Although largely hidden from public gaze, a quiet revolution is taking place in the real estate industry. Technology is emerging as the cornerstone of the fast-growing industry and no longer do people talk about intelligent buildings through which they could monitor, control and take actions. Instead, a new technology framework promises to create new revenues by offering the tenants?commercial and residential?a bouquet of services, including high-speed internet access, web-based surveillance and household automation systems, in addition to safer buildings.
Do not be surprised, but this is what Cisco Systems has in store for building owners, occupiers and developers by means of its technology framework called Connected Real Estate. ?Technologies facilitating infrastructure is one of the cornerstones of a booming economy,? says Suprabhat Chatterjee, vice-president, Cisco India and SAARC region.
Since there is a rapid urbanisation, it is becoming necessary for an owner or an operator to have a mechanism to monitor each and every aspect of construction activity. The Connected Real Estate framework converges disparate systems into one common network. Essentially, this means that various technologies such as security, surveillance and communications systems?data, voice and video?convert into a single information highway.
?The framework allows not only conversion, mobility and streamlining of the operations, but also makes it possible for the operator and the builder to offer new services required for enhancing experience, and thus generate revenues,?? he says.
In doing so, the solution is able to bring financial and operational advantages not only to the real estate and property services industries, but also to downstream constituencies, such as hotel operators, multiplexed retail outlets and corporate tenants in sectors as diverse as leisure, healthcare, education and retail finance.
That?s not all. With its internet protocol (IP) solution, Cisco can now configure its real estate solution to match user needs. IP becomes more like an information or force that can be used to control utilities like power, water and gas and bring in savings in terms of energy, technology. For example, Cisco has built its campus in Bangalore with the Connected Real Estate framework, through which it could bring down the duty cost by 55%. In one of its other campuses, the furniture cost based on the modular workplace design, was brought down by 50% and space utilisation by 40%. All this was possible by monitoring and controlling the activities for which one requires intelligent connectivity.
?In one of our IT SEZ projects in Delhi, we are trying to figure out how to monitor quality, reduce electricity consumption, optimise lighting and control of air conditioning and heating from each desk. In fact, we have listed down around 70 critical services that we extend as a part of our offerings,?? Chatterjee says.
Going forward, Cisco is working with leading property and real estate developers in the country. ?Currently, we are involved in three integrated townships, three IT SEZs, a few hotels and two large campuses. Actively, there are around 10-12 projects at present,?? he says. Apart from the private projects, Cisco is also eyeing government projects.
Earlier, it had deployed the solution for the Commonwealth Games (Athens), which required 60-odd people for monitoring the building management centre. After deployment of the Connected Real Estate solution by Cisco, only three people were assigned to undertake the same activity. No wonder, the demand for these solutions is going up.
According to Global Insights, spending on the construction activity globally is pegged at $4.7 trillion. At present, there are a lot of large townships that are being built around the world?King Abdullah City in Saudi Arabia, New Founder City in Korea, Cyberport in Hong Kong, the new terminal of Singapore airport.