SCADA/HMI


Facilities management

August 2009 SCADA/HMI

Protect building assets against rising energy prices with CitectFacilities V7.10.

In times of economic and climatic upheaval, Citect is giving facilities managers and building owners the tools to more closely monitor costs and optimise energy use in their buildings with CitectFacilities V7.10.

CitectFacilities V7.10 includes a BACnet driver that facilitates a comprehensive and fully integrated system between multiple vendor building automation control products. This allows building managers to automate and regulate all functions across buildings and obtain a complete picture of all the facets of their building management strategy.

The system provides managers with information about where energy is being consumed so they can make informed decisions about reducing use. They can also rate and improve their energy consumption against targets set by the Building Green Star Ratings and Green Building Programs.

“The new version of CitectFacilities allows building managers to increase their efficiency, flexibility and response times through realtime visibility and control of systems like heating, ventilation and airconditioning, fire detection and alarms, and lighting,” explains Bruce Grobler, automation general sales manager at Schneider Electric South Africa. “They will also gain increased confidence in their management practices through the truly open interface and integrated system.”

“Up to 40% of the world’s energy is consumed by buildings,” says Ivan Fernandez, industry director, Frost & Sullivan. “In the current climate of economic uncertainty, building owners and managers are under increasing pressure to reduce their costs and reducing energy consumption makes this possible. Products like CitectFacilities that help building managers reduce energy use as well as overall operating costs, without compromising the comfort of their tenants, are increasingly in demand.”

CitectFacilities V7.10 includes Windows Integrated Security and support for Microsoft Windows Vista. This compatibility allows managers to take advantage of the additional security features built into Vista, while Windows Integrated Security allows corporate security standards to be applied across the entire system, and creates a single location for the management of user accounts.

“By providing facilities monitoring software that supports all current operating systems, the latest technology and open systems, we are ensuring that building managers will continue to be able to support their systems now and into the future,” continues Grobler.

This release also introduces Dual Signature functionality which provides a second level of authorisation for actions. Some operations may have cost, regulatory, environmental or other consequences and processes dictate that a second level of authorisation is required before the action proceeds.

An example where dual signatures can be used is in controlling airconditioning, costs and energy consumption for airconditioning can be greatly reduced if it is turned off after hours. Property managers or supervisors can configure CitectFacilities to ensure that the airconditioning cannot be turned back on without an additional level of authorisation.

“CitectFacilities is an open and flexible facilities monitoring solution that is designed to manage large scale building environments, connecting multiple sites, functions and building control vendors,” concludes Grobler. “While optimising energy consumption, property owners can not only protect their existing and future facilities but also save on the cost of tenant services.”

For more information contact Belinda Aslett, Schneider Electric South Africa, +27 (0)11 254 6400, belinda.aslett@za.schneider-electric.com, www.schneider-electric.co.za



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