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Feature Article*
Building Automation and Integration
Facilities Are Poised To Become
New Sources of Business Information
contributed by Gridlogix
Each day many systems in buildings malfunction. Some building systems
function okay, but aren’t running as efficiently as they could. Still
other systems are working as designed but aren’t helping to improve the
tenant experience. Property managers understand that broken equipment
and inefficient building systems waste money - lots of money. Even
worse, managers understand these systems have a negative impact on
tenants. The facility itself represents one of the most important
business systems in the enterprise, and yet property managers don’t have
timely information from that system available at their fingertips.
Today,
there are many different automation systems installed inside every
facility. One of the challenges for buildings owners, property
managers, and real estate IT departments is that there has never been
cost effective, standards-based integration connecting the facility
sub-systems to each other and to the company’s business applications.
Another significant problem and maybe an even greater challenge is
translating the technical language of mechanical and electrical systems
into a common language that exposes the facility’s real-time operational
world to the analytical world -- the world of improving the tenant
experience and improving the company’s financial bottom-line. Ideally,
properties need a system that will transform the facility itself into a
data source that property managers can use to find hidden market
advantages.
Building automation and controls manufacturers recognize the unique
needs of property managers and are beginning to acknowledge the power of
XML Web Services to provide seamless, open interoperability between
automation systems and corporate business applications. XML Web
Services, the same powerful integration framework that has been embraced
by software providers and IT departments everywhere, is also perfectly
suited to transform facility sub-systems into valuable sources of new
business information.
The IT
world knows all too well that legacy systems and disparate data
platforms are too valuable to toss out or rebuild. Rarely is an
enterprise-class business system dumped because a newer, more robust
system comes along. Instead, the IT solution is to provide robust
integration capabilities that squeeze even more value out of those
critical business systems. Innovative technologies are migrated into
the enterprise and are expected to co-exist with the systems already in
use. Legacy building automation systems also represent significant
capital investments, not easily abandoned and replaced. Automation
vendors can now play by the same rules as IT and use modern integration
technologies to transform the closed languages of their automation
systems into the open and pervasive integration languages of IT. By
leveraging the power of XML Web Services, facility engineers and system
operators will be able to provide access to disparate automation system
data sources in the same way, using the same technology, the IT world is
using to deliver access to disparate corporate data centers and legacy
business systems.
The
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is at the core of XML Web
Services. SOAP is a vendor neutral integration protocol capable of
translating the diverse protocols of building automation systems -
protocols like BACnet™, LONTalk™, Modbus™ and many others, into a common
language better suited for use on corporate networks. Many readers of
this article may be thinking XML and SOAP are just as foreign as the
automation system protocols. So what’s the difference? The native
protocols of building management systems typically support vendor
specific solutions. Management consoles and data archives are generally
sole-sourced from the original vendor. The vendor products target only a
handful of expert users. Web Services, on the other hand, exist to
support interoperability between a wide range of business systems and
vendor solutions. The value locked away in each stand-alone system is
exposed to the enterprise. Customer oriented solutions, not
vendor-driven products, become the norm. The result is usually an
improved, more efficient business process.
The second important distinction and a valuable component of Web
Services is the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). WSDL
successfully “exposes” data sources to data consumers without a need to
address or understand the differences between the participating
systems. A powerful integrator’s tool known as the WSDL file,
programmatically describes an interface to the system. The WSDL file
acts as a published rulebook for accessing valuable data sources. In
some ways it acts as a contract or agreement between a data producer and
a data consumer. A web service publishes an agreement – in effect it
tells two dissimilar computer systems, “I have this functionality and
data to offer, if you will request it in this way”. The powerful result
is a loosely coupled; yet secure relationship between the data source
and the data consumer. Microsoft Excel™ is a perfect example of a
business application that benefits from the power of XML Web Services.
MS Excel doesn’t have the ability to directly interact with native
building automation protocols. It does have the ability to “consume”
data from any data source exposed to the enterprise via WSDL and XML Web
Services.
Automation system providers can now deliver a new source of business
information to the enterprise. Managers will be able to transform
real-time operational system data into useful information about the
tenant experience. This information will be analyzed, investigated, and
used to create a competitive advantage that increases net operating
income (NOI). Don’t buy into the misconception that this new level of
information integration is years away. Ask automation vendors to
embrace XML Web Services to make R2B (real-time to business) enterprise
integration your own competitive advantage. Today’s property managers
are poised to exploit this next phase of technology evolution today.
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About the Author: Gridlogix
supplies enterprise-class solutions delivering near real-time
peer-to-peer application integration, R2B (Real-time to
Business) integration and B2B integration functionality to the
enterprise. The core of every Gridlogix integration solution
is the EnNET integration framework. Built from the ground up
using XML Web Services technology, EnNET provides unified
standards-based integration framework that enables companies
to leverage existing monitoring and control systems; rapidly
integrate them with other automation technologies; streamline
the R2B integration processes; and connect with strategic
business partners.
*CRE Partners is
not responsible for the content, validity, technical accuracy or other
claims or information contained in this article. Feature Articles
are often authored by outside sources and do not necessarily reflect the
views or opinions of CRE Partners. Further, publication of
articles in the CRE Partners Newsletter and/or web site is not meant to
represent, promote, or endorse any company, brand, product or solution.
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