EMAIL INTERVIEW – David Unger and Ken Sinclair

David Unger, Founder & CEO, Sentient Buildings

With more than 20 years of experience growing technology focused companies, Unger is a pioneer in the use of internet and web-based platforms. Prior to founding Sentient, he served as chief operating officer of US Energy Group, where he introduced several new product innovations for remote building monitoring and control through a central cloud-based platform.

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Sinclair:  What does Sentient Buildings do?

Unger:  Sentient Buildings is a cloud-based building automation company.  Through the application of wireless IoT technologies combined with traditional building control systems, we help real estate owners and managers reduce operating costs, use less energy and run their properties more efficiently, all while improving the occupant experience.

Sinclair:  What’s new for the company? 

Unger:  We recently launched Neuro™, an IoT monitoring, analytics and control platform that centralizes remote access to building operations.

Sinclair:  How does Neuro work? 

Unger:  Utilizing a single pane of glass, Neuro enables owners and managers to share real-time data across their ecosystem, and gain insight into a property’s efficiency, comfort and controls.  It gives them a close-up view of building performance, operational cost and equipment including air handlers, boiler plants, cooling towers, thermostats, and lighting down to the zone level.

Sinclair:  You recently presented at Realcomm in Nashville. What topic did you focus on? 

Unger:  The presentation focused on getting full transparency on building operations out to the edge.  I discussed the advantages of using wireless IoT technologies to connect physical devices and sensors in buildings to the cloud, in order to capture real time and historical data as well as provide remote control of equipment and systems.   

Sinclair:  What’s next for Sentient Buildings? 

Unger:  Sentient is continuing to add new features to Neuro including issue/work order management, graphics,  dashboards, analytics and collaboration tools to extend visibility to service providers.  We are also working on our next generation wireless star to mesh technology using industry standard protocols to enable scalable, reliable and secure communications to support our IoT offerings. 

Sinclair:  Where do you see the industry five years from now? 

Unger:  New legislation requiring greater energy efficiency will continue to go into effect throughout the country, and buildings will need to become more automated to help meet these obligations.  For example, New York State just passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which includes such ambitious targets as 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040, and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.