Intelligent office buildings thanks to connected lighting and big data

Employee mobility is on the increase, and the way that office space is used has changed radically. Most office buildings are barely half full, even at peak times – which means huge potential for optimisation. The problem is: in order to best utilise the available floor space, companies must understand what is actually going on in their office buildings. How often is a particular workplace or conference room used? At the same time, employees in open-plan offices with flexible workplace concepts are frequently faced with the problem of locating a free workstation or meeting room at short notice. The solution lies in real-time data, which serve as the basis for smart, user-oriented office buildings. Through their Connected Lighting System, Regent – leading and innovative lighting manufacturer based in Switzerland – is able to create office lighting networks, bringing the Internet of Things into modern office buildings. “The sensor technology integrated into our luminaires delivers a wealth of real-time data,” Christoph Platzer, Head of Product Management at Regent explains. “We regard lighting as an important, and indeed key, part of smart office buildings.” With their specially developed smart building platform Locatee Analytics the Zürich-based start-up company Locatee is already providing more than 10 major companies at home and abroad (Swiss Post, UPC, Biogen, ABB etc.) with valuable services to enable them to handle real-time building data.

Locatee’s patent pending Big Data technology analyses different data sources, for example from the existing IT infrastructure, and renders them totally anonymous. Together the two companies have developed the lighting solution: Light Hub powered by Locatee. This combines Regent’s Connected Lighting System with the Big Data technology from Locatee. «In this age of the Internet of Things increasingly more objects, such as luminaires, are becoming interconnected and are thus an integral part of the building infrastructure, similar to an IT infrastructure», Thomas Kessler, co-founder and CEO of Locatee points out. «We see the partnership with Regent and the analysis of data collected through the Connected Lighting System as an ideal complement to our existing platform». Based on the data retrieved from the luminaires, Light Hub provides a simple opportunity to analyse the utilisation of the office space, optimise the number of workplaces actually needed, and to save costs accordingly. Furthermore, employees have an easier time locating free workplaces or conference rooms. And clients using Light Hub can opt to upgrade their building and use Locatee’s smart building platform at any time. Thanks to being able to combine data from the existing LAN and Wi-Fi infrastructure, more than 100 so-called smart building scenarios can be supported without the owner having to invest in any additional hardware. These range from the portfolio analysis of the utilisation of the space, to the analysis of the mobility and collaborative behaviour of the organisation, to a mobile app for office employees. Find more about the advantages of Light Hub powered by Locatee at: www.regent.ch/lighthub

About Regent

Founded as a family company in 1908, Regent is today the market leader in Switzerland and one of the leading luminaire manufacturers in Europe Regent products are sold internationally through distribution partners in 35 countries around the world. Thanks to their extensive expertise and knowhow in the field of light and lighting, Regent’s team of experts is able to offer advice and guidance to lighting designers, architects, electrical installers and end-users. It is our ethos to explore new technological opportunities to create intuitive lighting solutions to improve work spaces and management functions, and enhance our quality of life. For more information, please visit: www.regent.ch