Microsoft is collaborating with smart buildings firm Johnson Controls to transform digitally how buildings and spaces are conceived, built and managed using the recently announced Azure Digital Twins.

As a partner for Azure Digital Twins, Johnson Control’s OpenBlue Digital Twin is a platform that will support the entire ecosystem of building and device management technologies with digital cloud technologies.

Johnson Controls is a Microsoft partner leveraging several Azure services including active directory services, Azure Data Lake, access control and time series insights. Azure Digital Twins is the latest Azure platform service integrated into the OpenBlue platform that aims to enable the creation of IoT connections that will model the real world.

Johnson Control’s platform turns the physical world into computable objects that will help users create detailed digital versions of physical buildings, assets and systems.

Digital twins are digital replicas of physical entities capable of providing an in-depth analysis of data and the potential to monitor systems to mitigate risks, manage issues and use simulations to test future applications. The use of digital twins plays an important role in helping technicians identify the root cause of issues, accelerating problem solving.

Additionally, building managers are able to support Covid-19 safety and security protocols, while ensuring efficient use of energy and other facility resources.

Azure Digital Twins enables the creation of knowledge graphs based on digital models of entire environments, whether they are buildings, factories, farms, energy networks, railways, stadiums or entire cities. These digital models empower property managers with actionable insights that drive better products, optimise operations, reduce costs and create breakthrough customer experiences.

“Our partnership with Microsoft is a vital ingredient in our innovation strategy, as the company shares our vision of using technology to transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play,” said Mike Ellis, vice president at Johnson Controls. “Digital twins are playing an increasingly important role in the design, construction and on-going operation of healthy buildings and spaces, and can be particularly valuable when analysing large datasets and predicting patterns and trends to tell our customers things they don’t yet know. Our OpenBlue digital platform, closely connected with Microsoft’s platform and workplace technologies, represents an unbeatable opportunity to help our customers make shared spaces safer, more agile and more sustainable.”

OpenBlue Digital Twin is a platform purpose-built with smart buildings and spaces in mind, enabling and unifying all aspects of an intelligent building: security, employee experience, facilities management, sustainability and more. The open platform’s open system seamlessly integrates with existing building infrastructure, regardless of brand, make or model.

“We have an incredible opportunity to use advances in cloud and compute capabilities to help customers reimagine the physical world,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president at Microsoft. “By integrating the power of Azure Digital Twins with JCI’s OpenBlue Digital Twin platform, our collaboration will provide customers with a digital replica and actionable insights to better meet their evolving needs.”

Among the pilots under development is an effort at the National University of Singapore (NUS). As part of the university’s efforts to create a smart, safe and sustainable campus for students and staff, the alliance’s products and services are coming together to test the foundations of a digital twin-powered operations platform. The data-driven platform will enable integrated building management across the campus and serve as the foundation for energy and space optimisation, predictive maintenance, and unmanned operations.

“NUS is excited to collaborate with Microsoft and Johnson Controls in our digital transformation journey that changes the way we design and manage our buildings and infrastructure, as we move towards a carbon-neutral campus by 2030,” said Yong Kwet Yew, senior vice president at NUS.

Working with Microsoft, Johnson Controls will address how people can return to work to make the best use of space while operating facilities safely, including:

• Energy optimisation: Optimising energy use within facilities maintenance with a goal of reducing carbon emissions to save money and support sustainability efforts.
• Access control and safety: Addressing physical access and safety using live video analytics and spatial intelligence, combining Microsoft cloud services and Johnson Controls security access controls hardware end points.
• Collaboration for facility managers: Integrating facility management workflows with workplace collaboration platforms such as Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Teams to increase productivity and collaboration across remote teams.
• Workspace optimisation: Increasing the use of spaces by merging building and occupancy data with experiences to create actionable insights for facility managers and the occupants.

The OpenBlue platform, launched in July 2020, was designed with agility, flexibility and scalability in mind, to enable buildings to become dynamic spaces. In leveraging the platform, users will be able to manage operations more systemically, delivering buildings that have memory, intelligence and identity.