Johnson Controls partners with DigiCert to upgrade digital trust for smart building solutions

24 May 2021

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Johnson Controls, a global pioneer for smart, healthy, and sustainable buildings, announced that it has partnered with DigiCert, one of the world’s leading providers of digital certificate services and PKI solutions, to provide customers the most advanced secure, trusted connectivity for smart building technology.

The partnership enables the Johnson Controls OpenBlue digital solutions suite to utilize the DigiCert ONE PKI platform.

Solutions with PKI technology

“This strategic partnership allows Johnson Controls to offer our customers increased peace of mind by mitigating the risk of costly operational interruptions due to cybersecurity attacks while providing resilient, trusted smart building solutions that use the most advanced PKI technology from DigiCert, the clear leader in its field,” said Mike Ellis, executive vice president and chief customer & digital officer at Johnson Controls.

“Our domain expertise in healthy, secure, and smart buildings, combined with DigiCert’s trusted digital identity and automated certificate management capabilities will further enhance our OpenBlue suite and offer a clear advantage for smart building operations.”

Device authentication and data encryption

The PKI solution elevates operations within the Operational Technology (OT) and Internet of Things (IoT) space

Johnson Controls-DigiCert PKI solution elevates operations within the Operational Technology (OT) and Internet of Things (IoT) space to ensure that hardware, software, and communication remain trusted throughout the lifecycle of the smart building.

This approach brings modern PKI security as well as advanced expertise in managing digital certificates to provide device authentication and identity, data encryption, and integrity for each component of the ecosystem.

Digital transformation of smart buildings

“Johnson Controls is taking an important leadership stance in providing building owners confidence that their devices are safely and securely connected to the network using robust PKI solutions,” said Mike Nelson, vice president of IoT security at DigiCert.

“DigiCert ONE singularly offers container-based, cloud-native technology for fully automated certificate management with flexible deployment and secure and simple integration with the OpenBlue ecosystem. DigiCert ONE’s IoT Device Manager provides complete IoT device lifecycle management that, together with OpenBlue, will ensure the secure digital transformation of smart buildings.”

Cybersecurity

DigiCert's vigilance in addressing the current and future landscape of digital identities and cryptography combined with Johnson Controls unmatched experience across all building systems will allow for OpenBlue to provide and maintain trusted smart building solutions within an ever-changing cybersecurity landscape.

Johnson Controls also recently announced its partnership with Pelion, to accelerate innovation in connectivity, security, and intelligence at the edge for Johnson Controls OpenBlue technology. Pelion’s device and edge management capabilities will be used with DigiCert services to ensure digital identities maintain the most stringent level of trust in OpenBlue solutions.

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People mentioned in this article

Mike Nelson DigiCert, Inc.

Michael Ellis Johnson Controls, Inc.

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