by Jim Sinopoli

We set forth to define a smart building by addressing the second group of smart building attributes: system integration, AV and water. Let's start with system integration, which is one of the most important and fundamental parts of a smart building.

System Integration

System integration can have a significant impact on building operations and operational costs. Integration starts with the notion that building monitoring or control systems are really communication devices and that there is commonality in what looks like disparate building systems. Communications systems have components or "layers" that provide the functionality to get data from one place to another. There are opportunities to integrate systems on different "layers" or components of building systems. In the initial article of defining a smart building, we addressed the physical layer of a network and how cable and related pathways can be converged or integrated for multiple systems, resulting in efficiency in installation and reduction of capital costs and time. If you take a look at the other lower layers of a network you find similar opportunities; at the physical layer almost all the systems can use standard telecom cable, at the data link level its Ethernet, at the network layer it's IP, and at the transport layer its TCP.

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