Founder Note

Carrie Denning Jackson gives the Nexus Pro Community a candid run-down of all her efforts across the forward-thinking organization.

In this case study, we explore how BGO successfully implemented a cybersecurity platform using the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) framework and Zero Trust architecture.

Episode 154 features Joseph Fleshman from University of California, Irvine and Jim Meacham from Altura Associates and is our fourth episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. Joe and Jim talk in depth about the systematic overhaul of University of California Irvine’s building automation system, operational technology networking, and deploying fault detection and diagnostics software. Enjoy!

Episode 153 features Ben Cooper from BGO (BentallGreenOak) and is our third episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. Ben talks about the asset type due diligence and rate of adoption for their new infrastructure platform, the overall efficiencies created, and the future proofing abilities with a cloud connection application layer. Enjoy!

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

The August Pro member gathering doubled as Nexus Labs' second debate. See how Liam Bates, Tom Balme and David Sciarrino argued for and against recurring fees for IoT sensors.

“The most effective form of return on investment (ROI) that is tangible and measurable is operational expenditure (Opex) savings”

Episode 152 is the second episode in our new workforce series, In The Field. In The Field features people working boots on the ground in the built environment, giving real-life perspectives on their roles, backgrounds, and aspirations. Episode 152 features Stacks+Joules graduate and senior controls technician Nathanseth Cruz of Dual Fuel and Stacks+Joules Founder and Executive Director Michael Conway.

Episode 151 dives into what James and Rosy do at Nexus Labs beyond the podcast. From the pro membership community, to the courses platform, partnerships, and the marketplace, this episode brings you up to speed on all things Nexus Labs.

Edge cloud has the promise of both the benefits of full cloud, and all the benefits of staying on-premise. This is the middle ground—that Goldilocks sweet spot of not too big, not too small. Not too flat, not too on-prem. ‍

Today, I want to tell you a quick story about my career.This will help explain the changes I made 6 years ago that I credit for helping me make an impact in smart buildings industry—changes that might help others trying to find their feet as the industry blazes forward.

Here's something to ponder: Do we have any apps that 'assure the success' of smart buildings technology? Unfortunately, the answer is no.

The story of a 5-year effort at LONG Building Technologies to integrate fault detection and diagnostics, or FDD, into their service operations.

The 150th Nexus Podcast Episode! Episode 150 features LONG Building Technologies and is our second episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies.

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

Tyrone Mawing joins our APAC/Australia Monthly Pro Member Gathering for a discussion on the integration challenge of smart buildings.

This edition of the Nexus Newsletter is brought to you by Butlr and Tietoa. Hey friends, When I was growing up, I loved road trips. Jumping in my mo

Mandy Omrani of Infrastructure Ontario tells the Nexus community what’s working and how.

Cybersecurity is critical to protect the confidentiality and integrity in the data from both our IT and OT systems. Mike MacMahon from Newcomb & Boyd tells us everything we need to know and where to find out more.

June’s Nexus Pro Member Gathering featured a comprehensive breakdown of LinkedIn’s Smart Building program from leading engineers Cristal Ortiz and Andrew Knueppel

Mahmoud Shouman from JB&B gives an insightful presentation about how to integrate smart building technology and data into the design and construction process and why it makes perfect sense.

Join us for lively debates with Nexus Pro Members live in the audience. Engage in thought-provoking discussions on controversial topics within the world of smart buildings. Prepare to have your perspectives challenged and expanded! And of course we had to start with today’s ultimate debate: The Independent Data Layer!

Immerse yourself in expert-led monologues focused on a single topic. We’ll share their wisdom and knowledge, giving you the tools to build a solid foundation in key areas of interest. This season, yours truly tackles The Horizontal Architecture.

Dive into fascinating interviews with experts who explore the boundaries of "smart buildings." From cutting-edge to established technologies, we'll uncover the latest trends and innovations in the field. This season, we dive into the overlaps between Audio Visual Systems and smart buildings.

Get ready for insightful boots-on-the-ground interviews with changemaking facility managers, technicians, and more. We're hitting the ground running with Mary Gloven, a phenomenal facility manager at The Alliance Center in Denver.

Discover the future of innovation as we chat with seed stage changemaking startup founders. This season, we're thrilled to feature WATS (Waste Administration and Tracking Software). Their vision will have you rethinking the way we handle waste in real estate.

This month’s Member Gathering featured a wide-ranging conversation with Becca Timms, Director of ESG at Jamestown. For this recap, we’re formatting it as a written interview to cover the topics discussed in chunks.

Learn valuable lessons from buyers who have successfully deployed mature tech solutions at scale over multiple years. We dive deep into their experiences to uncover the insights and challenges faced throughout their transformative journeys. In this first episode, we hear from The University of Iowa on their 9-year effort to transform their maintenance operations around FDD software.

You asked for it, and we're delivering! Our Nexus Pro members will have the chance to ask Rosy and me anything. We'll be answering your burning questions, sharing our experiences, and providing hot takes.

The story of a 9-year effort at the University of Iowa to integrate fault detection and diagnostics, or FDD, into their maintenance operations.

Nexus Pro SME workshop hosted by Krigh Bachmann to the Nexus Pro community focusing on how to leverage BIM to improve smart buildings.

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

April's members-only SME Workshop was a master class in showing how a roadmap to Net Zero includes operational technologies.

April’s members-only gathering was an honest and insightful take on Quadreal’s efforts rolling out “The Operations of the Future” across 55 buildings.

It’s been a week of celebration, as we hosted a successful happy hour event in Denver, Colorado, bringing together our team and community members for an evening of fun and networking.

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

As an energy engineer for the first 10 years of my career, I always felt like I was doing important work. I loved studying mechanical rooms and putting together retrofit projects that helped my clients save money by saving energy. 

Since the beginning, it’s felt like I’ve been pulled into creating Nexus. It felt like a calling. I’m simply answering the call—while each day trying to hone my listening skills (so I can interpret the call correctly) and remove my ego (so I can minimize getting in the way).

Today’s newsletter is a collaboration between Nexus Labs and our newest creator, Drew DePriest, Senior Director of Digital Facilities Management at CBRE. Drew and I are among the select few invited to speak at most smart buildings conferences.

"The building industry can be the first to show the world what it looks like for an industry from within itself to transform itself in line with a sustainable future."​

Today, we’re kicking off a new monthly Nexus Labs column called Insights → Operations. We’ll explore best practices with leading building owners and our fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) category partners. 

"So many organizations are selling ESG solutions, but very few have their own ESG statements, goals, or positions. If you don't want it, why would I?"

Today’s newsletter is part 5 in our series about the humans we wrap around the tech stack to form the smart buildings ecosystem.

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

"You can't just sell the data. It's got enormous value, but it needs to be manifested and taught in such a way that people can react to it." Episode 140 is a conversation with Bayron Lopez Pineda, Director of OT Operational Technology at Kilroy Realty and Mike Moran, Chief Markets Officer and Chief Risk & Sustainability Officer at MicroShare. We talked about Killroy Realty's Smart Buildings Program and got into the weeds on how they're thinking about occupancy data and leak detection, which are two topics we've discussed on the podcast, but not in detail.

Today’s newsletter is part 4 in our series about the humans we wrap around the tech stack to form the smart buildings ecosystem.

Episode 139 is a conversation with Joe Aamidor of Aamidor Consulting and Jeanne Casey of Nuveen. If you add me in, you get J³. This is the fourth installment of our M&A Roundup series, recorded in February 2023 all about what's happening in the marketplace right now. We unpacked the most interesting recent mergers and acquisitions in the smart buildings industry and dove into why, our reaction to them, and other trends they’re related to.

Episode 138 is a special episode with Nexus Labs' new COO, Rosy Khalife. We introduce you to Rosy who, for the first time on the podcast, turns the tables on me and interviews me. We talk about my background before starting Nexus Labs, the founding story of the company, and the future. If you're looking for some background on Nexus Labs, this is definitely a good place to start.

Today’s newsletter is part 3 in our series about the humans we wrap around the tech stack to form the smart buildings ecosystem: Voices of the buy personas. We have this saying in our industry: “every building is a snowflake.” Do you say it? It’s true… but we shouldn’t let that be an excuse for inaction or resisting change.

"We pay $10 billion per year for balancing the grid using natural gas, peaker plants, etc. when we could be paying that to households for those services instead."

Today’s newsletter is part 2 in a series about the humans we wrap around the tech stack to form the smart buildings ecosystem. Here’s a summary of the series: Part 1: The two sides of the ecosystem: buyers and sellers—where do you fit? (last week) Part 2: The humans of smart buildings: our "buyer" personas (today)

Episode 136 is a conversation with Cindy Zhu, Director of Grid Services at Prescriptive Data. We primarily cover grid-interactive efficient buildings, or GEB, my second least favorite acronym in our industry (behind SPOG of course).

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

Buildings (and the industry supporting them) are transformed by humans and organizations of humans. Today’s newsletter kicks off a series about the humans we wrap around the tech stack to form the smart buildings ecosystem. Here’s where we’re headed:

Episode 135 is a conversation with Cliff Majersik, Senior Advisor at the Institute for Market Transformation, a nonprofit that’s focused on regulatory and nonregulatory ways to push the economy toward decarbonization.

Last fall, we launched the Nexus Labs Syndicate and started off with an investment in Xeal. Today, I’m excited to announce our second investment in WattCarbon!WattCarbon, led by Nexus Pro member McGee Young, allows energy consumers to offset their energy use on a time and locational basis from renewable energy projects, demand response dispatch, and electrification projects sourced from their own communities, turning local buildings into decarbonization assets.Our investment was part of WattCarbon’s $4.5 million seed round led by True Ventures, with participation from Village Global, Jetstream, Not Boring Capital, Keiki Capital, Greensoil PropTech Ventures, and others.

Episode 134 is a conversation with Comly Wilson, CMO at Enertiv. I enjoyed this one because I believe in a lot of what Comly was saying about workflows being the key to decarbonizing buildings. And not just decarbonization, really implementing any new technology or changing the way things are done in any way requires you to start with the way people work currently and meet them where they’re at.

Our latest white paper summarizes the five vital roles that every smart building program needs on the team. We talk a lot about the flashy new technology required for smart buildings. But we must always remember that when we're changing how things are done, it's people that make it happen.

Episode 133 is a conversation and history lesson with Leroy Walden, a veteran of the building automation system integrator ecosystem in Atlanta, Georgia. We unpacked how the building automation supply chain functions, including the roles of the manufacturers, distributors, and integrators responsible for controlling HVAC systems in major metropolitan areas. And of course, we talked about the downsides and opportunities of that status quo when it comes to implementing smart building technologies. And as we’ve talked about in the past HVAC controls are one silo in the building that operates similarly to the other silos, so the insights in this conversation are applicable to access control, lighting, electrical products, etc.

First, we must acknowledge what I believe is the giant elephant in the room: ME.

Episode 132 is a conversation with Tristam Coffin, Co-Founder of Effecterra. We started, as usual with Tristam’s background which includes heavy experience in the grocery vertical. But our main focus here is on sustainable refrigerants. We’ve spent a long time covering how the buildings industry needs to decarbonize by electrifying heating systems using heat pumps, but we and the industry as a whole have overlooked the elephant in the room: the GWP of refrigerants themselves and how they contribute to climate change and every organization’s progress toward net zero. Or, as Tristam said, refrigerants are like Cinderella: they haven’t been invited to the decarbonization ball.

I'm back after taking a few weeks off for R&R and some exploration off of my normal beaten path. I can't think about smart buildings 24/7/365, can I? Before we talk about smart buildings, I have some carveouts to share from my explorations:

2022 Review: As we celebrate the holidays and start to wind down the year, I'm reflecting on the progress we've made in accelerating the transition to digital and decarbonized buildings.

We need a coordinated and systematic approach to testing and verifying that all of a building's systems are working together properly. That’s where the commissioning (Cx) agent comes in.

Episode 131 is a conversation with Kathy Farrington, Digital Buildings Lead at Google. This is the 4th episode in our Google series, which unpacks different facets of their global smart buildings program and dates back to 2020. This one with Kathy is probably where we should have started because as she shares, she was involved from the beginning when it was just a side project she focused on with her 20% time.

The Network Layer is a vital part of a smart building's infrastructure. It is: ...a dedicated layer with its own hardware, software, standard operating procedures, and key stakeholders who take responsibility for doing it right. It should be converged, monitored, maintained, and have redundancy.

The access control industry is in the midst of a transformation. This transformation is the difference between a $10B industry, which focuses just on security, and a $100B+ total addressable market.

"For us, it's simpler to work with applications that go on top of the BOS because we can control the information being accessed. Without the BOS, transparency is limited, which limits the number of use cases.By adding this data layer, we're dramatically increasing transparency and the possibilities of what else can easily be added on top."

Hey friends, Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you ti

As we celebrate the holidays and start to wind down the year, I'm reflecting on the progress in our industry in 2022. One definite area of progress is defining the specialist roles needed to make smart buildings successful. In this series, we're summarizing five vital roles that every smart building program needs on the team.

“The tools that have always been successful at instigating change are benchmarking and performance standards. Let's use those tools and evolve them to better fit the needs of today's definition of a high-performance building, which includes the carbon aspect, grid interactivity, and occupant responsiveness."

One definite area of progress is defining the specialist roles needed to make smart buildings successful. In this series, we're summarizing five vital roles that every smart building program needs on the team. We talk a lot about the flashy new technology required for smart buildings. But we must always remember that when we're changing how things are done, it's people that make it happen. Here are the five roles we're going to cover:

“The grid is starting to look a lot like the internet. These IOT devices are distributed, digital, user owned and operated nodes. They can buy from the grid, they can sell from the grid, they can respond dynamically.

We talk a lot about the flashy new technology required for smart buildings. But we must always remember that when we're changing how things are done, it's people that make it happen. Here are the five roles we're going to cover: The Smart Building Champion The Design Consultant The Master Systems IntegratorThe Network ManagerThe Commissioning Agent

“Don't spend your time with the laggards who don't yet see the need for (smart building technology). When they see it they'll find you. Go find owners with a need and then meet that need."

The word “decarbonization” was everywhere. The green building community is undergoing two shifts: (1) from valuing energy efficiency to valuing the amount of carbon emitted and (2) from valuing “green” materials to valuing the amount of carbon emitted to get them in the building. The decarbonization push is underway beyond that conference… It's industry wide. Let’s focus on the first shift today: What does it mean to shift from energy to carbon?

“There is another use case for smart building systems and for BAS, and it is critical input data for designing low-carbon systems for your building that if you don't have that data, you are not going to design your systems properly. They will probably be oversized and a lot more expensive than they need to be compared to as if you had good data to design on."

It's been a month since we launched the Nexus Labs Syndicate and I'm excited to announce our first investment!Xeal provides hardware and software to real estate owners looking to provide EV charging as an amenity for their tenants. We're honored to join Keyframe Capital, ArcTern Ventures, Moderne Ventures, and others in Xeal's $40M Series B round.

“A building can only run as efficiently as its engineer knows how to run it. Unless you have an engineer-first mindset, none of your energy efficiency efforts is ever really going to reap the rewards."

Hey friends, Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you ti

A big shift is happening in financing for decarbonization projects in the United States. In my private conversations with real estate sustainability and ESG leaders, I've learned this is one of the top things on their minds.

“We can have all the technology in the world but dropping it into a building doesn't magically transform it. It ultimately is a tool. Your people can be empowered by this tool but it will never do everything for you. You have to set objectives, lean in and embrace the technology. You have to train your people and build the organization in a structure that supports it."

So I decided to seek out some expert guidance from outside the core Nexus audience—what might people be missing by dismissing M&A as a transformational force? Enter: Proptech Bankers. They believe consolidation is inevitable; it will play a key role in fixing the current technology fragmentation in the smart building market; and any landlord or proptech company not currently in consolidation conversations is missing an important opportunity to control their destiny.Their answer as to why M&A will be key in fixing fragmentation is at the link below, along with feedback on what's happening around M&A in the current market and what startups should expect in the near and distant future.Why M&A will be key in fixing fragmentation

TL;DR: We spoke to Proptech Bankers about the current state of proptech M&A. They believe consolidation is inevitable; it will play a key role in fixi

“There's definitely still venture capital money out there looking for great companies, especially in the smart building space. As long as you have a clear thesis and value proposition and your tech addresses a need of a building owner/operator, you're going to pass this deeper diligence with flying colors."

Hey gamechangers! Welcome to The Lens, a monthly-ish recurring series where I unpack the strategy and context behind the news in as few words as poss

“It’s not first to market that wins, it’s the first to cross the chasm.”—Geoffrey Moore

"Real estate owners buy and sell assets and drive yield. So we needed to reframe little "e", the discussion on electrons, and expand into big "E", environmental social governance. Doing so helped the real estate owner understand not commodities, but yield and risk in return."

“Step one (of 3) on reducing embodied carbon emissions is to start thinking about if we have to build a building at all. So if we just stopped building right now, there's plenty of empty space for us to put all that square footage into that we say we need. And beyond that, we have more than we need."

What's the most important type of data for creating smarter buildings?I'd argue that for every type of building except data centers, it's occupancy data.

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss.These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.Enjoy.

Disclosure: Nexus Labs Syndicate is an investor in WattCarbon. “They're doing the same thing they did last year, but now it's called decarbonization. But the reality is, is that they are decarbonizing buildings. The work that we've been doing for 20 years is the right work to be doing we just don't have a metric to measure ourselves against and a way to value that work."

Today we're launching a new project here at Nexus Labs. Some of you will say, "What took you so long???". Others will say, "WTF?". This newsletter answers both of those questions, plus it invites you to participate in the fun. Commercial buildings owners are now required to digitize, decarbonize, protect the health of occupants, and provide those occupants with a great user experience—all while realizing the business results of each of the stakeholders involved. And all of this change is only happening faster and faster. 🤯They need to level up.

“We see an expansion of robots doing 80% of a job in the service sector, allowing humans to do what's complex." —Greg Scott Welcome to Ne

Before I shut down my consulting practice earlier this year, I had the opportunity to support one last building in Manhattan. This building has more submeters per square foot, per floor, per system, and per tenant than any building I've ever seen. AND, perhaps predictably, all that data is barely being used. We've talked before (most recently here) about how important utility data is for decarbonization and ESG goals. Figuring out how much carbon you emit today is the vital first step on the road to emitting zero.

“There's a lot of complexity that goes into building a technology that simplifies things for people." —Aaron Block Welcome to Nexus, a ne

This edition of the Nexus Newsletter is brought to you by enVerid Systems and Montgomery Technologies. Hey friends, "Grid-interactive efficient buil

“We can accomplish both sustainability and IAQ, but we need to think holistically. And we need to think in terms of layered strategies and framewor

As Passive Logic's CEO Troy Harvey said recently, buildings are the most complex things humans make. Complexity is one of the reasons why the intelligence of buildings lags behind more simple objects.