Are you a budding Donald Trump, needing to manage and control a number of complicated buildings? I’m not talking about just collecting rent and paying the doorman.
I’m talking about real building automation systems (BAS). These beauties automate many of the control systems of today’s buildings, including lights, climate, fire detection and many routine maintenance duties. Do all this right and you now have a smart building.
ABI Research tracks this market and sees new players touting managed data services and lots of growth.
“We are seeing a rush of investment, creativity and revenues in developing what can be achieved with BAS data,” said Jonathan Collins, principal analyst. “These software as a service (SaaS) or cloud services have the ability to pull together management of multiple buildings and applications within them, simplifying the process of improving energy efficiency for building owners.”
ABI expects that from 2013 to 2018, “these BAS services will deliver annual revenues of more than $4 billion worldwide, growing at a CAGR of 29 percent during the period,” the researchers said.
Driving growth and new technology is the ubiquity of networking within the buildings and to the outside world, making BAS apps based on the SaaS model more feasible.
Not only that, but smart buildings are greener buildings, which is good for the environment and the budget. This is a big deal, as nearly a quarter of all electricity worldwide is used by commercial buildings.
And building is booming, even if the worldwide economy isn’t. China, for instance, is building faster than teenagers at a Lego contest. Not only that, new rules demand many of these buildings be energy efficient, which means they have to be smart.
The Word from Pike
Pike Research also tracks the BAS market, and sees dramatic change. “Until the mid-1990s, modern building automation consisted of little more than individual systems with simple control panels for switches, timers and alarms. Today, the market for commercial building automation systems is in the midst of revolutionary change in terms of technology and utility. In the last several years, the focus has shifted from an individual system view to a more holistic view so that the ‘building system’ can be defined to include virtually any device or data source within the building,” Pike reported. “The amount of data created by automation systems can be overwhelming, but real competitive and economic value exists in using the data to monitor performance and uncover trends.”
Pike also tracks the numbers and predicts the BAS market will go from $72.5 billion two years ago to $146 billion in 2021.
“Automation systems have long provided the core technologies to ensure that buildings are safe and energy-efficient,” noted research analyst Eric Bloom. “Recent advances in automation technology, particularly relating to their integration with information and communication technologies, are dramatically increasing system capabilities and enabling deeper levels of energy management than ever before, thereby generating a surge in demand.”
All this can be found in the “Commercial Building Automation Systems” report.
Edited by
Alisen Downey
