JBG SMITH, an S&P 400 developer that owns and operates a portfolio of mixed-use properties in the Washington, D.C. area, is deploying fiber, 5G in collaboration with AT&T, and Edge Zones to provide smart resource management at National Landing, an office market in Arlington, VA. The 15-million-square-foot development will be home to Amazon’s second headquarters and Virginia Tech’s billion dollar Innovation Campus.
At the recent 2022 CTIA 5G Summit in Washington, D.C., AT&T EVP and GM David Christopher interviewed JBG SMITH EVP Evan Regan-Levine on what being a 5G-powered smart city means to the sustainability effort to reduce the use of water and electricity.
Christopher noted that the ability to reduce water consumption, electricity consumption and heating and cooling has a positive impact on the business case for a developer. Regan-Levine said the advantages for the developer surround the use of IoT sensors to monitor various functions.
“A lot is actually understanding more about how people use our buildings,” Regan-Levine said. “We just want to know if a room is full or empty, hot or cold, so we can adjust the HVAC use accordingly. And then I can adjust my sensor network and actually build out a case that teaches me more about the right kind of product to build.”
Regan-Levine said that next to access to talent the most important thing to companies when they look for office space is connectivity. “We were used to physical place making, but this opened our eyes to the need for digital place making,” he said. “The digital component not only makes the office an appealing place to go but it drives an important environmental outcome.”
Regan-Levine said looking to entice people to go back to the office with a next generation connectivity experience. To do that, developers are not leaving it up to someone else to run a network. “We never used to think about connectivity, but I think that’s where our industry is shifting and adapting, driven by needs for more connectivity. We are now thinking about connectivity as a key performance indicator.”
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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