Centralized Decentralization?

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To centralize or not to centralize

With the pandemic still a growing concern for both employers and employees, many owners and decision makers are slow to have staff returning to the office and in turn, relying on remote capabilities for day to day operations.     In the past, the main focus of HVAC automation was to reduce operation costs.  This has traditionally been done by focusing on energy efficiency, but now, equally as critical is finding a way to be productive and profitable without necessarily being on site.  Building Automation has always been the answer to tying in multiple systems into one, easy to use, interface that can be accessed anywhere.  With the new cloud technologies, stronger and more reliable connectivity throughout the country and building managers looking to rely more on technology than physical presence – this has drastically expedited the growth of the Building Automation industry, as well as the expectations on performance and remote data availability.

In years past, centralization has been the answer, having the ability to control sun loads with automated shades, lighting control and temperature based on occupancy as well as access control all through one server or smart device.  The drawback with this scenario is if that singular smart device controlling fails, so do all of the other devices being fed by it.  This has caused an upward trend of automation decentralization, where ALL the devices are smart and are able to act independently, or a hybrid  configuration – which utilizes the strengths of both options, customized to the facilities needs, and ensuring redundancy in the system.

Distech Controls has released a variety of new products recently to assist with this need for increased performance and flexibility.   The newest being the APEX AI controller released last month, along with cloud based Rest API integration and more sophisticated application-specific smart room and wireless sensors.  These solutions apply to industries such as education, hospitality, data rooms, industrial and commercial applications and everything in between.  Being able to access the energy and performance data of your facilities remotely can lead to identifying strategies to lowering costs, as well a remotely addressing situations when a system alarm is generated.  Now, with hybrid decentralization on the rise, more and more layers of protection for your facility and it’s operation are available to ensure your system is doing exactly what is needed when it’s needed.

Find out more about how Automated Building Solutions can work with your location to review the best configuration of controls and accessibility for you!