CIOs are used to printers and routers with IP addresses. Soon they’ll have to deal with ceiling lights run by Power over Ethernet that have them as well.
That’s what’s happening at Cisco Systems’ new Canadian head office in Toronto, where over the next two months the walls, fixtures and sensors will be installed in the four floors the company will be occupying starting in May.
The 31-story building, called RBC Waterpark Place III, is owned by Cisco to open Internet of Things lab in Toronto
Speaking to reporters and industry analysts on a tour Friday, Cisco Canada president Bernadette Wightman said the Cisco will tout its facilities as “living, breathing smart office.”
The new LED ceiling lights from Philips NV, for example, could be automatically programmed to turn on and off by motion sensors, or by users from laptops and smart phones. So could the roller blinds.
The fibre optic backbone allows communications providers to only connect to the building in the basement data centre. Each floor has a small closet with two Cisco Catalyst 3750 blade switches for connectivity.
Technology integration services were done bysince we wrote about Cisco and EllisDon’s first collaboration in 2011, Foster said in an interview. “We’re seeing this as part of the requirements that come out from the engineers and the architects. In 2009 we were having to convince people. It has now flipped over and is a request to do it.”
Similarly, Cisco’s Huijbregts said his company is slowly starting to see the ecosystem of developers, engineers, architects and equipment suppliers grow.
“Most new construction in Toronto is moving in this direction.”
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