Edge Devices Are Spurring IoT Transformation of Buildings
December 6, 2016
The Building Internet of Things is contributing to the significant shift in the way we are acquiring information, interacting with each other, and making decisions. It is enabling us to expand our reach to a range of equipment and devices that sit on the edge; enabling us to gather and analyze data and react to that data in a variety of applications that we’ve never seen before. The Building IoT is not just about connectivity or the number of devices but rather it’s about delivering real and relevant outcomes.
A key concept that facility managers should be familiar with is “edge devices.” Controllers, gateways, submeters, and intelligent sensors are just a few examples of edge devices. Today we are able to go further out to the edge with devices that are smarter; more powerful; have more capacity; offer higher levels of data processing and increased storage capabilities.
We have access to multiple places where data can be collected, processed, stored, and analyzed because of the formidable computer power and affordability that is now available; the capacity and storage capabilities that can be embedded into a device; real-time and faster analytic time requirements; analytic software companies “scaling down” their applications and developing new tools for edge computing; the reduction on the amount of data that needs to be exchanged with the Cloud and technology that brings computing resources and applications closer to the edge. Companies are looking to do at least some data processing at the edge in order to reduce network and data center saturation.
With lower costs and enough computer, storage, and networking resources now accessible at the edge to support on device consumption of data and the availability of edge-specific analytic applications and tools, we can expect more data activity to move to the edge and become embedded in the same devices so we can get more from device-generated data and analytics.
This quick read is from Marc Petock is vice president of marketing for Lynxspring. Click here for more from Petock on the technologies driving change in facilities. And click here for more on the Building IoT on Facilitiesnet.com.
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