JCI acquires Gridlogix

MILWAUKEE--Johnson Controls, a systems integrator and manufacturer, has acquired Gridlogix, a software company based in St. Louis, Mo., furthering its goals of being a systems integrator that works with virtually every system in a building. Gridlogix’s EnNET platform allows building management systems to interface with open protocol IT systems to better manage energy, maintenance, physical security and compliance, which makes their facilities more energy efficient and sustainable. The platform is currently operable in many global business segments, including data centers, government, higher education and commercial facilities. “We found them in the building automation business,” said Joel Lehman, vice president, security and fire, systems, North America Building Efficiency, “and what they have is a kind of key ingredient for us, a middleware application that can go into control systems of all types and pull out aggregated data, which then can allow you to make a decision and go implement it into that same system or any other system. “Our Metasys system,” he continued, “which shares some components with our security products, is very good at integrating things in a single building, but if you take large chunks of data, like all the energy use in tens or hundreds of buildings, Gridlogix is probably better at that.” Johnson Controls saw the need for such a capability, for example, when a state asked the company to show how much energy was being used by all of its state-owned buildings, “and we couldn’t do it,” Lehman said. “So we went on a search to find a product that would allow everyone to see that data and provide reporting on it.” For the time being, JCI will keep the software and its capabilities in house-“We bought it so we could use it,” Lehman said-but may look for resellers in the future.