Raised Access Floors: The AI Readiness Solution for Built Environment

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The common link across AI (Artificial Intelligence) platforms and XR (Extended Reality) toolsets is the need to quickly collect, share, and transfer massive amounts of data. This can help organizations streamline business processes, lower operating and maintenance costs, and provide employee training without travel. As a result, AI readiness is essential to harnessing AI’s maximum benefits in the built environment.

For many property owners and facility management (FM) teams, improving an existing commercial property’s AI readiness is challenging. Traditional cabling systems hide most data cables above the finished ceiling or within the walls, making maintenance, upgrades, and reconfigurations time-consuming and expensive.

As a result, many property owners and facility management teams in the built environment are turning to low-profile access floor systems like the Gridd^® Adaptive Cabling Distribution® System to dramatically improve a property’s AI readiness. By relocating the data cabling to the new underfoot airspace (1.6” or 2.75” high), future technology changes can be addressed within days or weeks instead of months.

What Is AI Readiness?

According to a recent Intel white paper¹, most AI usage falls into three categories:

1. Organizations new to AI technologies are still unsure how to implement AI into their business model.

2. Organizations that have used AI in a limited capacity are ready to expand their use of AI to increase sales, reduce costs, and improve service delivery models.

3. Some are broadly implementing AI technologies to help them deliver products and services more efficiently while reducing operating and maintenance costs.

No matter how a company uses AI, Intel has established three levels of AI readiness: foundational, operational, and transformational.

The Intel white paper discusses operational and transformational readiness, and that progress and success rely heavily on a company’s foundational readiness options. Foundational readiness includes a flexible and adaptable cabling infrastructure to support technology needs, available company skills and resources, and processes and models to support the company’s goods, services, and customer journey.

Why is AI Readiness Important?

According to Boldyn Networks², a well-connected building used to mean having a wired infrastructure and an ethernet port for each desk or workstation. Today’s workers regularly use mobile devices, so they can work from different locations within the in-person office setting and remotely from home. “That means buildings have to offer a different kind of connectivity. It has to be wireless. It has to include cellular coverage. And it has to be everywhere.”

This type of flexibility comprised less than 1% of the global office market in 2021. By prioritizing AI readiness, commercial properties can ensure they have the necessary groundwork to integrate AI successfully into a company’s or tenant’s business model. AI readiness can dramatically increase a building’s perceived value and lifecycle.

Built Environment Challenges to AI Readiness

The biggest challenge involves traditional cabling solutions like cable trays above the finished ceiling. Each time a repair or change must be made to implement new technology, the ceilings and walls must be removed to provide access to the cabling infrastructure. As a result, employees and workers must repeatedly deal with the associated noise, dust, and debris of selective demolition and reconstruction and may be unable to access workstations.

Other AI readiness roadblocks in the built environment include:

Green building codes: These new codes require using more sustainable materials that reduce environmental impact while conserving water and reducing energy usage. These new codes help support a circular economy business model while improving a commercial property’s LEED score.

Planning for future technology improvements remains challenging because no one can say what the next must-have business technology will be. For example, Chat GPT³ has only been available since November 30, 2022, and as of August 29, 2024, it has over 200 million weekly active users. Additionally, Chat GPT is now used by 92% of Fortune 500 companies.

Property owners and facility teams can maximize a space’s AI readiness by moving to an easily accessible data cable management system that is flexible enough to adapt to changing technology needs.

Public fire safety requirements: Products used in public access areas must meet stringent fire codes regarding flame spread and the amount of smoke generated.

Using Raised Floors to Improve AI Readiness

Raised access flooring systems relocate vital data cables from the walls and ceilings to a more easily accessible location. Made from 100% US steel, Gridd allows property owners and FM teams to:

● Easily add or relocate workstations as needed.

● Increase connectivity for in-person and remote workers.

● Reduce construction costs for future technology maintenance and upgrades.

● Endlessly reconfigure a space as the company’s technology needs change.

AI readiness needs will continue to vary across industries and business models. Commercial spaces in the built environment utilizing a flexible and highly adaptable cabling infrastructure will remain competitive with new commercial spaces while extending the building’s lifecycle. To learn more about improving the AI readiness of any commercial space, connect with a Gridd Advisor.

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