Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1472963
July/August/September 2022 I 19 A key function of smart buildings is widespread, transparent access to data. The sought-after flexibility of smart buildings requires insight from throughout the structure, enabling deft decisions to be made by building operators. Today, many insights regarding energy management, grid response, and occupant com- fort are not readily accessible without significant effort. Control of building systems, like HVAC, power, lighting, and access, are separate from the IT network (e.g., data center, voice, data, wireless) and worse yet, it speaks a different language than the IT systems. These networks controlling occupant comfort, safety, and energy expenditure are part of the building auto- mation system (BAS). They fall under a more general category of operational technology (OT) networks. The OT networks have some Ethernet traffic. However, for the most part, building control is accomplished by communi- cating over several disparate, built-for-purpose protocols that are not Ethernet. True smart buildings require the effective convergence of data from IT and OT networks. Accomplishing this effective convergence centers on collecting and federating (i.e., a process that allows multiple databases to function as one) the data in the appropriate context. By way of example, consider a business team that is co-located in the same section of the building that goes out into the field for research. A smart building would sense the lack of occupants and place the team's work area into an unoc- cupied mode to save energy. These savings might come from lowering lighting levels to practical minimums, allowing the HVAC to move to a more energy friendly setting, perhaps even reducing network resources. Achieving these functions require data from and control over lighting (OT network), HVAC (OT network), access control (OT network) and a strong integration with business software (IT network) so that calculations and enjoyment of the immediate Capex savings occur in real time. Given this enhanced visibility into operations, the business could negotiate with its energy providers to gain discounts for demand response events. While this may seem like a simple task, lighting, HVAC, and access control networks speak different languages, both from the Ethernet-based IT network and between each other. Industrial automation networks are starting to make great strides toward leveraging data collection into action by replacing legacy protocols at the network edge with industrial Ethernet, including single-pair Ethernet (SPE) technology, which enables migration to an integrated Ethernet environment. To date, BASs have lagged behind their industrial counterparts. Both industrial and building automation networks have longer refresh rates than IT networks. Given the gains possible with modernizing these OT networks, it seems certain that their refresh rates will accelerate. The openness and interoperability embraced by industrial networks has not yet permeated building operation technology; most building operation systems are still tied to narrowly defined, proprietary networks that do not interoperate. This approach has created duplication—one control system for environ- mental controls, another for lighting, and another for elevators and security cameras—as well as reducing efficiency, increasing a building's carbon footprint, and making it less secure. Unifying OT and IT networks onto the same platform makes data visible and transportable across the enterprise from cloud to edge and back. It opens product choices, simplifies maintenance, safety and health systems, network security, and decreases costs by enabling data collection from sensors to regulate energy consumption. This information allows building owners and managers to make informed decisions that make future-ready buildings possible.