IBM Makes Buildings Smarter With Drawbase Software

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Apr 29, 2010, 09:30 ET

ARMONK, N.Y., April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has signed an agreement with Drawbase Software* to enhance its capabilities around smarter buildings management. As part of the agreement, IBM will license Drawbase software code to add space management and space planning capabilities into its software portfolio of offerings.

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The agreement with Drawbase accelerates IBM's ability to help customers move from facilities maintenance to facilities management – analyzing critical building and operational information to make informed business decisions, improve efficiencies and reduce costs. The new Drawbase space management capabilities round out IBM's intelligent facilities management solutions that help customers efficiently design, operate and maintain facilities and data centers.

Property is the second largest organizational expense – typically right behind labor – with operational expense responsible for half of a building's lifecycle cost**. Organizations often lack the ability to see across their facilities and apply analytics to improve operations and efficiencies.

By licensing Drawbase code, IBM is extending its intelligent facilities solution to also include space planning capabilities such as move management, space utilization, occupancy tracking, capacity planning, and lock and key management. The integration of Drawbase technology into the IBM portfolio also allows organizations to visualize vital information across the enterprise to accurately and efficiently maintain business operations.

IBM helps customers manage all of their critical assets across the enterprise – from facilities, to the data center, transportation, production and communications assets. Delivering space management capabilities as part of its facilities portfolio further strengthens IBM's smart, green, sustainable solutions for cities and buildings announced in February.

"Better management of buildings and facilities are an untapped source of efficiency for businesses in every industry," said Bill Sawyer, vice president, IBM Software. "With the new space management capabilities from the Drawbase code, IBM can now help clients comprehensively manage the layout, space usage, maintenance, operations and assets of their facilities intelligently and in line with broader business objectives."

Drawbase is computer aided facilities management software that helps enable building managers to make the most out of every square foot of space. When integrated with IBM Maximo Software, the solution maps and dynamically tracks all the mechanical, electrical, telecom, plumbing, gas lines and electrical data. With applied analytics capabilities, organizations can take the information gathered and make informed business decisions to improve operations and control costs.

Specifically, with Drawbase and IBM software, managers can:

speed office and people moves by creating work orders from drawings
properly allocate space for occupants in space design and utilization or department moves
manage the IT infrastructure in line with occupant and building infrastructure needs
manage local area network and telecommunications information, as well as mechanical, electrical and plumbing to better ensure business continuity and safety
provide floor plan and rack elevation views in the data center, making it easy to drill down to asset detail and get a graphical view of real-time rack availability
provide real-time reporting on rack content, interconnections, heat and power loads from third party monitoring tools, as well as track critical data from electrical circuits, available RU's, BTU's, component interconnections and installation dates
deliver chargeback capabilities to be able to bill divisions of the company for their asset and resource usage
provide lock and key management, for improved processes around the distribution and tracking of keys for better safety and security

As an IBM Business Partner for more than a decade, Drawbase has worked closely with IBM to ensure the close integration of Drawbase with IBM's enterprise asset management and facilities management software.

"For the past 24 years, Drawbase Software has supplied global customers with building design and facility management information systems," said Evan Kontos, CEO of Drawbase. "Our relationship with IBM has helped to enrich our offering and grow our customer base. With Drawbase technology serving as a critical component of its facilities management portfolio, IBM is helping organizations design, manage and maintain some of the Greenest, cost-minded and operationally efficient buildings and facilities in the world."

IBM is committed to creating smarter buildings that integrate and optimize the physical and digital infrastructure of buildings and groups of buildings to create facilities that are cost effective for owners, operationally efficient, comfortable and productive for occupants, safer and more secure, and environmentally responsible for the planet.

For more information about IBM Smart Building solutions, please visit: http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/green_buildings/ideas/index.html

For more information about Drawbase Software, please visit: www.drawbase.com