Dubai Silicon Oasis switches to AI-enabled IBMS, saving Dhs1m monthly

Dubai Silicon Oasis is saving approximately Dhs1m per month in energy costs and facilities manpower after switching to an AI-enabled integrated building management system (IBMS).

The AI system has led to energy savings of 36 per cent per year while the number of operators required to manage the 40 buildings has been reduced from 110 to five, according to the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), the body that manages the technology park.

The system administers almost 60,000 points of control from 40 buildings and plants, including the DSOA headquarters, six office towers, the Cedre shopping centre, the operations and facilities centre, light industrial units, two residential complexes, Al Waha Mosque, and the Dubai Digital Park project.

All the buildings are connected through a local area network (LAN) and uses Tridium’s Niagara framework to integrate all the digital data streams available across the network. Data is aggregated centrally and analysed through an artificial intelligence-enabled approach, with algorithms designed to recognise and react to patterns.

From the centralised control room, the DSOA facilities management team can also monitor electricity usage in real-time, giving greater ability to make appropriate adjustments and send alerts during high-consumption instances. Additionally, the IBMS grants the ability to capture and store more historical data to feed analytics tools, which help DSOA’s facilities management team to drive towards continual energy reduction and performance improvements.

The AI software is based on a framework that integrates a range of devices, regardless of manufacturer or communication protocol, allowing DSOA greater flexibility.

“We will continue implementing our AI-enabled building management systems in newly completed projects and integrate them with the current system. Going forward, building management systems will be incorporated within the centralised system into the planning of all DSOA-owned facilities. Besides, any private developer in DSO will have the flexibility to integrate their building management system into our IBMS,” said Engineer Khalil Odeh Shalan, senior vice president of Operations and Facilities at DSOA.

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