Honeywell and Analog Devices, Inc. have announced at CES 2024 of their partnership to explore the digitization of commercial buildings. Particularly, by upgrading digital connectivity technologies without replacing existing wiring. Thus, will help reduce cost, waste, and downtime.

The strategic alliance would bring this new technology to building management systems for the first time.

Many of the commercial buildings in the United States are outdated and inefficient. Moreover, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said a vast majority of them had been built before the year 2000.

Additionally, organizations are relying on networking technology to transmit ever-greater volumes of data, causing a surge in demand for cloud storage and processing speed.

Moves Beyond Factory Automation

Digitizing building management systems will allow managers to reduce energy consumption through real-time decisions. At the same time, it will upgrade a building’s network performance and security to current Internet-protocol networks without extensive costs and remodeling.

“For more than a decade, ADI and Honeywell have collaborated on driving the next waves of innovation,” said Martin Cotter, senior vice president of industrial and Multi Markets and president of ADI EMEA region. “In this next phase of our work together, we are thrilled to see these ADI technologies move beyond factory automation and into Honeywell’s building management system…(Thus, helping) customers reduce building energy consumption, which can save money, improve resiliency, and help meet emissions reduction goals.”

“Honeywell is revolutionizing building management systems to help building owners tackle today’s biggest challenges,” said Suresh Venkatarayalu, Honeywell’s chief technology officer. “This collaboration with ADI would offer building owners the ability to upgrade and enhance their wiring without a significant upfront investment, and with less labor and environmental impact.”

Honeywell plans to adopt ADI’s single-pair Ethernet (T1L) and software configurable input/output (SWIO) solutions in its building management systems. Moreover, ADI’s single-pair Ethernet enables long-reach Ethernet connectivity with the possibility of reusing a building’s existing wiring. Thus, reducing installation time and cost, and reducing waste.

Meanwhile, single-pair Ethernet complements existing Ethernet connectivity in building management systems. Hence, bringing enhanced connectivity from the edge to the cloud, helping eliminate data islands and better utilizing assets.

Most importantly, ADI’s offering would also reduce product complexities by enabling Honeywell to build a single version of the product for different needs. This allows more future-proofed control and automation for when a building or requirements change. This helps increase the speed of product installation, reduces inventory needs, and enables easier and more affordable changes.