Advancis Software & Services based close to Frankfurt, Germany, is one of the international market leaders in vendor-neutral PSIM.
Advancis Software & Services based close to Frankfurt, Germany, is one of the international market leaders in vendor-neutral PSIM, i.e., different security, building automation and communication systems are controlled via a single unified management platform.
The key factor for the company is the close collaboration with lots of system manufacturers to develop the required interface drivers to realize the full integration of their products into the PSIM platform. According to Jan Meiswinkel, CEO and Co-Founder of Advancis Software & Services, the company’s work of developing interfaces is one of the most integral aspects of ensuring a stable integration.
“As a top-level PSIM provider, we claim ourselves to be in charge of robust and secure data exchange,” Meiswinkel said. “One of the trends seen in the industry now is the constant product updates that are rolled out by manufacturers. Obviously, customers are keen to own the most up-to-date version of their products. Advancis facilitates this and ensures that the customers have a hassle-free experience in acquiring and maintaining the solutions for a license fee.”
Jan Meiswinkel,
CEO and Co-Founder,
Advancis Software & Services
“We have an Advancis technology partner ecosystem with all the manufacturers,” Meiswinkel continued. “We are usually aware of the changes they are implementing, so we can get information on short notice to provide the required interface updates to our customers. Also, if a customer has a technology that we do not support yet, we are of course willing to develop it for the same license price.”
But how does the company estimate the cost of a license at a site that has several different devices and technical systems? Meiswinkel pointed out that this is done by taking the total number of data points that are part of cameras, fire detectors and other similar relevant equipment installed at the site. Customers can buy what Advancis calls data point units based on their requirements. For instance, a fire detector requires one data point unit which costs about 4 Euros (US$ 4.59).
Speaking about their target customers, Meiswinkel said that Advancis is giving importance to making their solutions more accessible to a large audience. This especially includes small-scale customers who may be more price sensitive than their larger counterparts. As far as their sales channel is concerned, the route that the company follows is through systems integrators.
On factors that the company believes makes it stand apart from its competition, Meiswinkel said that Advancis has a clear idea of its goals. In the short term, the company believes that there is a crucial need for connecting and integrating different devices until the market becomes more homogenous. Of course, such a homogenous market may still be a bit far away, given that ideas regarding the same have been floating around for the past 20 years or so.
Meiswinkel concluded by saying that the phrase PSIM itself is limiting in terms of explaining all the services that the company offers. The real work is not just about managing physical systems but being aware of each situation at every moment and efficiently controlling them.