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"When you think in terms of a solution, from the
design point of view, you have to start thinking
beyond the product you're developing."
Vibhoosh Gupta, Director of Product
Management, Emerson Automation
Solutions
Vibhoosh is passionate about making the
Industrial Internet real. In his current role
as the Director of Product Management
for Emerson's Industrial Automation
portfolio, Vibhoosh is helping usher in a
new era of Industrial Edge devices to bring
connectivity and optimized controls to
the industrial assets. Vibhoosh received
his MBA from F.W.Olin Graduate School
of Business at Babson and Bachelor of
Technology in Computer Science and
Engineering from National Institute of
Technology, Kurukshetra in India.
When asked to describe the challenges he sees in designing commercially successful
products for smart buildings, Vibhoosh Gupta, director of Product Management at
Emerson, says that the first challenge is not to think in terms of products but instead
in terms of solutions. A device with features and functions is a product. A solution is
more than that. A solution solves a problem, and to solve a problem, you need relevant
inputs and useful outputs. It all begins with defining the purpose of the solution.
"The purpose of an Internet of Things (IoT) solution is to provide an optimization layer
in addition to the controls you currently have. It makes your process smarter and more
efficient," says Gupta. More specifically, it delivers two kinds of outputs:
Make machines smarter. Smart IoT solutions process inputs gathered from
sensors so that control systems can make smarter operational decisions on
their own. A traditional heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system is
controlled by a dumb temperature sensor driving an on-off switch. A smart HVAC
system processes a lot of data from many sensors—indoor temperature
at different locations, outside temperature, humidity, air pressure in ductwork,
and which rooms have people, and which do not. The controller uses all this
data to optimize temperature at different places in the building while minimizing
energy consumption.
Think Beyond the Product You're Developing
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