By Juan Pedro Tomás

Smart building solutions company Johnson Controls has completed the acquisition of FogHorn, a developer of Edge AI software for the industrial and commercial Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

“Value is increasingly being created by applying intelligence at the edge-device level to create real-time, secure, actionable insights,” said Johnson Controls CTO Vijay Sankaran. “By pervasively integrating Foghorn’s world class Edge AI throughout our OpenBlue solution portfolio, we are accelerating the pace towards our vision of smart, autonomous buildings that continuously learn, adapt and automatically respond to the needs of the environment and people.”

“As the number of sensors and amount of data in buildings continues to grow exponentially, the value of processing data and applying intelligence at the edge, without having to send data to the cloud, becomes increasingly pronounced.”

Former CTO at Foghorn, Sastry Malladi will join Johnson Controls, reporting to Sankaran as VP of OpenBlue Artificial Intelligence.

“We are thrilled to bring the Foghorn team and edge AI capabilities to Johnson Controls and OpenBlue,” said Foghorn’s CTO, Sastry Malladi. “By combining our respective strengths, Johnson Controls can make an even bigger impact on continuing to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges of decarbonization, sustainability and energy efficiency, indoor air quality and smart, secure buildings.”

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. FogHorn’s technical team will be integrated into the OpenBlue Solutions organization. Also, FogHorn’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, California will function as an “AI Hub” for Johnson Controls.

FogHorn is a developer of edge AI software for industrial and commercial IoT application solutions. The firm’s technology is suited for OEMs, systems integrators and end customers in manufacturing, power and water, oil and gas, renewable energy, mining, transportation, healthcare, retail, as well as smart grid, smart city, smart building, and connected vehicle applications, according to Johnson Controls.

Johnson Controls recorded revenues of US$2.3 billion in its North America building solutions segment in fiscal Q4 2021, up 5per cent compared to the same quarter the previous year.

The firm said it recorded a high-single digit growth in service with solid growth across HVAC & Controls, Fire & Security and Performance Infrastructure.

“Orders in the quarter, excluding M&A and adjusted for foreign currency, increased 11 per cent year-over-year. Backlog at the end of the quarter of US$6.5 billion increased 10 per cent compared to the prior year, excluding M&A and adjusted for foreign currency,” the firm said.

For full fiscal year 2021, the company’s North America building solutions segment generated revenues of US$8.68 billion, slightly up from US$8.60 billion in fiscal 2020.

In EMEA and Latin America, the company recorded revenues of US$962 million in fiscal Q4 2021 in its building solutions segment, up 6 per cent compared to the same period the previous year. In Asia Pacific, sales in the quarter amounted to US$724 million, an increase of 10 per cent versus the prior year.