The UBC campus in Vancouver is about to get a lot smarter.
Networking vendor Cisco Systems will be collaborating with the University of British Columbia (UBC) on a number of initiatives related to smart energy technologies and converged network solutions. Cisco will be involved in UBC’s Campus as a Living Lab Initiative, which focuses on accelerating the development, demonstration and commercialization of new technologies – in this case, working to create more energy-efficient buildings and identifying ways to reduce UBC’s greenhouse gas emissions and carbon costs.
“Cisco and UBC share a vision of achieving environmental sustainability through the transformational use of smart energy systems such as smarter buildings and communities,” said Pascal Spothelfer, vice-president of communications and community partnership with UBC, in a statement. “This agreement will give us the opportunity to act on this shared vision by using UBC as a living laboratory to provide faculty, students and staff with fantastic learning opportunities and more efficient University operations. The living lab will also aim to define new industry benchmarks and a city-scale demonstration for making communities more sustainable through better efficiency and advanced technologies.”
Cisco said it’s planning an investment of up to $1 million over five years in collaborative projects, drawing on Cisco’s Smart+Connected Communities and Smart+Connected Real Estate initiatives. They’ll look at creating campus-wide smart energy systems that integrate energy generation and supply, the integration of all building systems onto a single converged network, new automation devices using power over Ethernet technology, and the building-scale demonstration of converged network solutions.
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“Cisco is committed to exploring opportunities presented by our increasingly connected world in order to enrich lives through the use of innovative technology,” said Cisco Canada president Nitin Kawale, in a statement. “The work done by Cisco and UBC on campus will enable vital energy-saving solutions for the university, and also serve as a roadmap for future smart energy and smart community initiatives not only in Canada, but around the world.”