IBM is moving deeper into its smarter buildings initiative with the acquisition of sofware developer Tririga.
"Smarter Planet" projects are a key strategic growth area for IBM, estimated to drive $10 billion in revenue by 2015.
Tririga’s software helps companies optimize building use and make long-term real estate planning decisions. It can analyze building conditions, help prioritize investments in upgrades, as well as monitor a facility’s environmental impact to pinpoint systems that need improvement.
The acquisition will accelerate IBM’s smarter buildings initiatives by adding advanced intelligence that improves real estate performance, capital project management and the outcomes of sustainability initiatives.
Property and real estate typically represents the second-largest expense on a company’s income statement, after employee compensation. Facilities investments and operating costs can exceed 30% of corporate spending each year.
IBM is working with thousands of organizations globally to optimize energy use and equipment efficiency in office buildings, campuses, resorts, hospitals and cities using IBM smarter buildings software, which includes analytics, automation and IBM Maximo Asset Management.
Currently, building managers and executives have to use multiple, separate software products from different vendors to accomplish these tasks. Various departments tend to need different products making it difficult to share information across business functions and processes.
"The combination of TRIRIGA and IBM smarter building solutions will deliver the industry’s most comprehensive capabilities that span the needs of all industries for managing facilities and real estate portfolios," says Florence Hudson, energy and environment executive, IBM. "Having one view of building operations worldwide will be a powerful tool to help organizations control and optimize their second-largest corporate expense — property."
A third of Fortune 100 companies and half of US federal agencies usse TRIRIGA software to reduce operational costs, increase return on real estate assets and mitigate environmental regulatory risks.
TRIRIGA will strengthen IBM smarter buildings solutions by adding key functions:
- companies will be able to optimize building use, reduce occupancy costs and improve lease administration by allowing them to evaluate future space requirements.
- managers can assess whether to replace a roof versus replacing HVAC equipment by determining which has a better return-on-investment, thus maximizng a facility’s lifetime value at the lowest cost.
- track and manage a building’s carbon footprint and reduce greenhouse gases from underperforming facilities. Companies can evaluate the financial and environmental benefit of capital investment decisions focused on energy and environmental efficiency strategies, such as a building retrofit or updating to a more efficient HVAC system.
Tririga is one of many companies moving into corporate building efficiency and environmental monitoring through software. Competitors include CA Technologies, Hara, and SAP.
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