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LAS VEGAS IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that the U.S. Air Force has selected IBM smarter buildings software to help its civil engineers maximize energy efficiency and automate the management of its physical infrastructure portfolio
At the IBM Pulse 2012 conference here, Big Blue announced that the USAF will be using IBM TRIRIGA software to automate management of the armed services buildings, vehicles, runways and other infrastructure across 170 locations worldwide. This portfolio includes more than 626 million square feet of real estate, more than 100 million square yards of airfield pavement and 10 million acres of land used by Active Duty, Reserve and Air National Guard personnel, said Dave Bartlett, vice president of industry solutions at IBM who also is known as Big Blues building whisperer.
The USAF is a key component of the U.S. Department of Defense. Bartlett identified the DOD as the biggest energy user in the world. The DOD uses the equivalent of more than $20 billion a year in energy, he said.
Presidential Executive Orders require executive branch departments and agencies to establish asset management plans, install performance measures and ensure the effective management of federal real property assets through their entire lifecycle. Additional orders require agencies to improve energy efficiency, reduce natural resource consumption and decrease waste production to reduce carbon emissions.
Therefore, to meet this order, the Air Force Office of the Civil Engineer, whose mission is to provide, operate, maintain and protect sustainable installations as weapon-system platforms through engineering and emergency response services across the full mission spectrum, will use IBM TRIRIGA software to gain greater visibility and control of its physical assets, Bartlett said at a press conference at IBM Pulse 2012.
IBMs integrated workplace management software, called IBM TRIRIGA, provides the Air Force with a standardized, powerful technology platform to analyze data about real property assets, streamline work orders and suppliers and reduce energy use across thousands of buildings. These tools will help USAF measure and manage its operational, financial and environmental performance to determine and prove effectiveness against government-wide and agency real property management objectives.
IBM TRIRIGA software will help implement our NexGen IT vision and give USAF a data-driven approach to manage its real property and physical assets, as well as help us predict issues before they impact service and safety, Alexander Earle, chief information officer in the Air Force Office of the Civil Engineer, said in a statement. Implementing IBM TRIRIGA will help strengthen our IT infrastructure by removing redundant systems, providing real-time analytics and optimizing core processes that enable us to make better decisions about how we manage our resources.
IBM TRIRIGAs integrated workplace management system provides the USAF with a single system to optimize performance of all real estate locations, assets and personnel operations. By optimizing building use, occupancy costs are reduced, lease administration is made easier and managers can evaluate future space requirements to make long-term planning decisions.
Meanwhile, TRIRIGAs energy assessment tools enable users to obtain environmental insights and predefined, automated operational procedures and processes to monitor and reduce energy consumption as well as waste production from real property assets operations. Also, the companys condition-based maintenance enables user organizations to better manage the maintenance of property and equipment based on the age, condition and history of facilities. Having this insight can prevent costly repairs by allowing staff to pinpoint equipment that should be replaced before incidents occur, IBM said.
Having the right data at the right time is essential for U.S. Air Force personnel, said George Ahn, vice president of Enterprise Asset Management at IBM, in a statement. IBM TRIRIGA infuses a new level of intelligence to physical infrastructures that will enable the U.S. Air Force to make the timely and critical decisions about their assets that is essential to the success of their operations.
Overall, IBM TRIRIGA improves the operational, financial and environmental performance of real estate assets and operations, IBM officials said. The software provides a comprehensive suite of applications to manage the real estate lifecycle of an organization with predefined management processes and extensive Web-based configuration management tools.
In March 2011, IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately held TRIRIGA, a Las Vegas-based provider of facility and real estate management software solutions. The move is aimed at accelerating IBM’s smarter buildings initiatives by adding advanced intelligence that improves real estate performance, capital project management and the outcomes of sustainability initiatives. TRIRIGA software helps clients make strategic decisions regarding space usage, evaluate alternative real estate initiatives, generate higher returns from capital projects and assess environmental impact investments.
IBM completed the acquisition of TRIRIGA in April 2011.
More than 200 clients and thousands of usersincluding more than one-third of Fortune 100 corporations across every major industry, as well as seven of the 15 federal executive departments of the U.S. governmentuse TRIRIGA software to reduce operational costs, increase return on real estate assets and mitigate environmental regulatory risks.