Beyond the Smart Buildings Hype – Facilities Management Insights

Smart buildings are touted as providing more efficient buildings in terms of resource utilization, renewable resources, and energy efficiency, and as delivering improved indoor air quality (IAQ), productivity, and connectivity with the digital world. They hold out the promise of seamlessly weaving people, technology, and business into an enhanced and optimized ecosystem. Facilities managers must understand the real-world practicalities of implementing smart building technologies and systems. 

Edge computing and IoT – when intelligence moves to the edge

Both edge computing and fog computing are strongly on the rise for the same exact reasons: an IoT data deluge. This IoT data deluge, among others, takes place in the converging worlds of IT and OT (predominantly Industrial IoT) and occurs in general as we keep adding more IoT devices in the scope of mainly large-scale IoT projects, the industrial markets of Industry 4.0 and IoT use cases and applications where a lot of data needs to be analyzed and leveraged, often also in an IT and OT environment as we, for instance, find them in IoT in manufacturing.

Green quadrant IoT platforms for smart buildings

A recent report from independent research firm, Verdantix, provides an in-depth analysis of IoT platforms for smart buildings answering questions such as: Which IoT platforms for smart buildings will meet the requirements of my organization? Which IoT platforms for smart buildings are leading the market? How does your existing building IoT platform implementation compare to other products available on the market? And, ow to prioritize your building IoT software investments? Download the free report and discover the answers to these and many other questions about the smart building revolution. 

400G transceivers deliver 32Tbits per fibre

NeoPhotonics Has shipped its first  400G capable ClearLight CFP2-DCO transceivers for end customer trials.The transceivers deliver 32Tbits  per fiber – significantly higher than today’s 200G CFP2-DCO capacity or the emerging 400G CFP2-DCO capacity– by using internal optics that can support 80 channels of 64 Gbaud data at 75 GHz wavelength channel spacing.

How to Select the Best Network Monitoring Technology

Experts agree that monitoring is essential for maintaining overall network performance, health, and security. But exactly which features should a network monitoring tool offer, and how should the technology be used to achieve maximum effectiveness? As both networks and network management goals advance and evolve, these questions are becoming increasingly difficult to answer, making it challenging to locate and deploy a monitoring technology that covers all of the essential bases.

Leviton’s Wireless Structured Media Center: Coolest enclosure on the market (both literally and figuratively)

Smart home technology is all the rage these days, and homeowners and renters now expect their residential units to be smart home enabled. Recently, Leviton launched the new Wireless Structured Media Center (WSMC) which not only serves as a focal point for all the hardware and connectivity that smart homes need, but also dissipates heat, thus extending the life of active gear.

Communications needs in manufacturing plants

Manufacturing plants and operations are each unique in their own way. In this article, we will discuss many of the communications opportunities that can equip new and existing buildings with more agile, resilient, and intelligent digital infrastructure. Manufacturing system architects are leveraging wired, wireless, and optical transport supporting robots, machine vision, production line machines, product transport, sensor arrays, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and distributed Internet of Things (with future artificial intelligence management overlays) to increase process intelligence, agility, safety, and reduce defects and operational expenses.

What will a data center at the edge look like?

Edge sites are typically smaller than traditional data centers, requiring far less physical space, and often turning up in places that weren’t originally designed for IT networks. Edge computing racks often are deployed in closets or repurposed rooms in hospitals, schools, or even military sites in the middle of the desert. Key elements are: Monitoring, building in redundancies, securing the edge, closed-loop cooling systems, protection against the elements, and more.