The Association for Facilities Engineering (AFE) today announced the confirmed keynote speakers who will be featured at the 2019 Building Automation & Cyber Security FM Forum (BACS 2019). This full-day educational forum will provide practical advice to property managers preparing facilities management teams to transition from traditional building automation systems (BAS) to Smart Building technology connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). BACS 2019 will feature SMEs, headlined by forum keynote speaker Jefferey Murrell of the US Department of Energy, presenting on the challenges and successes in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies into building operation systems to improve overall building operating efficiencies, reduce energy consumption and increase cybersecurity protocols.
While building automation systems are nothing new, the technology that powers these systems evolves at an ever-rapid pace. Facilities Engineers and other FM professionals often retire with no readily available successor for their roles and take years of institutional knowledge about operations and preventive maintenance protocols out of the door with them. This increases the stakes for property managers to understand how to both seamlessly integrate new technologies into their BAS platforms but also manage and train FMs to operate these systems. BACS 2019 will offer attendees best practices in successfully managing these challenges. BACS 2019 will take place on Thursday, September 26, 2019, at The Westin Tysons Corner, 7801 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA from 8 AM to 5 PM.
Additionally, automation generally increases the number of systems connected to a company’s networking infrastructure and made accessible to mobile devices, making the organization’s ever-growing IoT more susceptible to cyber-attacks. Through BACS 2019, AFE has gathered an outstanding list of experts on the subject of cybersecurity, including former US Army IT officer Dr. Kenneth Williams who leads the Cyber Center at American Public University.
Further details and registration information can be obtained by contacting Joshua Watkins at jwatkins@afe.org or by calling (571) 329-6067. Media posts about BACS 2019 can also be searched using the hashtag #BACS2019.