NTT BizLink partners with Beamo, an innovative digital twin solution that facilitates digital transformation for the construction, manufacturing, and facility management industries.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA and SAN FRANCISCO, CA – August 10, 2021 – 3i, Inc. and its flagship product, Beamo, an enterprise-grade Digital Twin solution for mission-critical facilities and remote sites, today announced a new distribution agreement with the Japanese Visual Communication solution company, NTT BizLink, Inc.
Under the terms of the agreement, 3i will provide NTT BizLink license to promote Beamo 3D Digital Twin solution to enable and accelerate the digital transformation of the construction, manufacturing, and facility management industries in Japan.
NTT BizLink will distribute Beamo, a service that allows engineering and construction managers to easily and instantly create, manage, and navigate digital twins or immersive “3D views” of buildings (commercial facilities, production facilities, etc.) using off-the-shelf 360° cameras and smartphones. NTT BizLink is set to carry Beamo in its portfolio beginning August 10, 2021.
This service was developed in collaboration with 3i during the 2019 NTT Communications open innovation program, also called “ExTorch Open Innovation Program”. Beamo is the first service to be commercialized as a result of this program by NTT BizLink, a subsidiary of the NTT Communications Group which has gathered a strong offering in Visual Communication solutions.
With Beamo, NTT BizLink will promote the digitization of manual workflows in facility management by modernizing the way field surveys and inspections are conducted. Indeed, conducting a remote site survey is considered to be near impossible, especially for the purposes of construction and maintenance of buildings and critical facilities.
Background
Inspections are conducted to check building and equipment conditions or to monitor work in progress, whether it’s a data center, a distribution warehouse, a construction site, or some other facility. Site surveyors typically visit the physical location to take pictures, videos, notes, measurements, etc. But if there’s anything that this pandemic has taught us, it’s that travel can be severely limited and dangerous for employees and crippling for businesses.
To address these issues, Beamo removes the need to go onsite by providing an immersive and interactive 3D view of any facility or space. Developed in cooperation with NTT Communications during the ExTorch Open Innovation Program, Beamo can automate 360° photography capture and create an immersive digital twin that depicts field conditions with high accuracy and fidelity.
As a result of a PoC conducted in 65 data centers and telecommunications buildings in Japan and overseas owned by NTT Communications Group, Beamo has proven its ability to improve productivity by making site surveys 30% faster and reducing travels onsite by 40%.
For Yoichi Taguchi, Senior Manager at NTT Communications, Beamo is a game-changer: “In addition to reducing the amount of time spent on creating reports by taking photographs, the reporters are now able to provide a more detailed report with a truer sense of reality. Since the 3D View shows information about the entire facility, there is no need to travel back to the facility to re-photograph any missing information.“
With Beamo, there is no need to travel back to the facility to re-photograph any missing information.
Overview and features
Beamo allows you to easily and instantly create a digital twin of any building using an off-the-shelf 360° camera and smartphone.
Automating site survey and reporting processes
Anyone can easily shoot with off-the-shelf equipment, no expertise required. Using smartphone sensors, the captured point location and the site surveyor path are automatically tracked and recorded during the inspection. This is particularly relevant indoors where GPS is often absent. Therefore all captured points are embedded onto the floor plan without manual intervention. Field reports are now ready in a matter of minutes, not weeks.
Digital Twins with enterprise-grade features
You can instantly create a Digital Twin by uploading the captured data to the Beamo Portal. Pictures and additional information are safely stored on dedicated servers based on your location. Using a hybrid of Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC), Beamo’s team management ensures that the right person has always access to the right information and that critical knowledge is preserved.
Augmenting the digital twin with information to boost collaboration
Each Digital Twin is loaded into a 3D Workspace built for collaboration. Among other features, accurate measurements can be taken directly in the digital twins, and guided paths can be recorded for access protocols and training purposes. In addition, since tagging is possible in the 3D Workspace, manuals and safety guidelines can be digitized and directly embedded in a relevant location, like a machine or a particular room. Tribal knowledge can be captured in the form of pictures, videos, or notes to help onboard new recruits and preserve knowledge continuity.
Facility life cycle management, at scale
From construction and operation to the demolition of buildings, you can store an unlimited amount of data in the life cycle of a facility and its related equipment and assets.
Use Cases
- Equipment management / field survey: More efficient site surveys, planning, post-reports, central repository of information regarding sites and equipment
- Education / training : Creation of training materials using the Tag function in the 3D Workspace
- Safety management: Highlighting of hazardous areas before visiting the site
- Visit / Audit: Guided tours of buildings and audit support
Offer Start Date
August 10, 2021
Future development
With the expansion of this service, Beamo and NTT Communications aim to create a world where all workers can choose the optimal work style and play an active role in the digital transformation of their company.
About 3i
3i Inc. is a South Korean company based in Seoul. Founded in 2017, 3i imagines and invents innovative yet intuitive software and hardware solutions to inspire individuals and companies to achieve their own digital transformation, challenge the status quo, and get creative.
Our flagship product, Beamo, is an enterprise-grade digital twin solution for mission-critical facilities and remote sites. Delivering speed and agility, Beamo creates a dynamic digital twin that you can explore in the closest detail – conduct remote inspections, maintain equipment remotely, collaborate with your team, and provide immersive tours of your most critical assets.
Beamo’s state-of-the-art hardware and software platform is the foundation of our solution and allows you to capture 360-degree images through a guided process, leading to a 30% reduction in capture time. Our Visualization Engine is a patented technology that uses highly tailored computer vision, AI, and machine algorithms that translate 360-degree captures into living, immersive digital twins.
NTT BizLink was launched in July 2001 as a company offering data center services to enterprises. It subsequently developed into a comprehensive ICT outsourcing business that meets the cloud and outsourcing needs of customers through the integration of multipoint video-conferencing services and other technologies.
The company is now expanding into the new business areas of Communication & Collaboration Solutions and Data Center Integrated Solutions by leveraging the data center and video-conferencing operational capabilities it has developed since its founding.