Why Johnson Controls (JCI) Is Buying FogHorn

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jan 12, 2022
  • Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) announced today it is buying FogHorn. These are the details.

Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) — the global leader for smart, healthy, and sustainable buildings — announced it has completed the acquisition of FogHorn, the leading developer of Edge AI software for the industrial and commercial Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

As the number of sensors and amount of data in buildings is continuing to grow exponentially, the value of processing data and applying intelligence at the edge, without having to send data to the cloud, becomes increasingly pronounced.

The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. FogHorn’s technical team will be integrated into the OpenBlue Solutions organization. FogHorn’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, California will function as an ‘AI Hub’ for Johnson Controls.

KEY QUOTES:

“Value is increasingly being created by applying intelligence at the edge-device level to create real-time, secure, actionable insights. By pervasively integrating Foghorn’s world-class Edge AI throughout our OpenBlue solution portfolio, we are accelerating the pace towards our vision of smart, autonomous buildings that continuously learn, adapt, and automatically respond to the needs of the environment and people.”

— Johnson Controls CTO Vijay Sankaran

“We are thrilled to bring the Foghorn team and edge AI capabilities to Johnson Controls and OpenBlue. By combining our respective strengths, Johnson Controls can make an even bigger impact on continuing to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges of decarbonization, sustainability and energy efficiency, indoor air quality and smart, secure buildings.”

— Sastry Malladi, Foghorn’s Chief Technology Officer

Malladi — who served as Chief Technology Officer at Foghorn — will join Johnson Controls, reporting to Sankaran as Vice President, OpenBlue Artificial Intelligence.