unfortunately this is where some intelligent buildings get into trouble. We have seen office complexes where signal interference was an issue that was crippling different cable networks so be sure to ask questions and test things as early as possible.
If your office environment is transitioning to an “intelligent office” make sure all of the cabling is designed and installed by someone who understands multiple application cable installation. If you already have an intelligent building eco-system but are having problems with poor performance, we can help. Please feel free to contact us if you’d like to discuss this technology in further detail.