Innovative network engineering can do a lot for a company, boosting collaboration and productivity (while cutting costs – a win-win situation for any firm). But a functional, secure network also opens up other exciting possibilities: a prime example is the Internet of Things. The IoT is already helping infrastructure-dependent, admin-heavy businesses into leaner operations that can do more for their customers (A McKinsey report suggests the IoT will unlock economic value of $3.9 trillion to $11.1 trillion per year by 2025). Coming off a 9-month IT project with one large customer, we’ve seen first hand what’s now possible with the IoT, because we built it.
Building the company of the future with the IoT
The client was a major developer and property manager and a well-known name for anyone connected to the real estate or building sectors in western Canada. When it comes to IT networks and technology, this sector tends to be pretty conservative, essentially the opposite of early adopters. But that’s the reason why they are a leader in this area: they do tend to move quicker when it comes to optimizing their business with better technology.
The company came to us with a mission in mind: implement a network and IoT solution to streamline the maintenance operations for the many buildings that it manages.
Keep in mind that managing even a single large building can be hugely complex and expensive. You’re dealing with sophisticated HVAC systems, boilers, heat, air, security cameras, telephone-based buzzer systems, fob systems and much more. As a building manager, you have to have maintenance routines (and emergency fixes, when the inevitable breakdown happens) for all of them.
The client works with many specialists and trades vendors to make sure that each of its buildings is taken care of. Managing those relationships and ensuring everything is covered across multiple buildings in different cities is extremely complicated and can even open up security gaps. They needed a centralized , easy-to-use, system with a single point of entry where the company and all of its contractors could log in and be proactive about maintenance, using the new sensor capabilities from the Internet of Things.
Network engineering and the IoT as the building blocks of a new kind of business
The company’s IT director looked over our design proposal and liked what they saw. Since this was their first major foray into developing a wide area network, they were concerned costs would be extremely high (Certainly, that was a realistic concern). But we’ve built cost-effective networks before and were able to put some of that experience to work in our design, showing them that a VPN network could give them what they needed without compromising security.
The company gave us the green light. We knew it was going to be a big job from the moment the company contacted us, but that’s what we love to do. Over the next nine months, we put together all of the pieces.
First we had to connect the hardware, ripping out consumer grade hardware and standardizing Internet access and security routers/firewalls at each site. We incorporated the automation they needed by implementing dual Internet connectivity to to ensure a robust 24/7 connection. In the end, this would allow for full access to and from close to 40 different building sites. Connecting the back-end at the head office, we created a VPN private network that was also highly automated and fault-tolerant.
The second phase will be ensuring IoT systems are properly segregated according to a pre-designed security model.l This will cover a wide range of building systems, many of which were hugely complex. Security for the system is a priority right out of the gate and that will be our phase three implementation: by the end of the project, we will able to offer the client highly secure remote access from anywhere.
With this system, the various maintenance professionals will be able to access systems to service tenants whenever and wherever they happen to be. They may also be notified when a sensor picks up on a troubling sign; they can then easily log in to change settings on wired-up systems or potentially come for an onsite visit, seamlessly and quickly dealing with little problems before they become big problems.
Looking back on the company’s motivation for moving ahead with this project, we can see their motivation: they want to retain that top-tier leadership position. This is going to make their core business so much easier to manage.
Focusing just on the building management sector, it’s obvious that buildings that are wired up with sensors will be much more proactively managed. Many of us have wondered about that odd pinging noise, acrid smell in the basement parking lot, loud fan noises, puddles on the roof or other signs that get ignored for months or years at a time – and then the pricey special assessment comes after a technician finds the long-neglected source of the problem. This is just one sector where a superior network and IoT integration can put a company light years ahead of the competition.
The lesson here for companies that are playing catch-up in other sectors that are a bit conservative when it comes to technology: successful competition is no longer measured in inches. How do you compete when the leader is 50 percent, 200 percent or even 500 percent better at their offering than you are? Some companies will have to be much quicker at adopting technology, just to stay in business. Lucky for them, these solutions can be a lot faster and cheaper to bring online than ever.
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