Microsoft today announced that it is expanding its strategic partnership with Samsung to drive digital transformation across the real estate development and property management industries around the world. With this new strategic alliance, both companies will work to optimize energy management, equipment maintenance, and more by bringing together Microsoft’s productivity cloud services and Azure IoT platform with Samsung’s smart devices and SmartThings platform.
Today’s announcement builds on Microsoft’s $5 billion investment into its own IoT security measures, and its recent acquisition of the threat-detecting IoT security startup company CyberX. The new collaboration with Samsung will allow the company to expand its IoT technologies into new markets, rather than spending millions to develop its own smart appliances.
The real estate development and property management industries will now be able to improve their existing building maintenance and management processes by collecting and interpreting IoT data from building systems and connected appliances. To do this, companies will be able to leverage Samsung’s HVAC systems, smart TVs integrated with SmartThings, as well as Samsung mobile devices for frontline workers, combined with Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Field Service and Azure Digital Twins technology.
“This collaboration with Samsung opens up new opportunities for further innovation in the real estate development and property management industries,” said Sam George, corporate vice president, Azure IoT, Microsoft. “Together, we’ll bring the best of Microsoft’s trusted, easy-to-use and secure Azure IoT platform, Azure Digital Twins and Dynamics 365 Field Service technology with Samsung’s expertise in connected devices and appliances to streamline building operations and maintenance.”
Besides making these new capabilities available for the real estate industry, the press release also mentions that both companies will be collaborating with their marketing, partner, and sales programs across the globe to provide new IoT solutions to their users such as facilities management companies and real estate developers. The National University of Singapore (NUS) will also serve as a pilot for solutions developed under this collaboration.
