UBC buildings to be a living laboratory for Cisco technologies

The University of British Columbia is joining forces with IT giant Cisco to upgrade buildings on the Vancouver campus with smart technologies. Cisco Systems Canada is going to be investing up to $1 million over five years, using the university facilities to demonstrate converged networks at a building scale.

The partners say the jjoint “Living Lab Initiative” is intended “to accelerate the development, demonstration and commercialization of new technologies.”

Plans include a campus-wide Smart Energy System that will enable the university to integrate the energy-generating facilities it has on campus with the buildings’ demand and supply.

The two parties will also explore integrating energy and environmental controls, security, lighting, video, fire alarms, etc. all on one converged network.

And they will be working with multiple manufacturers on developing new building automation devices using Cisco’s Universal Power Over Ethernet and Energy Wise software.