Executive summary
Smart buildings can improve operations, simplify management, reduce costs, and increase energy efficiency. The challenge is that achieving these benefits means effectively communicating with myriad disparate systems, infrastructures, and protocols. Relayr offers an innovative comprehensive software stack solution that essentially connects “anything to anything,” enabling both legacy and new buildings to reap the considerable advantages of data-driven insight in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT).
Flexibility for the Complex Smart Building Landscape
Building managers seek solutions that bring efficiencies, improve manageability and utilization, and lower costs. But buildings are complex, designed with multiple, often siloed systems from different vendors—from HVAC to security to electrical wiring to environmental controls. Building managers must contend with incompatible systems, multiple interfaces, and disparate analytics—all while managing everything from monitoring and maintenance to space utilization. Building equipment is typically designed to last: An HVAC system can operate for 40 years, making it inefficient and expensive to replace before its projected end of life. Countless systems and devices are already installed, with sensors actively collecting data. However, these discrete systems are often not integrated, making the data difficult to access for analysis. This means building managers do not have the tools or cross-facility insight to create efficiencies or control costs.
The building industry is in flux, with connected facilities offering new services and efficiencies and seizing opportunities to innovate. The process of getting smarter is an evolutionary one that goes beyond smart building installations to analytics-based strategy and optimization. With relayr, building managers and architects now have the agility, flexibility, and support for continuing assessment and improvement.
relayr helps address challenges, including incompatible systems and legacy investments
The Interoperability Advantage
relayr enables smart buildings to connect any device, equipment, or service to the cloud. It offers a full open source software stack with “any to any” integration from sensors to gateways to the cloud. Its innovative middleware solution solves the challenges caused by incompatible protocols and legacy equipment. The outcome is ongoing, comprehensive, cross-facility visibility into building operations, systems, and activity.
Automation and orchestration can be put into place for a wide range of tasks, such as tracking and monitoring building temperature to improve energy efficiency. relayr’s open source SDK and APIs support efficient development of new applications and rapid prototyping, accelerating new services to help buildings compete and deliver tenant satisfaction. Vendor lock-in is eliminated, giving building managers and architects more choices, and preserving legacy infrastructure investments.
Retrofitting existing buildings with relayr helps extend the life of building assets. Data can be tapped for predictive maintenance, preserving equipment and investments, while reducing expenses on costly labor and parts.
Accelerating Digital Transformation
relayr helps smart building customers manage and accelerate digital transformation. Its focus on Industrial IoT (IoT) brings deep understanding of the particular challenges of the building management industry and the configurations in both legacy and new building infrastructures and architectures. Now buildings can benefit from the same platform used by technology industry leaders including Intel, SAP, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, salesforce, and many others.
- Manage and control building devices, sensors, equipment, and appliances
- Get integrated coverage across multiple systems, as well as vendors and cloud services
- Achieve visibility across building operations with a single integrated dashboard
- Increase automation of tasks, including machine-to-machine efficiencies
- Improve orchestration for better system and network utilization
- Build vertical applications to deliver new services using the relayr technology stack
Key Solution Components
| IOT CLOUD PLATFORM AS A SERVICE | OPEN SOURCE SDK AND API LIBRARIES | OPEN SOURCE SENSOR KIT |
| Multiprotocol platform delivering data for IoT | Powerful open source tools for fast, cost-effective development | Rapid prototyping for new solutions |
Smart Buildings. Measurable Benefits.
For relayr customers in the building industry, the gains can be significant.
- Reduce maintenance costs
- Lower CAPEX versus traditional systems
- Reduce machine failures
- Increase operating efficiency
- Achieve higher revenue productivity per square foot
End-to-end Smart Building Transformation
With relayr, significant investments in legacy infrastructure and long-life systems can be protected, while still realizing the benefits of IoT. Legacy and brownfield buildings can be retrofitted for better ROI. New building construction can be architected to maximize interoperability and connectivity.
Key Smart Building Use Cases
| Interoperability |
- Connect multiple systems, protocols, vendors, and data sources
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| Building management system integration |
- Integrate with existing applications and dashboards
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| Security |
- Increase security for buildings, data, and systems
- Permissions-based administration of central dashboard
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| Environmental monitoring |
- Real-time sensors for comfort index, fire, air, noise, etc.
|
| Digital ceiling |
- Smart power over Ethernet (PoE) lighting and sensor infrastructure
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| Space optimization and workforce experience |
- Tools to manage people flow, occupancy, and utilization
- Collaboration tools
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| Retrofit, predictive maintenance |
- Cognitive building operations
- Predictive maintenance (e.g., elevators)
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| Sustainability and lower OpEx |
- Optimize resource usage for energy, power, water, and gas
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| Custom IoT use cases |
- Asset tracking
- Physical security
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relayr cloud platform architecture
Tech in Brief
relayr onboards any physical object using any communication method to relayr middleware via Cisco networks. SDKs on top of the cloud middleware stack allow applications to be built quickly, securely, and easily. Cloud APIs simplify integration of industrial assets and physical objects (e.g., sensors, elevators, appliances, buildings) into any cloud service, including Cisco, SAP, NEST, and Google. relayr tools and unique 5-4-3 process support rapid innovation and application development.
relayr offers an agnostic cloud platform for the IoT that works across devices, hardware, or sensors. relayr enterprise-class middleware supports smart connectors, analytic interfaces, standardized engines, and high-performance cloud. relayr also runs on gateways, protecting buildings from Internet downtime or failure. Powerful, easy-to-use cloud APIs simplify onboarding of any physical object using any communication method. Flexible, secure SDK and open source tools for fast, cost-effective development of cloud services and applications.
Agnostic middleware support for connected buildings
A Scalable Foundation for Building Intelligence
Intel®-based IoT gateways gather, filter, and transmit data from sensors and machines to the cloud. Intel® technologies improve data security and manageability, while enabling local machine-to-machine automation. From predictive maintenance to data-based operations, Intel® architecture supports analytics capabilities to optimize processes, equipment, systems, and utilization.
About Relayr
relayr is a rapidly growing enterprise IoT company, providing the enterprise middleware for the digital transformation of industries. As a thought leader in enterprise IoT, relayr develops sustainable IoT solutions, based on the OpenFog IoT reference architecture and its own stack. relayr addresses the central challenge of IoT, digitizing physical objects, with an end-to-end development solution consisting of an IoT cloud platform that communicates from any-to-any (any service, any software, any platform, any sensor); open source software development kits; and a team of IoT experts to support rapid prototyping and implementation.
Learn more: relayr.io
About Intel
Partnering with industry leaders such as relayr, Intel is helping to streamline and simplify how innovative building industry and architecture firms develop smart IoT solutions for an increasingly interconnected world. From the scalable compute power of Intel® Quark™ SoC, Intel® Atom™ processors, and Intel® Core™ vPro™ processors to Intel®-based smart home gateways, Intel delivers the foundational, end-to-end technologies that let you connect, secure, and manage valuable data so that you get more from IoT.
Learn more: intel.com/iot
5-4-3 innovation acceleration
Due to the complexity and dependencies in most buildings, many owners, managers, and architects are unsure where to start—whether moving a building into the digital era or improving existing digital capacity. relayr’s unique 5-4-3 Innovation Acceleration methodology is designed to help buildings rapidly progress from concept to full IoT rollout within one business quarter. In short, the process enables relayr to assess your requirements and identify the top three areas where you can receive the most value for your investment. Prototyping and testing can occur in your actual environment to pilot and validate solutions. Speed, accuracy, and pragmatism are the cornerstones of relayr’s approach to help remove risks, reduce upfront costs, and ensure results are beneficial and on target.
The 5-4-3 approach helps buildings manage and speed IoT transformation with end-to-end support in short, focused stages:
5 days: Kickstart
relayr IoT experts guide clients through the process of developing their own IoT solutions using the relayr toolset. It starts with five days of foundational preparation and a kickstart workshop designed to profile, map, analyze, prioritize, and determine the feasibility of ideas—resulting in three leading ideas to move toward proof of concept.
4 weeks: Accelerate
Four work weeks are devoted to developing a working prototype, prototype testing, and creating a scope of work for the traction phase. The prototype focuses on one use case, from making a digital footprint of an existing or new asset (including retrofitting with sensors, custom connectors, and visualizations) to basic integration with an existing ERP, CRM, or BMS system.
3 months: Traction
Three months of intensive development efforts, including implementation of connectors, full testing, dashboard setup, and sensor consumption package definition.
Launch: Full IoT rollout
The process concludes with a step-by-step rollout of the IoT solution to relevant areas of the building.
Conclusion
relayr brings proven expertise in connecting heterogeneous systems, so buildings can invest in the smart capabilities that will deliver the most benefit. With full interoperability, legacy and new buildings have systems that talk to each other, revealing a holistic profile of operations. Intel-based IoT gateways and technologies provide an added layer of security and intelligence from the edge to the cloud. Turn the complex building industry landscape into opportunity with relayr and Intel.
