Findings show that the BACS market continues to be led by a few dominant global players, while others are strong in certain regions, or in niche segments. However, the business of all of these could be significantly impacted by the tech giants such as Google, Apple, Microsoft – as they are already ‘players’ in the market.
BSRIA’s manager for energy and smart technologies, Jeremy Towler said: ‘A new connected, smart, LED lighting market is beginning to emerge which will see a change in the balance of ‘power’ within the building, moving from a building controls centric to a lighting centric form of building automation. The new generation of lighting controls will offer increased support for mobile access and personalised control solutions which will drive the building to respond to the individual.’
While most of the impact of home automation has been limited to the upper end of the residential market, suppliers have also been targeting their solutions at the ‘lighter’ end of the commercial spectrum in small-to-medium sized buildings. And although the homes market is still quite regionalised, global players are starting to emerge.
Even though the cloud is increasingly seen as the most cost-effective means of providing BACS software, cybersecurity concerns remain. However, notable companies are rising to the challenge as they realise this is one of the biggest potential threats to the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT is starting to change the focus of BACS systems from a more centralised / proprietary model to a more open and collaborative one. However, some data processing is more efficient if carried out locally, and this is fuelling the rise of localised ‘fog computing’ and ‘edge computing’.
BACS are applied to a wide range of solutions and equipment, including air-conditioning, heating and renewables. These are substantial markets offering growth and there are more opportunities for companies capable of expanding into these sectors.
For more information visit www.bsria.co.uk/wmi