Half of 2025 over, strategies come more into focus

Smart Building Insight - Partnerships, M+A, public firm developments - July 2025 from Aamidor Consulting

Letter from the Editor

For those in the USA who were celebrating, we hope you all had a good 4th of July. We’re going out Monday, not Sunday, as it was a fun, long weekend on our side.

In addition to all the key news items, there are a few podcasts that dropped right before the 4th…in case you missed them:

• Joe was interviewed on the AI InterConnect Podcast, speaking about, what else…smart buildings!

• Lewis and Joe dropped a “Down Low with Joe” market update - we haven’t recorded one in a few months, but do look to do them more consistently. For all the episodes, check out our YouTube channel or Spotify.

Ok, let’s get right to it…in this issue:

• Partnerships: a few relevant data center moves, and JLL working with Microsoft, a deal that harkens back to the tenant amenity go-go days of the early 2020s.

• Acquisitions: Our take on Airthings LOI to Zehnder, big changes at Engie, and a few other deals.

• Public firms: Trane provides details on its strategic rationale for buying Brainbox AI, and how many connected assets and buildings it has (both are impressive numbers!). Additionally, Honeywell on the core business model of automation.

• A short analysis piece on value differentiation vs. product differentiation. And, a sneak peek at our upcoming stock tracker.

Also, conference season is upon us, and we’ll be attending a few events in the coming months, including:

• Blueprint: Joe will be leading a panel - stay tuned for details. Readers of Smart Building Insight can get a discount on tickets. (Las Vegas, September 16-18)

A housekeeping item - we are starting to book projects into the fall - please reach out if you think you will need our help. We’d be happy to talk, but please get in touch soon!

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Aamidor Consulting Client Spotlight (Podcast Spotlight)

We’re kicking off a small study to help an emerging vendor better understand the specific problems that AI-based solutions can solve. This includes both identifying where current market solutions are insufficient to user needs and where AI-based offerings may provide a technical edge. There continues to be a big focus on AI-powered smart building solutions; this engagement seeks to hone in more to better define the real use cases to prioritize.

This newsletter is a market wrap up and analysis of the smart buildings industry. If the email was forwarded to you, sign up to receive it directly.

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Partnerships:

• Eaton and Siemens Energy announced a partnership to accelerate data center construction by providing modular, grid-independent power solutions that significantly cut time-to-market and emissions.

• Siemens and NVIDIA expanded their partnership to accelerate industrial AI by integrating NVIDIA’s accelerated computing with the Siemens Xcelerator platform, driving next-generation AI-powered manufacturing and factory automation.

  • Data centers remain the biggest growth opportunity for HVAC, controls, and electrical OEMs..and an area we’ve increased our coverage and work. We’re also planning to update our data center white paper this fall (first version available here…contact us for the PDF!).