In collaboration with Bentley Systems and Schneider Electric, Microsoft has rolled out a digital twin of its regional headquarters at Frasers Tower in Singapore, offering a living blueprint for the future of smart buildings
?The workplace of the future is about embracing innovation into the very fabric of our space, so that we create multiple touchpoints of connectivity, are intentionally inclusive and accessible, while being very mindful of sustainability and the environment.,? said Ricky Kapur, vice-president for sales, marketing and operations for Microsoft in Asia-Pacific.
Improving productivity with digital twins
At the Microsoft offices in Frasers Tower, data is collected using a mix of 179 Bluetooth beacons in meeting rooms and 900 sensors for lighting, air quality and temperature by Schneider Electric.
The sensors enable monitoring of facilities usage, energy and utilities. They optimise space utilisation, air conditioning and lighting adjustments, thus providing a productive space for employees, while increasing overall energy efficiency. Open, interoperable technology also allows activity detection enabled lighting and room sensors to reflect room bookings on the Microsoft?s Smart Building CampusLink app.
Employees and staff use Smart Building CampusLink, an application that is fully integrated with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office 365, taking navigation to the next level by enabling employees to find directions, determine room occupancy and book facilities in real-time. Built on Azure App Services and powered by Azure Data Lake and Office 365 Graph API, Microsoft?s regional headquarters in Asia Pacific is the first Microsoft office outside of Redmond, Washington to implement Smart Building CampusLink.
?Smart sensors allow us to collect meaningful data in real time, which enables us to optimise various aspects of our spaces, making them more comfortable, while reducing energy consumption in a sustainable and economical manner. Our partnership with Microsoft offers a real model on how connected devices combined with contextualised sensor processing can deliver smart building systems that do not intrude on the privacy of individuals, and can be applied beyond offices, to buildings, malls and even homes of the future,? commented Damien Dhellemmes, cluster president, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Schneider Electric.
Data driven blueprint
The data from sensors enable the virtual replication of the physical world by modelling the relationships between people, places and devices in a spatial intelligence graph.
?Digital twins are redefining how we manage infrastructure, from individual equipment installations to large facilities and entire cities. While smart buildings were developed to better manage energy consumption, we have come to realise additional strategic roles of dynamically allocating space, increasing utilisation, reducing costs, improving competitiveness and enhancing collaboration and productivity,? noted Kaushik Chakraborty, vice-president and regional executive for Asia South at Bentley Systems.
?With Bentley?s OpenCities Planner and Microsoft?s Azure cloud platform and Power BI, we have developed a virtual digital twin model of their regional headquarters in Singapore, correlating the data collected across the digital and physical worlds to build domain-specific solutions and unlock new efficiencies, improvements, and opportunities for the modern workplace,? he added.
Sustainability and inclusivity
In a world where we can expect more than 40 billion devices generating nearly 80 zettabytes (ZB) of data by 2025, organisations and industries will need to adopt new technologies and build capabilities that will enable them to flourish in an innovation-led, cloud first, artificial intelligence focused future.
