Utilities consultancy Utilitywise is developing a new Internet of Things (IoT) platform alongside telecoms and tech giants Vodafone and Dell EMC which professes to “transform” the way businesses use energy.
The energy and building management platform claims to allow businesses to evaluate all of their energy-related outputs, including lighting, heating and ventilation, from multiple sites. This data is then aggregated into a single hub, whereby facility and property managers can evaluate energy consumption.
Trials of the platform are underway – a number of UK retailers are currently testing it – and some have managed to cut operational costs by 20%.
Stefano Gastaut, director of IoT at Vodafone, described the platform as a “great example” of how IoT technology is being used to “disrupt and innovate”.
“IoT is helping to create smarter buildings and to change the level of control and insight companies can get about their energy performance,” he said.
The development builds on two emerging trends within today’s power sector; both the adoption of IoT technology and the migration towards energy as a service offerings, wherein suppliers commit to taking a more wholesale and hands on approach to an end user’s energy demand.
Suppliers like Ørsted have brought forward energy as a service business models for large energy users, while energy tech companies like Lightsource have also made moves in the market to bolster their IoT expertise.
The development also marks what Dell’s Dermot O’Connell described as a “bold move” from the tech giant into the building and energy services sector.
“With this unique combination we have the ability to reduce energy consumption bills for thousands of UK businesses by combining Dell EMC’s advanced infrastructure solutions – which are ideal for connecting systems like legacy building management commonly referred to as Operations Technology – to state of the art connectivity from Vodafone and advanced data ingestion and analytics from Utilitywise.”
