Asset Utilization in Visual C#

Recognizer USS Code 128 in Visual C# Asset Utilization

The high demand for increased asset utilization will continue to increase as executives and building managers look for ways to maximize the investment of every dollar into the management of a building Finding completely new uses for IT assets so that they can manage a building is a wonderful development for the IT industry This development drives the evolution of the IT network from a series of boxes connected by wires and antennas to a computational grid, not just within a single building, but within a campus, a business park, a city, and a region Some networks, such as the electrical grid, have operated on this premise for more than 100 years The additive effect of a single residence, commercial building floor, or business park has enormous implications in power management and generation The same is now also true for mobile cellular and IT assets We sometimes forget how, even at the turn of the millennium, it was nearly impossible to make a cell phone call around 5:00 pm on a weekday in a major metropolitan area because of voice traffic load We hardly ever see that now that capacity and reliability have been tremendously built out, although getting data off the cellular network and onto the WLAN network is a priority for the major cell providers, due to the impact of exceptional smartphones such as the current Blackberry, Android, and iPhone Asset utilization within the smart building is also important to advance because maintenance and longevity are greatly affected by duty cycles, or the amount of time

a device runs Air conditioning units run less than they used to, for example, thanks to improved building insulation, ducting, and design and increased efficiency of the air conditioning units themselves As an example, smart building management allows lighting in stairwells to be turned off when no one is using the stairs Stairwells are used less than 1 percent of the time, yet the lighting is left on 100 percent of the time in most of these building areas With a minimum of smart sensor technology and management, a five-year light bulb could last decades, greatly reducing the cost of lighting and maintenance for that area of the building The concept of asset utilization therefore is not simply about using an asset more; it s about getting the best return on the asset Longevity is clearly an element affecting operating expenses; a smart building will decrease operating expenses as one of its primary value propositions

Building productivity is an interesting concept because it largely entails not just filling a space to capacity for as many hours as possible, but using the right size and type of facilities for employees, guests, partners, and customers For office workers now, especially in companies with mobile workforces, having a single type of office space no longer adequately fulfills their professional needs In my work, I use a number of different facilities in my employer s office about 25 minutes from my house When meeting with partners and associates, I need a conference room that seats ten people On another visit, I may need only a small, quiet room to participate in a conference call At other times, I may be visiting a corporate executive in their office, so we need a small, comfortable room where we can meet with privacy At other times, I ve been at our corporate office site with 100 or so other colleagues; we need a large conference room with suitable audio, visual, and wireless network connectivity Much of my time is spent working out of a home office; this enables my employer to outfit my home office with excellent telecommuting equipment, which saves Cisco from reserving an office or cubicle for me It s not just the 100 square feet of carpeted space required to ensure a suitable workspace, but also lighting, air conditioning, physical security, water, and waste facilities By using flexible assets, mobile workers ensure that any employer can use the right size of building instead of a large building The savings are significant in this scenario; if an employer reduced a 100,000 square foot facility by 40 percent by setting up a mobility workforce that operated out of their home offices (as I do), the employer would save 1500 tons of concrete and 280 tons of steel, not to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars of labor costs to assemble it all It would also be the equivalent of taking 560 cars off the road for a year Fewer miles driven also means fewer automobile

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