First of a series of interviews with this visionary author and strategic advisor on Intelligent Buildings and mission-critical infrastructure, James Carlini. Carlini was the Keynote Speaker on Intelligent Infrastructure & Cybersecurity at a recent Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) Intelligent Buildings and Digital Homes Forum in San Diego, California a couple of years ago, Keynote speaker at the Bronzeville International Summit in Chicago, Illinois and has since appeared on several television interviews discussing the new trends in Intelligent Infrastructure. He is author of many whitepapers on this area and others in cybersecurity. He developed and taught courses on strategic technology management at Northwestern University for two decades in both the undergrad and Executive Masters programs in Communication Systems.
His book, LOCATION LOCATION CONNECTIVITY, is a book focused on the convergence of real estate, infrastructure, technology, and their combined impact on regional economic development. He discusses cutting-edge projects he was involved in including the planning and design of the Chicago 911 Center. He also has solid concepts, like the Platform for Commerce (his definition of Infrastructure which was adopted and referred to by both the US Department of Homeland Security and the US Army Corps of Engineers). The book also includes his witty Carlini-isms, valuable pragmatic insights he has learned throughout his career. He has been referred to as the DaVinci of Intelligent Building Concepts and Intelligent Infrastructure (mission-critical networks) by many in his industry.
In the name of Scuola Filosofica Team, our readers, and myself, Mr James Carlini: thank you!
1. What are some of the most important issues when it comes to Intelligent Buildings today in the 21st-century marketplace?
Intelligent buildings are a must-have if you want to attract and maintain first-tier corporate tenants. Intelligent buildings have to be built on Intelligent Infrastructure. This means all the power and broadband connectivity coming into the building is redundant. One out-of-three corporate applications are considered “Mission Critical”.
In a mission-critical environment, you cannot have any single point-of-failure. Most commercial buildings were designed with a single connection for power to one substation and a single connection to the telephone central office. Today, you need to have total redundancy and diverse routes to ensure reliability and resiliency. Any building without these redundant capabilities is technologically obsolete for corporations.
CARLINI-ISM: Economic Development equals Broadband Connectivity and Broadband Connectivity equals Jobs.
2. What about Intelligent Infrastructure? How does that impact regional economic viability?
Intelligent Infrastructure are the layers of Power and Network Connectivity within the Platform for Commerce. If these two layers are obsolete, the region will not be able to attract and maintain new corporate facilities and that means there will be a lack of good jobs available.
CARLINI-ISM: Economic Development equals Broadband Connectivity and Broadband Connectivity equals Jobs.
3. Why is the concept Smart City more complex than most people realize? Do we need them today?
Many politicians talk about having a vision for Smart Cities, but it is more complex than just throwing out some buzzwords to appease the audience. Smart cities require a solid Platform for Commerce, which means, an infrastructure not obsolete or lacking in redundant and diverse paths for both power as well as broadband connectivity. I have designed Intelligent Business Campuses which are a cluster of Intelligent Buildings and the campus has multiple network carriers coming in with high-speed fiber optics as well as power coming in from several diverse substations on the power grid.
The concept of Smart Cities is evolving. From just developing a focus on commercial office buildings having a lot of supporting technology for corporate tenants, to also include more multi-tenant residential buildings having redundant broadband connectivity available for every tenant due to the increased need of connecting into work from home as more people start to work remotely in many industries.
This is what Smart Cities need to offer if they are to be competitive in the 21st century, not only for attracting new corporate facilities, but also keeping residents who need to connect with their companies.
CARLINI-ISM: Smart Cities do not have dumb buildings
4. How has the Pandemic Virus (COVID19) effected future commercial leasing? What about residential Multi-tenant buildings?
The pandemic we are facing today is going to permanently impact more areas of everyday life in the United States as well as around the world when the virus eventually dies off. The change will be a lot more than just redefining some of our healthcare responses, hospital procedures, and government framework for dealing with national emergencies.
There are other areas in business, customer service, education, and transportation that could radically evolve as the temporary adjustments we implemented to accommodate the issues of social distancing and not spreading the COVID19 virus could take hold as permanent improvements in commercial buildings as well as other facilities.
Workspace requirements in office buildings will also be re-evaluated and we may leave the “open space” approach, which gained popularity in the last 5-7 years, and go back to cubicles which had a better definition of personal space. Another building amenity may be air purification systems that continuously clean the air inside of residential and commercial office buildings. The market will dictate what is viable and what becomes obsolete.
CARLINI-ISM: Building for the future means advancing from the past. 20th-century solutions do not solve 21st-century problems.
James Carlini current book, LOCATION LOCATION CONNECTIVITY is available on AMAZON His upcoming book, NANOKRIEG: BEYOND BLITZKRIEG, will be out next year.
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