From 2013 to 2018, these commercial building managed BAS services will deliver annual revenues of more than $4bn worldwide, growing at a CAGR of 29 percent during the period.

"We are seeing a rush of investment, creativity and revenues in developing what can be achieved with BAS data," says Jonathan Collins, principal analyst. "These software as a service or cloud services have the ability to pull together management of multiple buildings and applications within them, simplifying the process of improving energy efficiency for building owners."

Growing BAS network connectivity has opened up these systems to SaaS applications developed to analyze building environmental performance alongside a range of other data feeds such as local weather or energy pricing.

But it is not a market just for start-ups such as BuildingIQ, Sky Foundry, or Viridity Energy. The established giants of building automation systems, including Johnson Controls, Siemens and a handful of others, have responded and are taking a range of approaches towards competing or integrating in the managed smart building market. Naturally, the largest IT and systems integrator companies have also seen potential in the market with IBM, HP and Cisco all bringing their own approaches.

The scope of offerings and the ability of the players will be key to bringing their new services to the traditionally staid and entrenched BAS market. ABI Research has produced a new study titled "SaaS in the Building Automation Market" as part of the Home Automation Research Service, which looks at the rapidly developing market for smart building automation.

Source: ABI Research