Real estate is expensive. For this reason, it must be used sensibly and managed efficiently. “Smart Spaces” by T-Systems MMS provides an intelligent basis to do so. This solution uses sensors to collect space usage data and combines it in such a way that it is then possible, for example, to optimize management of building systems, save energy, and allow employees to quickly find an available workstation. Azure services run in the background. They consolidate sensor data and provide information in real time while also enabling mapping and navigation within buildings.
The challenge: Flexibility for smart buildings
The 2017 Microsoft German Partner Conference (now known as the Microsoft Business Summit) provided the impetus: an office furniture manufacturer in the exhibition hall wanted to demonstrate how its products could be made “smart” in order to detect the occupancy of their booth in real time. EnOcean, which specializes in sensors with no external power supply, installed vibration, temperature, and other sensors on items at the manufacturer’s booth. T-Systems MMS then provided the connectivity for the sensors as well as a way to analyze their data in a digital twin of the exhibit booth.
“Right away, we recognized some everyday use cases for our solution, such as in offices with desk sharing. The frustration factor is quite high for employees who arrive a little later than most and then need more time to find an available desk. In a smart building, they could simply select a free workstation in an app and head straight to it in the office,” explains Tino Mager, Cloud Solution Architect at T-Systems MMS. This inspired the idea to develop a solution for commercial properties based on the first test installation at the exhibit booth. By 2018, a potential first customer had already booked a hackathon: in the span of just two days, T-Systems MMS employees worked with them to develop a Smart Spaces solution that could be used to detect the occupancy of ten to twenty rooms in real time and to book workstations.
Based on this experience, it made sense to establish two important conditions: first, the sensors should be self-powered whenever possible, possibly with solar cells, to keep them low-maintenance and versatile. T-Systems MMS thus selected EnOcean as their preferred provider of sensors for Smart Spaces. Thanks to energy harvesting, EnOcean sensors don’t need batteries or cables, so they can be installed flexibly wherever data will be collected. Having no batteries makes them a significantly more sustainable wireless alternative. As the second condition, the solution should be open, flexible, and scalable so that it can be deployed in both small and large companies and can incorporate technologies that are already installed.
The solution: Simple integration into Azure IoT and being open to new services
T-Systems MMS chose Microsoft Azure as the background cloud solution. “Having Azure IoT as a platform-as-a-service makes our solution highly flexible,” Mager says. “We don’t need to build our own infrastructure. We can easily integrate new sensors from many different hardware manufacturers and use the platform for device and lifecycle management.”
T-Systems MMS can design Smart Spaces not only with pre-existing sensors but also with the customer’s existing building technology. It is relatively simple to register and manage the devices in the Azure IoT Hub. “Azure Kubernetes Services with an Azure SQL Database runs in the background of Smart Spaces. This makes our solution so painlessly scalable that we can start out small, or maybe connect only some of the possible sensors, and then easily integrate 500 or more sensors later on,” Mager says.
His colleague Stefanie Uhlig, a Smart Spaces project manager, continues: “The basis of Smart Spaces is a digital twin that is located in Azure and acts as an administration platform. Customers can easily access Smart Spaces via the website or app. We offer them various functions and services, such as booking workstations and offices, current office usage data including forecasts, real-time desk or conference room occupancy data, as well as the air quality.” This information and these functions make work easier, not only for the employees in the office, but also for service providers like delivery or cleaning service personnel: one glance at the app or the website tells them where they are needed and can work without interruption. Especially during the pandemic with its stricter hygiene protocols, Smart Spaces is also making it easier and safer to run an office: workstations that must be cleaned can be identified in real time and sanitized at short notice.
Data protection is a top priority with Smart Spaces. Personal data is collected only with the express permission of the user. Vibration or heat sensors collect anonymous data on the use of desks and conference rooms. “If entry into a room is detected by camera, it functions on the principle of edge computing and informs Smart Spaces only of the number of people in a room, and not who they are,” Mager explains.
Successful examples of Smart Spaces installations can be found in the German office of sensor manufacturer EnOcean, at Deutsche Telekom in Bonn, and in all T-Systems MMS locations. “Smart Spaces collects anonymous data on the number of people in the Telekom cafeteria, for instance, and makes this information available in real time so that employees can make lunch plans depending on the actual occupancy,” says Uhlig. At T-Systems Switzerland, sensors count how many employees are in the offices; vibration sensors detect whether a desk is in use. This makes it possible to book workstations in real time and optimize the use of office space. T-Systems MMS is also using Smart Spaces with vibration sensors installed on the desks.
For another function of Smart Spaces, T-Systems MMS relies on Azure Maps Creator. This makes it easy to create navigation solutions, correctly map them, and make them available. With Smart Spaces, employees can confidently navigate through unfamiliar buildings, for example. And this information can also be provided to emergency services so they can get where they’re needed more quickly. “We work closely with our Microsoft colleagues in Redmond to continue developing the practical requirements of Azure Services,” Mager explains.
The next step in the evolution of Smart Spaces is currently under development: linking to facility management software. Not only will users immediately benefit from the smart offices, but professional service providers in the real estate sector can also optimize their services—and upgrading the technology in the properties makes them more valuable and future-proof.
“Having Azure IoT as a platform-as-a-service makes our solution highly flexible. We can easily integrate new sensors from different hardware manufacturers and use the platform for device and lifecycle management.”
Tino Mager, Cloud Solution Architect, T-Systems MMS
Follow Microsoft