The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to reduce the energy that buildings consume. By transforming heating, ventilation and cooling services in commercial buildings, the IoT can improve efficiency, lower costs and cut carbon emissions.
Japanese air conditioning company Daikin is at the forefront of the IoT revolution in the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) industry. It has developed i-Net, an IoT solution that enables companies to remotely monitor their heating and air conditioning performance. i-Net gives users direct access to their level of power usage and diagnostics, whilst providing an accurate picture of the building’s carbon footprint.
Customers receive information via email that helps them identify spikes in consumption or potential faults. This allows them to quickly adjust ineffective systems and help facility managers maintain equipment before it loses efficiency or impacts on the occupants in the building.
Challenge
Even though potential customers could see the benefits of i-Net, they were worried that letting an external party connect to their network would overload their system and slow it down. Many also had security concerns. Daikin realized that it needed to find a new way to transfer the data collected by i-Net that would not require logging into the customer’s network.
“Data transfers for our remote energy consumption monitoring system are a major issue for our customers. We must ensure they are secure to build trust with our partner companies,” explained Christophe Thomas, Manager Solutions Business at Daikin.
Solution
Daikin approached Orange Business to help it find an answer to this communications challenge. The two companies had worked together previously on Daikin’s mobile phones fleet. “Our choice was essentially based on the relationship and the trust that we had built between us,” said Daikin’s Thomas.
To meet Diakin’s needs, Orange Business developed a machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity solution. It transfers data via 3G and the Internet from the energy performance measurement tools monitoring the heating and air conditioning equipment. These reports are then sent to the customer’s inbox and a dedicated application.
Orange installed 3G routers linked to a monthly subscription system and the entire implementation took less than three months.
Outcome
Through the Orange Business solution, Daikin is able to provide faster and more secure connection for i-Net. Customers are now able to use a remote energy consumption monitoring system without having to open up their own network to an external party.
Daikin has been able to rapidly bring on board new customers, who were previously apprehensive about moving forward with i-Net, because of the network connection requirements.
Read more on how Orange Business can help you realize your IoT ambitions and find out more about Daikin.