Cybersecurity threats aren’t going away anytime soon, and in fact, they are getting more numerous and serious by the day. For facility managers, these threats can target a range of applications througout facilities. For managers in one facilities market, greater protection against cyberthreats soon might be on the way.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) recently announced it will standardize a building automation system (BAS) to mitigate vulnerability and reduce cybersecurity risks associated with BAS hardware and software. Establishing an enterprise-wide system streamlines software and hardware solutions across its inventory for all new BAS installations and major modernizations of existing BAS. A standardized approach will also streamline operations and maintenance contract support and minimize training requirements by reducing the number of different systems across the portfolio.
In support of this effort, GSA issued a Class Brand Name Justification for the Niagara Framework manufactured by Tridium, Inc. GSA’s market research indicates that this enterprise solution is sold and serviced by nearly every major BAS manufacturer, as well as BAS service providers and vendors of all sizes.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
