Horizontal vs vertical system architectures - how to demolish silos

Traditional building services systems have been vertical architectures – each function such as HVAC controls, lighting controls, meter monitoring etc. are delivered as separate working system comprised of sensor and actuators connected to controllers which are connected to one or more network managers which are connected to supervisory software and, more recently and sometimes to cloud application. This approach makes data sharing and integration difficult to achieve, hindered further by the proprietary nature of the communications between some or all of the layers.

Horizontally architected systems offer a different approach, which enables much easier data sharing between devices at all levels, and avoids some of the layers as well. This talk explores the opportunities and challenges of choosing a horizontal rather than a vertical approach to smart building systems design, and the role of open protocols, and device & data modelling standards in facilitating greater openness as well as unlocking value from the building data.