EllisDon partners with U.S. company to develop smart construction technology

Key Takeaways:

• EllisDon, a Canadian construction company, is partnering with J2 Innovations, a Californian tech company, to develop smarter buildings.
• The general contractor will leverage J2 Innovations’ FIN Framework to create a new digital twin application called EKO, which will optimize building environments and user experiences.
• This partnership will allow EllisDon to integrate technology and enterprise management systems into EKO, making it suitable for various markets.

The Whole Story:

One of Canada’s largest general contractors is teaming up with a California tech company to make construction smarter. 

EllisDon’s Infrastructure Services & Technology (IST) Division and J2 Innovations—a leading platform provider for smart buildings, smart equipment and the Internet of Things (IoT)—have announced a new partnership. The collaboration will see EllisDon utilize J2 Innovations’ FIN Framework, a flexible open software framework, enabling original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to create automation and IoT applications quickly and efficiently. 

This partnership will enable EllisDon’s IST Division to further develop their digital twin application, EKO, which is focused on integrating all data points within a facility to optimize the built environment and enhance the end user’s experience. 

Launched last December, EKO leverages intelligent infrastructure data through advanced analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Unlike traditional systems such as SCADA, EKO provides a holistic analysis of system performance for a diverse range of systems and assets.

This announcement comes after EllisDon implemented a range of projects using J2 Innovations’ FIN Stack software, a comprehensive suite of ready-to-use apps, enabling integrated building management solutions to be engineered quickly and easily.

Motivated by its efficiency and adaptability, EllisDon IST says it will use the FIN Framework, on which FIN Stack is developed, to create and customize its new OEM product suite for EKO.

“We are excited to collaborate and enhance industry standards by utilizing J2 Innovations’ expertise in FIN Framework, as it will be an important component of our digital twin application, EKO,” says Robert Barnes, senior vice president, energy & digital services at EllisDon. “This partnership will leverage the strengths of both companies by exploring new opportunities, strengthening product offerings, and providing cutting-edge solutions to meet the evolving needs of the market.”

As a major player in the integration of primary building systems (i.e. building automation, lighting control, electronic security, elevators, etc.), EllisDon is now expanding into the integration of technology and enterprise management systems with EKO. Through this collaboration, EllisDon and J2 Innovations will extend the use of FIN and utilize it as an enabling platform for EKO, allowing it to support multiple market segments and end users.

“Our partnership with EllisDon underpins the effectiveness of their products in a range of commercial environments, and will exploit the potential for a significant advancement in hospital building automation and beyond,” Jeremy Wolfe, vice president of sales Americas at J2 Innovations, said. “Together we can harness our next-generation software framework to EllisDon’s vision to push the limit of data and efficiency-driven construction management.”