Cisco and Malaysian Resources Corp. Berhad (MRCB) announced in March that they will collaborate to develop first-of-its-kind intelligent real estate centres in Malaysia hoping to offer tenants and patrons of MRCB's KL Sentral Development and the Penang Sentral a concept they have pioneered: 'the Connected Life'.

"Cisco CRE's open-standards-based building infrastructure encourages a centralised approach to monitoring, maintenance and control of the building environment, where building-control systems across all properties can be controlled from a single place, thus reducing maintenance costs and prolonging building lifecycles," said Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, Group Managing director of MRCB.

The collaboration will involve the deployment of Cisco's Connected Real Estate (CRE) solution, a core multiservice Internet Protocol (IP) platform and network system that allows for easy integration of IT and building automation networks for MRCB's future property developments. The single IT environment allows the integration of multiple technologies, converging data, voice, video, building systems, safety and security, and building automation technologies simultaneously.

The collaboration, beginning with MRCB's KL Sentral development, will focus on its latest site at Lot G, comprising more than 2.8 million square feet of retail, office, residential and hospitality properties. This will be followed by the Penang Sentral development, a 30-acre site involving the development of a transportation hub, integrated with retail, commercial and residential developments.

The technology will synchronise business and real estate management for occupiers. For example, the system can register the booking of a meeting room and have lighting, air-conditioning and call-forwarding set up for the parties automatically and in advance.

Good for Malaysia
According to Kumaran Singaram, managing director of Cisco Malaysia, "The collaboration with MRCB will result in some of the largest deployments of Cisco CRE solutions in Malaysia...Cisco has the right technology and expertise to help developers like MRCB build intelligent buildings and transform their business model into one that is based on the provision of services. Cisco has been driving the concept of establishing connectivity as the fourth utility, after electricity, gas and water, in Malaysia," he added.

The announcement was made at a travelling exhibition sponsored by a number of industry partners. One of these, Daniel Chan, Managing Director, Ingram Micro, said "Cisco Express-Network on Wheels (NoW) is the best way to get technology from the people who make it to the people who use it. Cisco Express-NOW can help build state-of-the-art infrastructure for Malaysians in support of the government's initiatives moving into the IT era". RFP