SMART BUILDINGS
Mikael Sandberg, Chairman,
VXFIBER
www.vx.se
Smart buildings will only live up to
their full potential with a complete
fibre cabled infrastructure
Smart or intelligent buildings look set to revolutionise the
built environment. A rapidly increasing number of Internet-
connected devices and sensors will transform our homes and
places of work through enhanced efficiency, a reduction
in costs and, simplification of building operations and
management. Building owners can reap the benefit of new
technology, with building automation system optimisation
estimated to save between 10 and 25% of energy usage
across the whole building. Growing demand for these services
means the building management systems (BMS) market is
expected to be valued at $19.25BN USD by 2023.
Home security controlled through your mobile device,
logistical solutions for monitoring and tracking warehouse
stock and e-health monitoring solutions for elderly
homeowners are just some of the thousands of potential
applications of the IoT in smart buildings. In addition, the
ability to remotely manage appliances, lighting and heating
should go some way to reducing energy waste from things
that get left on.
The IoT, however, and a need to power intelligent services
will give rise to much higher connectivity needs. Gartner
predicts that a typical home could contain as many as
500 smart devices by 2022. The majority of these devices
will be dependent on wireless connections – particularly
next-generation 5G. While individually the devices don’t
transmit huge quantities of data, they will require lower
latency connectivity, increased capacity and high-speed data
transmission. Full fibre connectivity will be crucial in all of
this as it accounts for the fronthaul and backhaul of mobile
networks. To put it simply, smart devices cannot work without
5G, and 5G cannot achieve its performance goals without
fibre networks.
Smart buildings need a full fibre strategy
The problem with current infrastructure is that it’s not fit
for purpose and lacks the capacity to power all future smart
building applications. If smart buildings are to function
effectively and stay ‘smart’, high performance, reliable
connectivity is imperative and the only way that can be
achieved is through full fibre.
Incumbent broadband suppliers in the UK claim to provide
customers with fibre connectivity. But the truth is that the last
mile from the cabinet to the home still relies on much slower
copper cabling; typically only capable of achieving speeds
of around 100Mbps. Full fibre or Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP)
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differs in that it provides a complete, pure fibre connection
capable of gigabit or multi-gigabit speed from the exchange
straight into the home or business.
Full fibre connectivity is hugely advantageous as it
allows you to achieve gigabit speeds to transmit far greater
quantities of data at any time. BT and Virgin have typically
been charged with the rollout of ‘fibre’ in the UK. However, as
it stands only 5% of UK premises are connected to full fibre,
suggesting the vast majority of the UK is underserved. Full
fibre’s importance lies not just in its ability to facilitate the
wide adoption of IoT and smart building technology, but in
the fact that it creates a future-proofed network capable of
keeping pace with rapid technological change.
For the most part, the underlying importance of future-
proofed connectivity as an enabler to improve the operational
efficiency of buildings isn’t receiving enough attention. And
while in some cases businesses and consumers are aware of
the benefits and are interested in attaining access to full fibre,
they often don’t know where to begin.
Future-proofing the network
It’s widely perceived that the deployment of a full fibre
network infrastructure is solely the job of the incumbent
suppliers. But this is no longer the case, especially if building
and business owners choose to take the open access model
approach to building and managing full fibre network
infrastructure. Through the open access model, the building
or business owner installs the actual network fibre – the
‘passive layer’ of the network. The owner of the fibre is then
supported by a vendor who provides the automated network
management system and service delivery platform – ‘the
active layer’ – that lights up the fibre, and which building
or business owners use to launch services and monetise the
network.
The open access model delivers multiple advantages,
which includes lowering barriers to entry for new and
regional ISPs by giving them access to a shared open
network, thereby enabling real competition in the market.
Through this open access model, smart building owners will
gain access to essential high-speed connectivity, and receive
a return on investment from providers who offer services
over the network.
Aside from taking charge of the implementation of fibre
network infrastructure, there needs to be a change in the way
smart building owners think about connectivity if they’re to
start using it to maximise the potential of smart buildings.
Connectivity is to many, as important a building utility as
electricity and gas, and it will continue to be viewed in that
way as homes become more automated and interconnected.
With this in mind, the dialogue surrounding connectivity
needs to be taken away from speed alone.
People don’t concern themselves with issues of whether the
building will have enough electricity or gas, and neither should
they worry about their access to connectivity. Connectivity
shouldn’t be judged on its speed, but on its ability as an
enabler. Full fibre means gigabit connectivity, which also
means future-proofing the network. Through future-proofed
networks, concerns over limited connectivity are eliminated
because of a guarantee that IoT devices, smart sensors,
intelligent services and more, will simply work. n
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