How Smarter Buildings Will Change The Face
Of Video And AV
Published 10/8/2012
David Danto
Principal
Consultant - AV / Multimedia / Video / UC,
Dimension
Data
Director
of Emerging Technology, IMCCA
The AV
and video communications industry has recently found enormous value in smart
building technology. The idea is that all of the technologies in a building
share a single intelligence and governance that makes all the components work
together -- saving energy -- and thus, the cost of owning a videoconference
room is about to drop significantly.
As a
longtime advocate of enterprise AV and video systems, I have spent a career
opening the eyes of decision makers at every level. Technologies such as these
are perceived to be "expensive." I say that with a snicker because my
experiences have frequently been with people spending millions of dollars on
facilities, complaining to me that a few thousand dollars for a 24x7 rated flat
display is "way too much to spend" when they can get a cheap consumer
one at an electronics store for a few hundred bucks.
I
usually have some work to do explaining the enormous value and ROI of video,
collaboration, and multimedia in order to get by the inherent biases. The game
is about to change however, as the investment in these technologies is about to
pay for itself in a much more direct and up-front manner.
The
easiest way to envision this change is to compare it to an automobile. Most people
understand the expense of owning a car. You have to continuously invest in fuel
to run it, more fuel and electricity to keep the environment pleasant, and
maintenance efforts to keep it in good shape, etc. Think for a minute how much
more your car would cost to own and operate if you always kept it running,
cooled or heated, and ready to go at a moment's notice. For the most part, that
is how we've operated our videoconference and AV rooms -- up until now.
Today,
the concept involved is referred to by a number of names, such as smart
building technology, integrated building architecture, or integrated building
technology. This exponentially growing space embodies the idea that all of the
technologies in a building share a single intelligence and governance that
makes all the components work together. This includes heating and cooling,
lighting, security, mechanical systems, safety systems, and yes, AV and video
installations.
What it
means to our industry is the cost for owning a videoconference room is about to
drop -- significantly -- as in the comparison between running your car all day
"just-in-case" vs. turning it on only when needed.
Your
building will be smart enough to know when you're there and when you're not. It
will follow you as you walk through the halls, turning on lights and cooling
and heating systems only in the spaces you're using. It will keep 90 percent of
the AV and video gear off unless someone actually needs the space.
How
will it know you need it? Lots of ways. Firstly, the
scheduling system will be integrated into the building controls -- so a
scheduled conference will trigger appropriate room preparations. An ad-hoc need
will be discovered by motion sensors along your walk and the opening of the
room door.
A few
minor room design changes will be needed for all this to work well, like
keeping the "always on" parts of the system (codec, processor) in a
central, climate-controlled environment. But many organizations are doing this
now anyway.
The
buildings of the future will be built with these integrated/smart technologies
in all rooms, so the addition of a videoconference room will not represent a
major change in operational savings. But for the present, the ROI potential of
such rooms is enormous, as the technology that manages the rooms can add these
electrical and environmental savings into today's buildings.
Adding
a videoconference room incorporating smart technology to keep the lights and
air conditioning off in the room unless it is being used will pay for that room
within the first year. That doesn't even account for the value in productivity,
travel avoidance, communications, and all the other drivers we've been touting
for years.
The AV
and video industry is aware of the enormous value here and is taking this space
very seriously. I am honored to have been recognized by InfoComm International as one of top thought leaders in the
industry and was invited to participate in this year's InfoComm 100 workshop, where smart building technologies will
be the area of focus. I'll let everyone know how it went and share any
additional insights I come away with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This blog was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal
opinions. It originally was published at UBM’s “The Video Enterprise” website
that was closed down November 1st 2012. Here is a link to the Google cache of the
page with comments. I do not know how
long Google keeps these pages.
David has over 30 years of experience providing problem solving leadership
and innovation in media and unified communications technologies for various
firms in the corporate, broadcasting and academic worlds including AT&T,
Bloomberg LP, FNN, Morgan Stanley, NYU, Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan Chase. He
recently joined Dimension Data as their Principal
Consultant for the collaboration, multimedia, video and AV disciplines. He is
also the IMCCA’s Director of Emerging Technology. David can be reached
at David.Danto@Dimensiondata.com or DDanto@imcca.org, he can be followed on
Twitter @NJDavidD , and his full bio and other blogs and articles can be seen at Danto.info.