Johnson Controls

Facial recognition delivers incredible convenience to consumers, as well as serious risks.

Facial Recognition

Alcatraz AI offers an access control system, Alcatraz Rock, that uses computer vision, AI, and 3D sensing to allow frictionless entry into physical locations. The company was founded by a team of former employees from Apple and Nvidia, led by former Apple Engineer Vince Gaydarzhiev. According to the company’s CEO, Alcatraz is the industry’s first one-factor authentication system capable of multi-person, in-the-flow sensing. This technique allows many people to walk in without interruption for access control while checking for tailgating. The users are not required to face or be very close to the reader. The real-time 3D facial mapping feature also avoids spoofing using photographs, videos, or masks. In February 2021, the company introduced three-factor authentication where the Alcatraz Rock platform is used in conjunction with two other authentication methods, such as a badge reader and a personal identification (PIN) reader. Alternatively, in a one-factor authentication system, Alcatraz Rock will be the primary access control device, whereas, in a two-factor authentication system, Alcatraz Rock will be used with a badge reader.&nbsp;In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19741">June 2023</a>, the company launched “Rock M,” offering an extended range of up to two meters (6.5 ft), employing 2D and 3D sensors to enable liveness detection and counter-spoofing attempts, targeting original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).Unlike other software based on APIs and SDKs that require further development, Alcatraz’s facial recognition system can be deployed off the shelf. Alcatraz AI’s target market includes high-tech companies, healthcare, governments, and banks.&nbsp;Key customers and partnershipsThe company has partnered with several organizations that use/trial its product, including Google, SAP, BrainBox AI, and multiple police departments in the San Francisco Bay area. In October 2020, the company partnered with New York Security Solutions Inc. (developer of security solutions) to expand the market for Alcatraz Rock platform to the East Coast area. In addition, several security service providers, such as Johnson Controls,&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16950?industryIds=16">Axis Communications,</a> PSA Security Network, SAGE Integration, TRL Systems, and Netronix have integrated the Alcatraz platform into their product offerings. In August 2021, the company partnered with Switched On Space, a UK-based provider of smart building technology solutions, to introduce Alcatraz AI’s autonomous access control to international markets. Through this partnership, Alcatraz AI expects to reach a broader customer base in the UK and European markets by leveraging Switched On Space's existing customer base in these markets. In November 2022, the company announced its expansion into the&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14406?industryIds=16">European and Middle Eastern markets</a> establishing new offices in these regions.

Hardware, software, and wearable devices to help prevent and manage the next pandemic.

Infectious Disease Tech

XY Sense is a proptech company that provides occupancy sensor hardware and AI-enabled analytics software to monitor, analyze, and optimize commercial real estate portfolios. Its flagship offerings include the Area Sensor and Workplace Analytics platform, which capture real-time, accurate office occupancy and people movement data to drive workplace insights and space recommendations. The company's sensor technology is designed to be private and secure, capturing only anonymous data while maximizing coverage using 50% to 75% fewer sensors compared to competitors.
XY Sense's technology delivers extensive coverage with each sensor observing 1,000 sq. ft or space for approximately 20 desks, offering superior location precision within one foot, and location data refreshed every two seconds. This minimizes roll-out costs and strengthens sustainability ratings without compromising accuracy or depth of data. XY Sense experienced rapid growth and enterprise customer adoption post-COVID, reporting a 300% increase in revenue following global rollouts as of June 2022, doubling its annual revenue.
The company's solutions are now used in over 14 countries worldwide, with clients such as CBRE, Xero, Mirvac, and Fidelity International. In July 2022, XY Sense raised an USD 8 million Pre-Series A funding round led by InterValley Ventures, with participation from JCI Ventures and Blackbird. Additionally, it secured USD 2 million in venture debt financing from OneVentures for inventory purchases.
Key customers and partnerships
Key customers of XY Sense include leading companies such as CBRE, Xero, Mirvac, and Fidelity International, spanning industries like automotive, banking, consumer packaged goods, data security, government, internet, media, pharmaceutical manufacturing, software development, technology, and telecommunications across the Americas, APAC, and EMEA regions.
In November 2022, XY Sense won the Innovation of the Year Award at the CBRE Global Workplace Solutions (GWS) Supplier Innovation Challenge, recognizing its innovative contributions to serving CBRE clients. The company's partnership with CBRE has led to installations at CBRE's flagship Henrietta House in London to optimize the workplace experience.
Additionally, XY Sense has formed a strategic partnership with JCI Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Johnson Controls, to potentially integrate its anonymous occupancy sensor technology into Johnson Controls' OpenBlue digital offering for smart, healthy, and sustainable building solutions.

AI-based solutions for evolving digital threats

Next-gen Cybersecurity

<div>
 
 Nozomi Networks offers a platform to protect industrial control systems (ICS), industrial IoT, and OT devices. The company&rsquo;s platform leverages AI, behavioral analytics, and continuous monitoring capabilities to provide enterprises real-time visibility on their IoT and OT networks and detects cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and other anomalies before they materialize. The company&rsquo;s threat intelligence solution provides real-time threat and vulnerability intelligence to reduce the mean-time-to-detection (MTTD), and the Asset Intelligence solution delivers OT and IoT intelligence to detect anomalies at a faster mean-time-to-response (MTTR). The Central Management Console (CMC) integrates OT and IoT threat monitoring capabilities across site deployments in the edge or cloud (including AWS, Azure) for streamlined workflows and faster MTTR. The company offers multiple licensing options for its security solutions including subscription licenses, enterprise license agreements (ELAs), and perpetual licenses.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 As of August 2022, Nozomi Networks supported over 74 million devices across the energy, manufacturing, mining, transportation, utilities, building automation, smart cities, and critical infrastructure sectors.
 
 
 The company has forged strategic partnerships in IT, OT, and IoT with the world&rsquo;s five largest IT cybersecurity companies, seven of the world&rsquo;s 10 largest industrial automation companies, and five of the world&rsquo;s top 10 consulting companies including Exabeam, Deloitte, EY, FireEye, Google Cloud, IBM Security, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler, and AWS.
 
 
 Nozomi Networks 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12649">
 partnered
 </a>
 with the smart building infrastructure and technology company, Johnson Controls in August 2022 to deliver its threat assessment solutions and further extend the cybersecurity capabilities of Johnson Controls&rsquo; customers&rsquo; IoT infrastructure with threat monitoring and visibility. In November 2022, Nozomi Networks 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14714">
 partnered
 </a>
 with the IoT/OT security startup, Viakoo to provide an agentless, end-to-end, IoT enterprise security management solution. During the same period, the company 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14713">
 partnered
 </a>
 with the low-code security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) startup, Swimlane toprovide a joint solution that automates security orchestration, threat detection and response to maintain continuous asset compliance and mitigate cyber threats across OT and IT entry points in industrial and critical infrastructure security operations.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In August 2021, the company 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4606">
 raised USD 100 million
 </a>
 in a Series D funding round led by Triangle Peak Partners. The funds were utilized to accelerate product development and scale its go-to-market efforts by expanding its sales teams and increasing marketing initiatives.
 
 
 The company saw an over 5,000% increase in the number of devices handled during 2020, with the company doubling its customer base leading to a 90% YoY increase in new customer revenues, and an increase in annual recurring revenue by 110% during the same year. In 2020, the company reported that its market share neared 50% in key industry verticals.
 
</div>

Nozomi Networks provides an industrial cybersecurity solution for real-time visibility to manage cyber risk and improve resilience for industrial operations. Customers gain advanced cybersecurity, improved operational reliability and IT/OT integration. It supports over a quarter of a million devices in sectors such as critical infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and utilities, to tackle escalating cyber risks to operational networks (OT).

The Urban League emerged from the black migrations, a spontaneous grassroots movement for freedom and opportunity, and is the nation's oldest and biggest community-based organization dedicated to assisting African Americans to reach the economic and social mainstream.

The mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee is to inspire and empower all young people.

Silver Spring Neighborhood Center is a nonprofit organization which helps with healthcare services, welness, and educcation services.

Milwaukee Parks Foundation supports Milwaukee County Parks by supplementing operations and improving engagement capacity while nurturing charitable funding and community involvement.

$1T will be spent annually on energy efficiency upgrades in commercial properties in the next 10 years. Energy managers are struggling to identify cost-effective projects and failing to meet regulatory commitments. Audette unlocks clean investment for large building portfolios by connecting to and analyzing digital utility and building data and providing the insights needed to uncover millions in potential reductions in operating costs and carbon output.

Founded by Alex Birch and Luke Murray, XY Sense is a proptech company using privacy-preserving sensors and AI-powered analytics to create workplaces people love. The company's sensor collects data passively and delivers accurate(<30cm) workplace utilization analytics in real-time. XY Sense is rapidly gaining popularity with enterprise property teams across Australia and the Asia Pacific and has recently expanded into the USA.

Alcatraz AI replaces badging as an access point identification method by leveraging facial recognition, 3d sensing, and AI. The company builds a facial authentication platform using AI and 3D sensing to enable a highly secure and frictionless entry into physical locations. Alcatraz AI was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in California, USA.

Optimum Energy provides True Optimization—data-driven cooling and heating system optimization solutions for campuses and large facilities. A growing number of enterprise organizations have come to depend on Optimum’s proven track record of fulfilling and exceeding sustainability targets through the OptiCx Platform. Optimum combines data science and engineering expertise to reduce operational expenses by as much as 50% while increasing the productivity of facility support personnel. These gains are achieved and sustained through Real-Time Dynamic Commissioning, which fights performance drift and enable automated, continuous commissioning through dynamic adaptation of the entire HVAC system. For more information please visit www.optimumenergyco.com.

AxonX LLC is a Maryland based company that has developed machine vision technologies for integrated safety systems. These technologies bring more advanced features to video surveillance systems resulting in more robust and intelligent detection of hazardous conditions. Their leading position in this new generation of digital security systems is based on expertise in image analysis, artificial intelligence, patented signal processing technologies and accumulated intellectual property.

InnerWireless, Inc. provides in-building wireless and RFID solutions to healthcare, enterprise, government, and hotel/gaming markets.   InnerWireless solutions provide in-building wireless wide area network (WAN) and WLAN solutions for voice, data, multimedia, location, and other wireless services to the mobile workforce. It offers Wireless Utility, a broadband infrastructure that provides wireless signal coverage for mobility, communication, and real-time access to data.   This solution also provides access to WAN services, including cellular services, paging capability, two-way radio service, first responder technology, WiFi access, enterprise voice service, and building automation and security.   InnerWireless offers Horizon Converged Wireless platform for wide area services, building distribution, local area services, and segment distribution; and PanGo Unified Asset Visibility platform for asset, workflow, and inventory management, as well as to aggregate and synthesize data from various RTLS, RFID, and sensor sources. InnerWireless, Inc. was formerly known as E-tron Technologies, Inc.  InnerWireless was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Richardson, Texas.

Johnson Controls offers smart buildings that create safe, healthy, and sustainable environments. Johnson Controls operates in building efficiency, automotive experience, and power solutions businesses worldwide. It builds efficiency business designs, produces, markets, and installs integrated heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems; and building management systems, controls, security, and mechanical equipment.  It also provides technical services, energy management consulting, and operations of real estate portfolios for the non-residential buildings market. This segment also offers residential air conditioning and heating systems. Its automotive experience business designs and manufactures interior products and systems for passenger cars and light trucks, including vans, pick-up trucks, and sport/crossover utility vehicles. This segment's products and systems include seating systems and components; cockpit systems, such as instrument panels and clusters, information displays, and body controllers; overhead systems, including headliners and electronic convenience features; floor consoles; and door systems. It also produces automotive interior systems for original equipment manufacturers. The company's power solutions business produces lead-acid automotive batteries serving automotive original equipment manufacturers and the general vehicle battery aftermarket. It produces lead-acid batteries, as well as offers absorbent glass mat, nickel-metal-hydride, and lithium-ion battery technologies to power hybrid vehicles.

<div> Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE: JCI) is a global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings. Founded in 1885 and headquartered in Cork, Ireland, Johnson Controls provides a comprehensive portfolio of building technology, software and service solutions. The company's OpenBlue digital platform leverages AI, IoT and cloud computing to optimize building performance and sustainability. Johnson Controls operates through four main business segments: Building Solutions North America, Building Solutions EMEA/LA, Building Solutions Asia Pacific, and Global Products. Key products and services include: <ul> <li> HVAC equipment and controls </li> <li> Building automation systems </li> <li> Fire detection and suppression systems </li> <li> Security systems and services </li> <li> Energy management and sustainability solutions </li> <li> Integrated facility management services </li> </ul> Johnson Controls reported net sales of USD 26.8 billion in fiscal year 2023, with organic growth of 8% year-over-year. The company has a global workforce of approximately 100,000 employees across more than 150 countries. As of Q4 2023, Johnson Controls had a record backlog of USD 12.1 billion, up 9% organically from the previous year. Johnson Controls continues to focus on digitalization and sustainability as key growth drivers. The company is investing in expanding its OpenBlue digital solutions and growing its services business. Johnson Controls aims to help customers reduce building emissions and achieve their decarbonization goals through energy efficient technologies and solutions. </div>

Why Shares of Johnson Controls Surged Again in November

JCI Ventures

Generating, collecting, and analyzing enterprise data will never be the same.

Edge Computing

Companies that provide software to enable users to run their applications at the edge.

Companies that produce hardware and infrastructure such as routers and servers that are not embedded on devices.

Companies that provide software that facilitates analytics, cyber security, and IoT at the edge.

Companies that produce embeddable hardware, including microchips, that allow devices to transmit and process data.

Companies that provide software used in data centers to carry out operations effectively.

Companies that offer datacenter infrastructure to facilitate edge computing, including micro data centers deployable to more strategic locations.

Companies that provide platforms and technologies to protect enterprise data and infrastructure in the cloud from internal and external threats.

Companies that provide next-generation solutions for enterprises to protect endpoint devices such as computers, mobile devices, servers, and other connected enterprise devices.

Companies that provide solutions to protect industrial internet of things (IIoT) and operational technology (OT) devices.

Companies that provide AI-based tools to monitor an organization’s entire infrastructure to identify threats, provide tools for incident investigations, and help automate remediation tasks.

Companies that support businesses with AI-based cybersecurity platforms and human resources for 24/7 threat monitoring and response.

Companies that offer solutions for the protection of enterprise APIs and web applications against external threats such as scripting, bots, denial of service attacks, skimming, Personally Identifiable Information (PII) harvesting, etc.

Companies which provide solutions for enterprises to secure their cloud-native applications and workloads, across the entire development lifecycle.

Technologies that automate and optimize building operations using data-driven insights.

Smart Building Technology

Platforms that automate building management. They gather and analyze data from multiple components, including hardware and sensors, and use a combination of technologies such as IoT, cloud computing, and machine learning for data-driven, proactive, and real-time building intelligence and controls.

Solutions that automatically adjust energy consumption using optimization algorithms, taking into account factors such as energy demand, weather, occupant comfort, and utility prices. These systems aim to reduce energy consumption, cost, and emissions without compromising occupant experience.

Smart lighting solutions include providers of hardware (e.g., smart light bulbs, smart windows, and shades) and lighting-as-a-service.

Smart HVAC solutions include sensors that integrate with building automation systems and specialized HVAC equipment that uses data gathered by sensors to manage temperature, humidity, and air flow. They aim to enhance occupant experience through improved comfort and indoor air quality whilst optimizing energy consumption and utility costs.

Providers of smart water management solutions including irrigation, leak detection, water health monitoring, and water usage analysis.

Developers of smart security solutions including security cameras, sensors, alarms, and access control combined with cloud-based software, and providers of video surveillance-as-a-service and access control-as-a-service.

Occupant experience platforms connect building owners, operators, and occupants to share information and feedback on comfort, maintenance, and safety. Rating systems allow building operators to measure, manage, and disclose key indicators such as ESG performance, digital connectivity and health and safety, assess their exposure to climate risk, and avail themselves of sustainable finance opportunities.

Providers of smart elevators and escalators as well as people-sensing platforms.

Technologies that monitor restroom usage, supplies, traffic, and maintenance.

Companies that use GenAI as a core part of their smart building product offering

Sports Tech

Technology solution providers for sports venues, which includes solutions for stadium management, connectivity and entertainment, and video assistant referee (VAR) technology

Platforms and devices that aid the training process and/or measure player statistics and other metrics, such as health and movement data, to improve player performance

Platforms that assists the management of teams, leagues, tournaments, and other sporting events

Providers of sports data for other sports-related platforms

Online media platforms that distribute sports-related content

Online sports betting platforms and platforms where virtual teams composed of proxies of real players of a professional sport compete based on player performance in actual games

Companies that develop apparel products equipped with technology to track and improve performance

Platforms that enable fans to engage with sports brands and other fans, and developers of solutions such as audience behavior and sentiment analytics, and audience engagement

Speeding up sales, cutting costs, and preparing for the future of retail—whether brick-and-mortar or online.

Retail Industry Robots

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

Sensormatic Solutions and Disruptive Technologies have partnered to improve Sensormatic's Digital Food Safety solution. By combining Disruptive Technologies' small smart temperature sensors with Sensormatic's software platform, the collaboration aims to provide data and insights for cold storage operations in the retail industry. The wireless sensors can withstand extreme temperatures and the goal is to help food retailers reduce waste, increase efficiency, and ensure safety and compliance.

Johnson Controls

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