Clockworks Analytics, the cloud-based building analytics company, has joined Project Haystack, an open-source initiative to streamline data flow for buildings and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. As a member of Project Haystack, and as a continued participant in the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 223P, Clockworks Analytics will share the metadata ontology and information model it has developed over the past decade, furthering the industry goal to standardize the way data is exchanged between building equipment and technology systems.
The Clockworks system utilizes a standardized information model for point typing, equipment and system relationships and mechanical and controls sequence metadata. It is connected to more than 400 million square feet and more than 280,000 mechanical assets in 30 countries. In joining Project Haystack, Clockworks will share its consistent approach to information modeling with the open-source community with the goal of helping drive the industry toward a universal standard.
“We realized early on that we would need to build Clockworks in a way that is scalable, that could circumvent some of the issues surrounding data semantics and system interoperability that were already plaguing the industry even a decade ago,” said Clockworks Analytics Co-founder and CEO Nick Gayeski. “While dealing with myriad data streams from buildings across four continents, we have developed a dynamic information model that not only includes point types, but also equipment templates, inferred relationships and calculated data. This allows the platform to scale across building, system and equipment types without any custom rule-writing to account for the thousands of nuanced scenarios that appear in all building portfolios.”
Over the past few years, physical assets and building automation systems, including control, energy, HVAC, lighting and other environmental systems, have increased in complexity. As a result, the traditional method for data exchange, which has relied heavily on one-off mapping of data points and rule-writing, has become increasingly untenable. This, coupled with a desire to leverage the wealth of building data coming out of the growing proptech industry and smart building applications, has facilitated a movement toward a global standard for semantic building data.
Joining each of the open-source data interoperability communities underscores Clockworks Analytics’ commitment to help the industry turn operational data into real-time insight for healthier buildings in a scalable way, the company said. Founded with the goal of leveraging technology to reduce building energy use, Clockworks has distinguished itself within the building analytics space, utilizing its powerful root-cause analysis to improve the reliability of building equipment while enhancing indoor air quality and reducing operational costs.
