July 20, 2022
Northbrook, Illinois, July 20, 2022 – UL Solutions, a global leader in applied safety science, today announced that multiple buildings across Microsoft’s corporate campuses in Redmond, Wash.; San Jose, Costa Rica; Dublin, Ireland; and Hyderabad, India have received UL Verified SPIRE Smart Building Ratings. The rating for each building is based on the SPIRE™ Smart Building Verified Assessment, a comprehensive evaluation for smart buildings that results in an overall UL Verified SPIRE Smart Building Rating.
Each of the Microsoft buildings received a three-star UL Verified SPIRE Smart Building Rating — the highest performing program rating to date. In addition, Microsoft's facilities in Dublin, Ireland; Hyderabad, India; and San Jose, Costa Rica, are the first buildings outside of the U.S. to achieve a SPIRE rating. These ratings were based on multiple factors, including:
- Occupant engagement in building technology and experience innovation
- A continuous cycle of planned technology upgrades
- Physical security of critical networks and building assets
- Actions to meet sustainability commitments
- Flexible and robust reporting from connected building systems
- Building lifecycle and operational management
- Ongoing maintenance, support and awareness of IT network
- Enterprise cybersecurity practices and policies
"By being the first ever to earn the UL Verified SPIRE Smart Building Rating in multiple countries, Microsoft has taken a significant step in validating and demonstrating smart building innovation,” said Sudhi Sinha, vice president of Ecosystems and Service Development group for UL Solutions. "Buildings are complex ecosystems to manage, often with multiple priorities. By assessing, validating and rating key building elements that take into consideration the entirety of a smart building, the UL Verified SPIRE Smart Building Rating supports Microsoft's commitment to building performance and asset value. We thank them for putting their trust in UL Solutions to deliver on that promise."
Each facility awarded a UL Verified SPIRE Smart Building Rating received an in-depth, on-site and virtual audit of the building’s technologies and processes. UL Solutions focuses on six key, industry-driven building criteria categories that define the full scope of smart building performance, including power and energy, health and well-being, life and property safety, connectivity, cybersecurity, and sustainability.
The UL Verified SPIRE Smart Building Rating comes at a time when businesses are considering smart building needs in the face of new and evolving influences. These include the decarbonization of physical assets, alignment of business and building missions, experiences and productivity of occupants, concerns over cybersecurity, and the introduction of artificial intelligence, image perception, and robotics into the built environment. In addition to these issues, recent health concerns have brought new priorities to building operators looking for smart building systems to help keep occupants safe. SPIRE assessments provide insight into smart building performance and also help communicate a commitment to the health and well-being of its occupants.
Originally conceived as part of an overall initiative between the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and UL Solutions to share commercial, technical and standardization insights to further their work in the ecosystem of smart buildings, the SPIRE Smart Building Program includes assessment criteria input from a TIA industry working group of more than 60 commercial real estate, real estate investment trust (REIT), asset management, technology and telecommunications industry leaders.
About the SPIRE Smart Building Program
The SPIRE Smart Building Program, the world's first comprehensive and objective assessment and rating program for smart buildings, was created in a partnership between the Telecommunications Industry Association and UL Solutions. The SPIRE Smart Building Program provides an assessment of connected technologies within buildings, delivering insights, benchmarks and roadmaps to help lower costs, mitigate risks, create brand differentiation and enhance overall asset value. SPIRE also provides a structured means to assess the outcomes of design for and adoption of smart building technologies.
About UL Solutions
A global leader in applied safety science, UL Solutions transforms safety, security and sustainability challenges into opportunities for customers in more than 100 countries. UL Solutions delivers testing, inspection and certification services, together with software products and advisory offerings, that support our customers’ product innovation and business growth. The UL Certification Marks serve as a recognized symbol of trust in our customers’ products and reflect an unwavering commitment to advancing our safety mission. We help our customers innovate, launch new products and services, navigate global markets and complex supply chains and grow sustainably and responsibly into the future. Our science is your advantage.
Pictured above left-to-right: Emmanuel Daniel, director, Digital Transformation & Smart Buildings - Center of Innovation, Microsoft; Scott Weiskopf, director, Global Workplace Services Center of Innovation, Microsoft; Jennifer Scanlon. president and CEO, UL Solutions Inc.; Weifang Zhou, executive vice president and president, Testing, Inspection and Certification, UL Solutions.
Press contact:
Steven Brewster
UL Solutions
steven.brewster@ul.com
1+847.664.8425