We recently launched the Digital Ceiling per Tony Shakib's blog.

The Cisco Digital Ceiling unleashes the power of the IoT by linking building services over a single, converged IP network. It transforms the unobtrusive infrastructure in ceilings across your facilities into a secure, distributed, and standards-based architecture that delivers building intelligence at the edge of the network. The result is a building that is not only smart, but also is seamlessly and securely connected. With the Cisco Digital Ceiling, you can improve the efficiency and sustainability of your buildings and manage them more effectively. You can use the same platform to deliver highly personalized user experiences that improve the productivity, safety, and comfort of building occupants.

Opening up new experiences and ensuring savings.

With the Cisco Digital Ceiling you will be able to:

Reduce power and lighting costs: You can combine modern smart LEDs with intelligent building controls and automation. Integrated sensors throughout the environment lower costs through daylight harvesting, automatic dimming controls, and presence-based lighting.

Create comfortable environments automatically: Indoor spaces can dynamically adapt heating and cooling systems based on real-time occupancy (not just occupied or not, but how many people are present). The sensors alert the HVAC system to raise or lower temperatures, and increase or decrease fresh-air flow as more people enter or leave a room to optimize air quality-all without human intervention.

Create human-centric environments:You can control lighting intensity, color, temperature, and other factors in every space to adapt to the needs of occupants. You can achieve close to natural light to better match individual's circadian rhythms, which industry research shows can speed patient recovery, improve learning, and increase productivity up to 16 percent.

Simplify installations:In new building construction and deep-retro-fit scenarios, network-powered building systems are easier and less expensive to install, manage, and maintain. Using structured low-voltage Ethernet cabling eliminates the need for separate electrical conduits, and generates up to 14 percent cost savings in new deployments according to Cisco research. According to a Cisco 10-year TCO analysis, capital expenses for first-in building costs can decline by as much as 20 percent.

Fuelled by a growing partner community.

Lighting enables the first wave of innovation by creating an initial layer of IP connected (light)endpoints into the ceiling. Most of these LED luminaires will have sensors integrated, bringing the lighting and building automation domains together at the infrastructure level. Once more building automation endpoints get the same level of connectivity we believe that through the right set of analytics and an open interface to the data flowing within the Digital Ceiling lots of new experiences will surface. Cisco is the only vendor creating a framework that includes everything you need to confidently deploy the Digital Ceiling.  These are the founding partners (of a growing community) in each of the domains :

• Lighting: Cree, Eaton, Ellipz Lighting, Innovative, Molex, NuLeds, Orion Energy Systems, Philips, Platformatics
• Building Automation: Johnson Controls
• Enablers: Microchip, Siemon, Superior Essex
• ISVs: Rifiniti, Relayr

We've invested significant time and resources collaborating with our partners to deliver complete, pre-tested solutions that span from the Digital Ceiling endpoint to the control application. We provide detailed documentation and Cisco Validated Designs to help you deploy a secure and reliable solution, using technologies and applications from the partners you already know and trust. We continue to add to this global portfolio of partners who best meet our customers' needs.

Call to Action.

If you'd like to learn more about moving to a Digital Ceiling, check out http://www.cisco/go/digitalceiling or contact us at [email protected]

Be sure to give me your feedback in the comments section. What do you think of Cisco's Digital Ceiling Framework and solution set?