Smart Buildings are Key to Successful Sustainability Initiatives – Cisco Blogs

While the compatibility of economic growth and sustainable development is debated at all levels of politics, business leaders are realizing that sustainability has become key to company success.

For example, new construction and retrofit initiatives utilizing smart building technologies are making buildings more efficient, safer, and healthier for employees–all while lowering costs. It’s not surprising that according to one survey, 79 percent of business respondents cited building energy efficiency as a top sustainability priority.[1]

In addition to the benefit of cost reduction, organizations with strong sustainability track records can experience increased top-line revenue, as customers give buying preference to sustainability minded companies. Similarly, companies that make sustainability a priority can experience a boost in employee motivation and productivity. They can also attract better talent, as employees feel a stronger alignment between their own values and those of their employers.

To help companies extract the most value from their building sustainability initiatives, Cisco and Honeywell have partnered to bring to market an integrated platform for building automation.

This platform brings sensor, network, compute, and software components together to automate building operations, helping forward-thinking organizations reach their environmental and operational goals. The platform is ideal for companies that care about:

• Measurable improvements in performance on sustainability metrics
• Cost savings on new construction, retrofits, and ongoing operations and maintenance
• Employee and customer health and wellness
• Corporate social responsibility, particularly environmental stewardship

Commitment to sustainability

Sustainable development has been defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”[2] With this in mind, both Cisco and Honeywell–from executive levels through all the levels of each organization–are deeply committed to driving an inclusive future that takes everyone into account, including future generations.

This commitment to sustainability has helped fuel the creation of an integrated platform for building automation, which connects the systems and services in a building–such as lighting, HVAC, elevators, alarms, access, and IT networking systems–to create a converged, building-wide network infrastructure.

This platform brings together several industry leading technologies from both companies, including:

• Design for connectivity: Built using Cisco wired and wireless networking components, this secure, integrated network provides seamless communications between building systems and applications, extending to edge devices and sensors for end-to-end management.
• Honeywell Building Management System (BMS): The Honeywell BMS uses data from connected devices to monitor mechanical systems, air quality, security, and more. It typically reduces building energy consumption by 10 to 15 percent and can run as an application on the latest Cisco products.
• Smart lighting (Cisco, Honeywell, with lighting partners): Connected low-voltage lighting can help optimize energy consumption, adapt the lighting based on occupancy, and provide navigation guidance to available workspaces. UV-C disinfection lighting can break down harmful viruses and bacteria on surfaces, rendering them harmless.
• Software and automation: Tools such as Honeywell Forge and Cisco DNA Spaces use data from connected building systems to support management decision making and automate processes, ultimately driving operations to achieve targeted business outcomes.
• Collaboration: Intelligent collaboration systems such as Webex Room Kits bring your meeting rooms to life. These applications help your work teams to better connect; communicate on social distancing, occupancy levels, and air quality; and provide a virtual front desk/reception service.

Results that speak for themselves

Across industries and varied building types, the integrated platform for building automation is helping companies modernize the workforce experience, creating environments that are more attractive to tenants, while also enjoying sustainable operating efficiencies. In doing so, the platform delivers benefits such as:

• Lower the total cost of ownership by up to 25 percent with easier installations and automatednetwork setup capabilities
• Optimize energy costs with a converged infrastructure and featuressuch as occupancy-based controls
• Improve operational efficiency with predictive maintenance and space planning and usage data
• Lower risk with built-in cybersecurity for OT, integrated with theIT network
• Enhance user safety and comfort with secure and flexibleworkspaces with distancing based on occupancy, and with improvedmessaging from the Cisco collaboration endpoint

Learn how Cisco and Honeywell can help with your sustainability initiatives.

Visit Cisco and Honeywell together at LEAP 2022

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