This article was written by Daphne Tomlinson, Independent Senior Research Associate at Memoori. Commercial HVAC equipment manufacturers in the North American market are competing head-on with building controls vendors by offering factory installed embedded controllers in their HVAC equipment. These solutions offer customers an alternative to the traditional building management approach supported by external controls contractors and building automation systems (BAS). Advanced sensors, IoT, machine learning and data analytics have enabled chillers, VRF and rooftop units to be controlled more efficiently than previously possible. Connectivity also allows HVAC equipment to be accessed and controlled remotely, via the cloud. The digital commercial buildings space is a crowded market with a range of smart connected equipment and service providers including the major HVAC equipment players, building controls firms, IT companies, not to mention specialist vendors and startup companies. The leading commercial HVAC equipment suppliers (Carrier, Daikin, Trane, Johnson Controls/York) have been expanding their portfolios beyond equipment to […]