Black Box Unveils Connected Buildings

Black Box has introduced Connected Buildings — a suite of solutions and services that enable digital experiences in smart, IoT buildings.

Black Box designs, deploys, manages and maintains the foundational technology that connects the internal ecosystem of interoperable devices and sensors that work together to enable human-to-human, human-to-device and device-to-device interaction. Black Box's Connected Buildings services modernize IT infrastructure, solve in-building connectivity challenges and link clients' devices at locations around the world.

"Demand for the IoT building is growing exponentially. Now more than ever, our customers need spaces that are interactive, adaptive, automated and secure," said Doug Oathout, senior vice president, Portfolio and Partnerships, Black Box. "At Black Box, we apply our broad portfolio of IT solutions to take the complexity out of connected buildings and make it simple for our customers by giving them one trusted partner to handle their IT services. Whether updating hundreds of existing locations or outfitting one location from the ground up, our team of project managers, engineers and technicians works with our clients to craft a solution that creates consistent customer experiences and reliable communications at every location."

The Black Box Connected Building is enabled by several faster, more robust technologies: 5G/CBRS and Wi-Fi to augment existing wireless systems and create fully connected buildings; edge networking and data centers to collect data where it's created and combine it with AI to make smarter devices; and cybersecurity for governance and assessments, incident and event monitoring, endpoint detection and response, and VPN and firewall services.

The Connected Building service offering includes assessment, consulting and project management, coupled with on-site services for configuration, staging, installation and logistics. Black Box accomplishes this with four solution offerings:

• Multisite Deployments. The Black Box team is able to handle large-scale national/global installations and provide uniform IT at hundreds or thousands of sites.

• IoT Deployments. The explosion in IoT solutions is enhancing the user experience for both customers and colleagues. The Black Box team can supply and install cameras, digital signage, POS, sensors and other in-building IoT technologies.

• Structured Cabling and Networking to enable the seamless digital experience that is the true foundation of the Black Box Connected Building. The Black Box team will ensure that clients have the infrastructure necessary to support future bandwidth requirements.

• Digital Transformation for seamless user experiences. With thousands of certifications and technicians, Black Box can manage the implementations and deployments that drive global transformation.

"With Connected Buildings, our role is to simplify IT for our clients — especially in complex enterprises and when they have little or no remote IT support — all while helping them meet the device deployment challenges inherent in digital transformation," Oathout added. "The results speak for themselves: IT operations managers who have chosen Black Box as their digital transformation partner have cut project costs by more than 33%, slashed the time for retrofitting existing locations from years to months, and experienced the same high-quality results whether they're based in Mexico City; Mumbai, India; or Memphis, Tennessee."

www.bboxservices.com