New pilot collaboration offers single, integrated portal for managing devices and smart appliances in buildings using AI and environmental simulation.

Samsung and Microsoft have announced a global partnership this week, to digitally transform the real estate development and property management industries.

As part of the collaboration, Samsung will integrate their smart-home appliances, heating-ventilation-air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, and smart TVs with Microsoft’s Azure Digital Twin simulation technology and Dynamics 365 Field Service to improve building management and maintenance.

Such a convergence of smart hardware and connectivity technologies is expected to enable:

  • building managers to handle all building issues in real time on a dashboard, potentially before failure, saving time and resources
  • data-driven maintenance of smarty devices such as smart refrigerators, washing machines, vacuums, air purifiers—connected through the intelligent SmartThings platform 
  • the creation of a ‘digital twin’ of any building for predictive maintenance and streamlined building operations on a secure platform 

The project is currently being trialed on the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) campus as part of ongoing efforts to create a smart and sustainable campus for students and staff.

Said Professor Yong Kwet Yew, Senior Vice President of Campus Infrastructure, NUS: “(We are) very excited to work with Microsoft and Samsung in piloting smart building management solutions on our campus. The experience gained from this trial could help us transform the way we maintain our buildings with predictive maintenance, enable better user experiences and create a smart campus ecosystem, and it has potential to scale up at the national level.”

Merging smart IoT with property management

According to Chanwoo Park, Corporate Vice President, IoT Biz Group, Samsung: “Providing building owners and operators with a robust and powerful set of tools to help them optimize their building costs and equipment, including the management of (connected appliances) and other devices, is paramount to our long-term alliance with Microsoft. We are helping to solve real challenges faced by our customers by creating secure integrated insight and digital solutions that keep properties functioning sustainably and efficiently while providing better experiences for residents.”

On the Microsoft front, according to its corporate Vice President of Azure IoT Sam George the digital twinning technology can create comprehensive digital models of entire environments, and a living digital replica of real-world things, places, business processes and people.

This is supposed to help administrators to gain insights that drive better products, optimization of operations, cost reduction and breakthrough customer experiences. “Together, we’ll bring the best of Microsoft’s trusted, easy-to-use and secure Azure IoT platform, Azure Digital Twins and Dynamics 365 Field Service technology with Samsung’s expertise in connected devices and appliances, to streamline building operations and maintenance,” said George.