This is an exciting time to work in the Building Controls and Information, Communication Technologies (ICT) industries.  After many years of imaging how building systems could interact to provide improved services to owners, tenants and operators, it’s great to see real solutions emerge.  I want to give a call out to one such development.

Last week Schneider Electric VP Tony DeSpirito sent me a note about his recent blog post that describes an experience he had in a smart hotel during a visit to Las Vegas.  Tony writes:  “After checking in to the hotel, we went to our room and as soon as we walked through the door, the curtains opened, lights turned on and the TV came on. Not only that, the TV started talking to us, welcoming us to the hotel by name. It then proceeded to walk us through a tutorial on how to use all the energy efficient devices in the room.”  Tony’s experience marks the realization of a vision product developers have shared for many years.  What’s exciting is that Cisco and Schneider are working together to make this experience (and more) common place for all of our customers.

For me, a big part of the excitement is watching these solutions unfold in a way that makes the complex simple.  As vendors, we know that when we do our job well, solutions will be accessible and enable customers to deploy them with a high degree of customization to match the needs of their organization.

Before closing his blog, Tony talked about some of the ways a commercial building should work in the future.  We share that view (see his blog for more details:  http://http://blog.schneider-electric.com/datacenter/2011/10/31/partnering-up-to-deliver-smart-building-technology-and-lower-your-energy-bills/)

He also provided a link to a white paper that describes the way Cisco EnergyWise and Schneider Electric products work together.  Though the whitepaper is short, it represents a lot of deep thinking and collaboration between both companies.  The paper outlines a building solution that combines the strengths of multiple products from disparate system domains.  If you’re planning an intelligent building, this solution is worth your consideration.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps10195/solution_overview_c22-676327.pdf