Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1414667
October/November/December 2021 I 33 of optical fiber 25 years ago in terms of bringing connec- tivity to commercial real estate." He also believes that buildings have always had a heart—the engine room or boiler room. Software that harnesses data buildings generate a brain for the building. "Now the final frontier is the central nervous system," Gilbert continued. "One thing we know as fact, and this is indisputable, is that the more granular data that we can collect the more efficiently we can run our buildings. Full stop. Period. Exclamation point…CBRS allows me to collect occupancy data, collect space uti- lization data, understand it, wrap machine learning algorithms around it, identify those patterns, memorize those patterns, learn from those patterns and do a better job tomorrow than I did today because I've got more information and more knowledge in order to do that. We see that CBRS enablement as a huge game changer within the built environment, especially in the office and multi-family residential spaces." According to Gilbert, COVID-19 has and will continue to change the way building lobbies are viewed and used forever, and CBRS can help solve some of the challenges that come from that, including providing bandwidth for thermal scans, security, and tenant use while queuing for elevators that will likely be restricted to fewer riders as buildings get back to a new normal after the pandemic. He also pointed to potential appli- cations to deploy CBRS-enabled cameras in dark spots of buildings to protect tenants and property during times of civil unrest like the country has recently experienced. "From an everyday operational standpoint, CBRS also will allow data to be collected about the environ- mental and operational states within buildings, and that data can be used to create efficiencies and save money," he said. "For instance, some buildings have been able to save 41 percent on their electrical spend by gathering occupancy data and correlating it with fan speeds—slowing down fans when sensors indicate tenants are leaving the building for lunch, for example. Hot and cold calls have also been cut by 75 to 80 percent in buildings thanks to correlating building systems with operational and tenant data. Ultimately, the payoff is in enhancing the experience and level of comfort of customers." Most of the mobile applications available on cellular devices today are successful because they use LTE technology, which offers much faster speeds, among other things, than previous generations of cellular. However, these applications are becoming more sophisticated and require more bandwidth. "People say data is the new oil. Well, it's crude oil, and unless you have the ability to grab that data efficiently and effectively and unless you have software that can refine that data to make it valuable, then all you have is big glumpy thick goo that isn't worth very much," said Gilbert. "The ability to grab the data, refine it, make it valuable, wrap machine learning and artificial intelligence around it so that ultimately that data can be made valuable and useful, that to me is the holy grail and that to me is where each and every property owner in the United States needs to go to and get to in order for us to do our job properly." In the hospitality space, CBRS can be an important tool that can be used on its own or in tandem with cellular, Wi-Fi, and other network solutions to provide reliable communications to the public, employees, and machines. Most of the mobile applications available on cellular devices today are successful because they use LTE technology, which offers much faster speeds, among other things, than previous generations of cellular. How- ever, these applications are becoming more sophisti- cated and require more bandwidth. Folks rarely return to a facility or rebook an annual event where the mobile services are frustrating or slow to access, so the hospitality industry needs to maintain and ensure robust connectivity where and when it is needed.