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Lyubov Yulis: «All services in one network!»
Winston Churchill once remarked: «We shape our buildings, and they shape us.» The discussion was about the construction of the new House of Commons building. If only he knew that half a century later his words could well become the motto of the «smart home» concept!
The first talk about “intelligent houses” (IB – Intelligent Building) was in the 1970s in the USA. The most insightful developers and designers immediately saw that a new brand “Intelligent House” had been born. Creative people of all stripes immediately got a taste for the new combination of sounds – “intelligent house”, smart house, IQ-home… Not just a new real estate industry was born, but something much bigger – a new philosophy of the House. However, there is still no single standard for a “smart house”. At least on the Russian market. But the thesis about the need to create an integrated and automated infrastructure that would save energy resources, create comfort, provide information services, manage all processes, and ensure security is increasingly heard. And all these multi-profile systems will be controlled and monitored using a communications infrastructure.
The telecommunications company COMSTAR – United TeleSystems, created on the basis of three major telecom operators Comstar, MTU-Inform and Telmos, is actively working on creating an IB, where all systems and resources will be managed using communication networks. And at the same time, it is solving the problem of minimizing the costs of maintaining these systems.
We offer you an interview with Lyubov Yulis, Director of Commercial Real Estate at Comstar – United TeleSystems.
Corr.: Let us initially clarify in more detail the tasks facing your department?
L. Yulis: In a broad sense, our work can be considered as the automation of buildings, their intellectualization, since today neither a building nor a business can exist without IT. IT telecom services have become so ingrained in our clients' businesses that it is sometimes impossible to separate an IT service and a business application. Our department was created in 2004 and specializes exclusively in partnerships with players in the commercial real estate market. Over the past two years, we have gained a lot of experience working together with investors, developers, and management companies. We have a common goal: to make the client happy. That is, to provide them with maximum services and high quality service. This is of interest to both the building owner, who wants to retain the tenant, and to us, because we want to retain our client.
Corr.: To attract a client and not lose a client: this is the main component of the formula for success. But you will hardly find any manufacturers of goods and services who would not lose clients. Perhaps this happens to you too?
L. Julis: The market is changing. Tenants' demands on office buildings are increasing. And the competition for tenants is intensifying, although there is still a shortage of office space. However, many things in our industry have changed for the better.
For example, in the past, the main reason for a client leaving was not so much the quality of the service of the telecom operator, but… moving to another office building. After all, each business center was serviced by a separate operator, with whom an exclusive contract was signed. But today this approach is not practiced. At least in such iconic business centers as Krylatskiye Kholmy, Aurora Business Park, Tower on the Embankment, Lotte Plaza, Ducat III, several operators are now working.
Corr.: So exclusivity is not only uniqueness, but also a monopoly with all its costs?
L. Yulis: Of course, a monopoly. But tenants must not only be given the right to choose, but also guaranteed full reservation. No operator – no matter how good! – will ever be able to guarantee trouble-free operation. And no provider will be able to meet the reservation requirements, especially those made by international corporations today. We have constantly persuaded all market participants to abandon the vicious practice of “exclusivity.” And, it seems, we have convinced them.
Corr.: How do you build relationships with investors and developers?
L. Yulis: We view the owner of the building not as a customer, but as a partner. The logic of this approach is absolutely simple: the owner does not order anything from us and does not pay us anything.
We are united by a common client. The developer invests in the building, and we invest in our own communication systems: we lay cables, build an input to the building, install communication nodes, etc. That is, we act as co-investors. And the owner of the building, as a partner, allocates us space, provides power supply, grounding, air conditioning, provides embedded structures, introduces us to tenants. And we, in turn, take on all the headaches associated with obtaining technical specifications and work permits, project approval, construction, obtaining permission for all our work, preparing design documents at all permit stages. That is, we take on all the problems associated with the telephone installation of the building.
Corr.: So the partnership begins at the design stage?
L. Yulis: At any stage. But the sooner, the less the investor will end up spending. What does the «traditional» scheme look like? The investor orders telephony from designers. And they follow the beaten path to MGTS, get technical specifications for copper cable, make a project — I note, a lot of money is spent on all this! — and then all this turns out to be unnecessary, because it does not meet modern requirements. Then we come, and everything starts from the very beginning. And, by the way, when all the embedded structures, all the server rooms are being designed, it is important to immediately consult with those who understand what they should be like, how the communications infrastructure should be organized, and so on.
Corr.: Maybe the reason for the «monkey work» is that there are no IB standards?
L. Yulis: There is not even a clear classification for office buildings by classes «A», «B» and «C», not to mention the standardization of «intelligent buildings». There is only a conditional agreement concluded in 2003 between leading real estate consultants. And most developers today declare their buildings, of course, as class «A» buildings. I am sure that brokers, developers and tenants need a clear classification that will organize the market. Although for us these subtleties are not so important — the requirements for telecommunications in class «A» and «B» offices are practically the same.
As for intelligent buildings, it is unclear what criteria distinguish them. Often in practice, an “intelligent home” is called a building equipped with a single integrated system, say, only air conditioning or video surveillance, which is fundamentally wrong. We see serious difficulties in connection with the underestimation by the market participants themselves (construction, IT and communications) of the potential benefits of cooperation. Today, the “hunt” for an IZ developer is carried out either by communications specialists or IT companies (options with numerous contractors are not even considered), and such a project is usually characterized by a “one-sided” service in the building: either very good communications, or not bad engineering systems management. Separate work of IT specialists to create an IZ management system can be very effective, but by no means optimal for the end user. After all, it is impossible to provide the ability, for example, for a TV to work as a security system screen, and a telephone as an intercom without the participation of communications specialists. In addition, this cooperation can reduce part of the investment in the project, usually carried out by both IT companies and telecom operators.
Corr.: What services are most in demand today at commercial real estate sites?
L. Yulis: Requirements for telecommunications services have changed a lot today. Among our clients, there are companies that already order Internet channels with a capacity of up to 100 Mbit/s. The fact is that new generation networks now provide previously impossible technical parameters of communication services (transmission of voice, video and data at speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s, unification of geographically distributed objects into a single corporate network with an abbreviated numbering plan, provision of centralized video surveillance).
Therefore, for telephony, as a rule, all serious customer companies are already installing their own equipment, receiving much greater freedom of action. True, hybrid solutions are still popular, so the capabilities of IP technologies are partially realized. For organizing external telephony, customers prefer to take traditional E1 streams, connect them to an IP station, and then build IP networks inside the office. Although, having an internal IP network, there is no point in building an external network in the traditional way. Apparently, most customer companies are not yet psychologically ready to completely switch to VoIP. However, customers in new office buildings are increasingly ordering channels of a completely different bandwidth. If previously the norm was the E1 channel (2 Mbit/s), now they order E3 (45 Mbit/s), or VPN (private virtual networks — ed.) over an IP network with a bandwidth of 20, 50 and 100 Mbit/s. For example, in the Krylatskiye Kholmy complex, where the offices of Microsoft, Cisco, Huawei are located, orders have already been received for 45 Mbit/s channels.
In the Aurora Business Park business center, we installed several VPN channels specifically for one of the tenants — a bank —
100 Mbit/s, 100 Mbit/s, 10 Mbit/s. In buildings of this level, operators should use only new-generation networks and come to them with Gigabit channels. I repeat, only a few large operators with their own new-generation networks can offer full-fledged services.
Corr.: What is your forecast for 2008, when the Moscow-City International Business Center will bring in a million square meters of office space?
L. Yulis: Experts predict that in 2008 the commercial real estate market should be saturated, i.e. a balance between supply and demand. Most likely, the vacancy rate will increase slightly.
Corr.: Do you think prices will decrease?
L. Yulis: It is unlikely that prices will fall in the near future. But they will definitely stabilize. If supply significantly exceeds demand, then rates will start to fall. It is difficult to predict today.
Corr.: Who can you name among the developers with whom you have developed good partnerships?
L. Yulis: These are Forum Property, CMI Development, Hines, MIRAX GROUP, HORUS, AIG/Lincoln, and we are establishing relationships with ENKA and Capital Group. And we are open to cooperation with everyone who works in this market – IT integrators, already well-known players, and newly emerging investors and developers.
Corr.: What place do wireless technologies occupy today, and what is their future?
L. Yulis: Today, Wi-Fi is widely used to access the Internet. Comstar-OTS is engaged in a whole program of organizing hot spots, installing them in public places, restaurants, hotel lobbies, and libraries. This solution is also of interest to large hotels, where instead of building an expensive SCS, Wi-Fi equipment is installed, thus providing Internet access from the hotel room stock.
But the problem of complete mobility can only be solved by convergence of wired and mobile communications, the so-called FMC service (Fixed Mobile Convergence – ed.). This is the service of tomorrow, today we are testing it on our network together with our partners MTS.
We are confident that the future of telecommunications is in FMC, i.e. soon all users will work with mobile devices capable of switching from GSM to Wi-Fi mode when entering a building equipped accordingly.
Corr.: The list of services is constantly expanding. What stimulates the development of the IT and telecom services market — customer demands?
L. Yulis: It's a two-way process. On the one hand, the client needs something new, on the other hand, we offer something new that he didn't even know about. When we launched a new generation network in 2003, it was a huge technological breakthrough, and most of our clients had no idea that such services existed. Second- and third-level VPNs appeared, opening up completely new opportunities, speeds, and quality guarantees. But the demand for something good «new» grows instantly. For example, we've already received our first order for a 1 Gbit/s VPN channel.
Corr.: Finally, the last question: what is the most pressing task in building automation today?
L. Yulis: It's the task of integrating systems from different manufacturers. One company is not capable of creating a universal «intelligence.» But what happens? Each system is magnificent and unique in itself. But these “smart solutions” do not want to work together, or each is controlled from its own center, which creates inconvenience and redundancy in maintenance. The ideal scheme: all services are under the control of a single management system! I have already mentioned the second problem — the separate work of IT integrators, developers and telecom operators within the framework of projects to create automated buildings. |
