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CEDES Insights: North America

10/09/2024
Steven Freedman, our CRO and President of CEDES Americas, talks about IoT adoption in the North American elevator market and explores the advantages of non-proprietary vs. proprietary IoT solutions.

While everyone in North America is talking about IoT and many jobs can’t even be bid without IoT, few companies are able to deliver meaningful business outcomes from their solutions. Measurable business value can come in many forms and the desired business outcomes can vary greatly, depending on what type of company is paying for the IoT solution. We have also seen a number of IoT system concepts proposed in North America, from purely proprietary solutions to open platforms where other industry suppliers are welcome to participate. These system approaches vary greatly depending on the business objectives of the IoT supplier. We, at CEDES, have taken the latter approach to be non-proprietary and inclusive of external partners into our platform. 

Completely proprietary solutions often have the perceived advantage of getting their data directly from the elevator controller. However, they all miss the data from the doors which are by far the most common reason for unplanned service calls. Therefore, there are huge advantages to the cegard/Smart system from CEDES in that much of the data comes from the sensors embedded in the light curtain which is a device required by code anyway. Controller-based IoT solutions also face the challenge of requiring replacement of the elevator controller on a modernization job in order to get the benefits of the data. This is another advantage of a stand-alone, light curtain based system where there is no connection to or from the elevator controller, which means it can work with whatever equipment is already in place. 

As the 2019 version of the A17.1/C22.2 code gets adopted by more and more parts of North America, the impact of 3D requirements for door protection as well as changes to emergency communications requirements add complexity to the overall data landscape around the elevator system. That’s why we integrated both our CabSafe 3D system as well as our EComgard emergency communication devices together with our cegard/Smart light curtain for full integration into the CEDES Elevate cloud-based IoT platform. We take a non-proprietary approach and have already started to integrate devices from partners such as Langer & Laumann door drives, which are also available in North America. More partners are already in the works for future integrations.  

The value of CEDES Elevate has been well received by ISPs, consultants, and building managers alike and the feedback we received at the recent NAEC United Exposition proved that we are on the right track and delivering what the market needs  However, it is also a complex topic that comes with a learning curve for many companies. Proving a sustainable return on investment is the key to success for any IoT platform, and we are proud to be a guiding partner who is leading the way in non-proprietary IoT solutions to improve operational efficiency and deliver meaningful and measurable business outcomes for our customers every single day. 

Sincerly,
Steven Freedman

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