Overview

Universal Controls Solution is a systems integrator based in Colorado. They are a full-service building automation system integration and ongoing management. Universal Controls was hired by Red Rock Community College in Lakewood, CO to modernize the campus’ building automation systems (BAS). The plan was to move their Niagara N4 supervisor to a cloud-hosted location with secure connections to local building controllers.

Challenges

Before partnering with Universal Controls, the college hosted their own Niagara server locally on campus. While this was a secure option, the server was managed by the campus’ IT department. Periodically, the IT department would shut down the server for routine maintenance. More frequently, a change in the corporate firewall would break a connection to the BAS. This was hard on the building automation team because they did not have constant access their systems. Additionally, inconsistent data records affected operational decision based on trend data. They needed to regain control over their BAS networks to access the data they needed to do their job efficiently. Separating the building automation infrastructure from the IT network was the best way to do this.  

Solution 

Universal Controls worked with Red Rock Community College’s Facilities Director, Mark Bana, to integrate their main campus, out buildings and satellite buildings. The Universal Controls team installed Tosibox locks which were networked to the JACE components and took the Niagara instance out of the local server migrating it to the Tosibox Tier 4, SOC 2 cloud environment. The Niagara instance is now managed by Universal Controls and Tosibox is the cybersecure infrastructure that connects the supervisor to the building controls. “We trust Tosibox and their built-in cybersecurity. The way they have set up their SOC 2 environment gives us the power to service our customers with exactly what they need,” says David Jonas, owner of Universal Controls.  

Impact

After Universal Controls finished the project, the RRCC facilities team found their systems easy to access and support. They experienced less downtime, better data integrity, and they had a professional team supporting their BAS assets. The facilities manager, Mark reflects on the change “giving us back control over our BAS networks not only makes our building run at an optimal level, but we also appreciate that managing the systems is now completely off the IT team’s plate.” 

Additionally, Universal Controls has established a webpage that securely connects to their Niagara dashboards so the RRCC maintenance team can see their operations from anywhere. 

 

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