Internet-linked technologies are revolutionizing the design and construction of condo and office towers, say real estate developers and online service providers.

"You're going to see more and more buildings automatically turned on," predicts Dorian Banks, chief technology officer and co-founder of Metrobridge Networks Corp., a Vancouver-based wireless Internet services provider.

"(High-speed Internet connectivity) is going to become a utility. You're going to have your water and electricity connections and then you're going to have your Internet connection. It's going to be built in."

Convergence - in this case, the merging of two or more disparate technologies - has sparked collaboration between developers, builders and technology companies that provide Internet-related services ranging from online security networks to home-entertainment systems.

Wayne Chose, Business Edge
Securicom Solutions CEO Denis Vaillancourt sees the value of Internet-linked technologies in new and retrofitted old buildings.

Everything starts with CAT5 copper-wire, or low-voltage cable, which links individual suites to a central base within the building. In conjunction with fibre-optic cable that has become standard with computer equipment, CAT5 enables large amounts of data, including video and sound, to be transported at extremely high speeds over internal and external networks.

Most new condos and offices are being wired with CAT5, which provides the backbone for hard-wired and wireless networks alike.

Metrobridge has launched a new ultra-high-speed wireless network, which transmits 1.2 gigabits per second, in downtown Vancouver and is contemplating making the system available in the city's Broadway Corridor.

The firm has also received a contract to install its system in 536 market units within the Woodward's condo, social-housing and commercial redevelopment project on Vancouver's Downtown East Side.

The network will allow Woodward's residents to access such features as Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone service, high-definition TV over-Internet Protocol, and teleconferencing.

"We weren't (targeting real estate developers), but they're targeting us now," says Banks. "We actually have real estate guys coming out of our ears now, because they see the marketing advantage."

In many cases, he says, prospective customers are basing their home-buying decisions on the technologies available in a building. "There's really a tipping point right now in the generation that's buying condos," says Banks. "The generation that's buying condos is very tech-savvy."

Denis Vaillancourt, CEO of Vancouver-based Securicom Solutions, says Internet-linked technologies help developers sell their units and save money.

The six-year-old company designs and installs security systems manufactured by other firms, including fingerprint readers and video surveillance devices, and links them to networks.

The company supplied fingerprint readers, webcams and the network that connects them at the Grace Residences 27-storey condo complex, developed by James Schouw and Associates, at the corner of Drake and Richards streets. Schouw has also contracted Securicom to provide a similar system at its 52-unit extension to Grace under construction next door.

"Now, you can manage 10-15 sites from one location," says Vaillancourt. "Even here (at Grace) we've got two sites and we're managing them both from one location. That centralized intelligence just allows us to do a lot more than what we did before."

Securicom has also provided a webcam above the Richmond speedskating oval being built for the 2010 Winter Olympics and has received contracts to provide security systems for two student residences at UBC.

Traditionally, says Vaillancourt, an electrical project's low-voltage cabling work was performed under one contract by electrical firms that specialize in installing high-voltage elements, like wall outlets. But low-voltage work is now being recognized as a discipline in itself.

Competition is "falling away" because large electrical contractors don't want to change their business models, and smaller companies balk at spending the time and money necessary to certify equipment installers and network specialists, he says.

"There is competition," he adds. "Interestingly enough, it's not coming from the traditional (electrical contracting) area, it's coming from network specialists ... And that's who we hire.

"Again, using the word convergence - of physical security, which is what we do, and network security, which is what they do - we're starting to talk the same language."

Vaillancourt says developers are jumping on the convergence bandwagon because "security by design" and other technologies have become selling points for their properties.

"The other (point of interest to developers) is that, by doing it this way, it saves so much time and money, because we're riding on an infrastructure that's there - that has to be there," says Vaillancourt. "It's not like you can sell a building without a phone, Internet and cable TV (connection) now."

Networks are also influencing the development of assisted-living and seniors housing projects that require medical technologies that can communicate with each other.

But there's not much point in installing wireless Internet connectivity in a new building, he says, because wireless systems can't transmit data as quickly as copper-wire and fibre-optic cables.

"It's a little bit like driving a Ferrari in a traffic jam," says Vaillancourt. "But the real factor that's slowing down (wireless connectivity) is the perception, true or imagined, that wireless is less secure."

But MetroBridge's Banks disagrees, calling it "just fear of the unknown."

"If you've never worked with it or don't know about it, you're not going to respond positively to it," he says. "There are other system integrators out there and they love it."

Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association, agrees the technology is very important to many homebuyers, particularly young buyers, but it's also influencing the decisions of older homeowners.

"My wife and I are looking for a home, too, and we're not young by any stretch," says Simpson.

"The first thing we did was look at the rooms to see if there was a cable connection. You see more cable outlets in more rooms than they ever been in before."

If one builder includes a particular technology in a home, others will soon follow, he says.

"With technology changing daily, it's hard to keep up with it, so builders must have people in a consultancy role or on staff who can advise them on communications (technologies) in the home," adds Simpson.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)