There’s a slight problem about being passionate about OSS – you see everything In relation to OSS problems, solutions, analogies, etc.
l was talking with Simon, a great friend of mine recently about a new role that he’s taking on. He will be responsible for technology in the facilities used by the large bank that he works for. Those facilities include branches, offices, data centres and more, The conversation started out on the challenges facing facilities managers including energy efficiency, occupation rates, meeting room utilisation rates, cost per desk, workforce efficiency, utility allocation / billing and many other KPls.
The tech he has been considering in this space was wide and varied but primarily came down to additional types of sensors that will ultimately reduce costs for his employer. Many of these sensors sound very cool (no pun intended re. HVAC sensors). As you can imagine, the executives at the bank don’t fund cool, they fund cost-out projects,
The same is true for OSS but that’s not the overlap I was thinking about on this occasion. It was how sensor networks in buildings collect vast amounts of data, aggregate it, process it, analyse it against a particular metric or theme and then provide insights based on that benchmark. We then got onto the topic of circulating (another HVAC pun) the benchmark results for the purpose of gamification and competition between different parts of the organisation.
You can see why l consider existing OSS capabilities as being well placed for servicing the IoT space can’t you?
Then we got onto the topic of blockchain and smart contracts so my OSS-coloured glasses kicked in again but that’s a story for another day.
PS. Yes, in the pre-IoT days, we managed buildings through software like BMS (Building Management Systems), PAGA (Public Address General Alarm), physical security (eg ACS – Access Control Systems) and other tools not to mention environmentals but the IoT buzzword is taking it to another level.
2 Responses
Ha. .nice. very true. IoT has really changed the opportunity in this space.
So many opportunities!
Which one/s to choose?