Smart Office Buildings?
Business to Business Monthly Magazine
Date -- October, 2000 - By Bill Milliken, CCIM
Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce
It's a great irony. Here we are, living in Washtenaw County, caught in this rarified air of Palm Pilots, digital technology and talk of "smart buildings." Notwithstanding the great technological inroads that have been made by our universities, the private sector -- here -- really has yet to produce its first smart building.
The Definition of "Smart"A "smart building" is not necessarily new construction. But it does distinguish itself by the degree of technological sophistication it pulls together in one place. Connectivity is key, and fiber optic cable (innerduct or air-blown fiber) throughout the building is the state-of-the-art. Because software (or whatever technology) companies shift gears so rapidly, the property needs to be flexible and adaptive. Hence the "meet-me" room, the place in the building where the telecommunications providers stub off their respective services for use by tenants. Once a tenant decides which provider to work with, the necessary connection is made in the meet-me room. Developers call it "plug and play." But there's more. The building has to be located near a backbone to provide its connectivity. Backup electrical power for it is essential. Some large companies equate their financial loss to millions of dollars a minute when they lose power. A modular office design is important to enable tenants to expand on site with a minimum amount of business disruption. The building needs HVAC that is capable of providing the heating and particularly the cooling that many tenants require. And around the clock building access. Other elements, such as telephony, local area networks, video conferencing and electronic security are tenant responsibilities. But they cannot be implemented in the absence of smart building infrastructure.
Smart Zone Proposal PendingWe may soon see a turn of events, however. Washtenaw Development Council president Susan Lackey reports that they are busy preparing a request to the Michigan Economic Development Council (MEDC) for one of its ten Smart Zone designations. The application may be acted upon by the end of the year, and it could set the stage for a public/private partnership that would be a boon for downtown business - in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. It would also enable a TIF, or a tax increment financing vehicle, to capture revenue for the program.
U of M and EMU Play Key RolesThe Smart Zone target areas are the designated Downtown Development Authority (DDA) areas of both Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. In concert with the information technology officials at Eastern Michigan and the University of Michigan, the proposal calls for construction of a network fiber optic grid that will link the two urban areas. It is patterned after the network grid in Palo Alto, CA, according to Alan McCord, the U of M's associate chief information officer. Physically, the grid would be laid along Main Street, then to Plymouth Road, Dixboro, Michigan Avenue, Ellsworth and back to Main Street. Spurs would be established to link with the existing university networks and Washtenaw Community College. Unlike Palo Alto, however, this network backbone would rely on private telecommunications vendors for substantial investment in the system. "We are trying to leverage a broader environment for the development of 'smart buildings' here," says McCord. He was careful not to name names, and to point out that no agreements have been signed. However, it is clear that names like MCI Worldcom, Qwest and Ameritech would probably appear on a list of less than ten companies qualified to undertake a program of this scope.
Why Fiber?The fiber optic grid excites people who rely on technology because of the enormous bandwidth it provides. Think of it as a six-lane expressway. Then think of a modem linked to your telephone line. That might be a rural, two-lane road. Maybe it's paved. A T-1 line, with a speed of 1.5 Mbits/second, is "fast" and lies somewhere in between. As do the slower DSL lines. On top of all that, fiber is exciting because it relies on digital transmission instead of slower methods that all metal cables require.
Smart DetroitAn example of where all this may lead is in the venerable old Penobscot Building in downtown Detroit. In April, Capstone Advisors opened Smart Detroit in 35,000 square feet of the Building, with the assistance of Quest Communications. Thanks to a "telecom hotel" Ameritech had already built in the building, Smart Detroit offers a range of cyber capabilities to its tenants, including a private office with a T-1 line for $750 per month. Video conferencing and a cyber café are available. Occupancy is 100%. According to John Keba, Capstone's V.P. of Asset Management, three of the top ten Internet service providers in the U.S. are now also negotiating for Penobscot space.
For More Information Contact:
Bill Milliken, CCIM
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