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Converged infrastructure and Smart Buildings have been given even greater impetus by various factors over the past year with the pandemic, keeping people away from close contact environments, sustainability, with increased pressure from regulators, investors, and customers for organisations to reduce carbon emissions, and the continuous drive forward of technology. Wireless capabilities can only take a business so far within a building and the requirement for structured cable infrastructure is greater than ever.

Since the 1980s, traditional building automation systems (BAS) were the solution to managing and monitoring equipment in large corporate buildings. While BAS focused on operational and facility management (FM) requirements, they were complex and expensive. In many situations, the complexity, technical design and siloed nature of the systems constrained operator interactions and led to underutilisation.

In the mid-2000s, building energy management systems (BEMS) were introduced as a software solution to overcome the challenges of BAS. The software showcased easy-to-use graphical user interfaces (GUI), delivered equipment KPIs and created opportunities for improvement to energy efficiency. BEMS were a significant development on the journey to digital technologies for FM.