Commercial buildings are full of systems that rarely talk to each other. Lighting, heating and cooling, blinds, access control and energy meters often come from different vendors, run on different protocols and report to different screens. ABB and Samsung are trying to close part of that gap by linking ABB's building automation platform with Samsung's enterprise IoT software.
Under a partnership announced in June, ABB Ability BuildingPro will connect cloud-to-cloud with Samsung SmartThings Pro. The integration is meant to give building operators one place to run lights, heating and cooling, blinds, door access, occupancy sensing and energy metering across commercial offices, retail sites, hotels and multifamily housing.
The companies plan three proof-of-concept deployments during 2026: at Samsung's Business Experience Center in Eschborn, Germany, its training centre in Amsterdam, and ABB's site in Middelfart, Denmark. Pricing and wider commercial availability have not been announced.
How The Two Platforms Fit Together
The partnership joins two layers of the building stack that have traditionally been sold separately.
ABB At The Field Level
ABB brings the connection to the building's physical systems. BuildingPro Edge speaks the field protocols common in commercial buildings, including BACnet, KNX and Modbus, which lets it pull data from and send commands to HVAC plants, lighting controllers, blinds and meters. ABB's portfolio also includes its i-bus KNX devices and NETxAutomation software for building management.
"Building owners require a data foundation they can trust and tools that make it easier to manage increasingly complex building portfolios," said Mike Mustapha, division president of ABB Electrification's Smart Buildings division.
Samsung At The Enterprise Level
Samsung brings the management and user layer. SmartThings Pro, the business version of Samsung's consumer smart home platform, first unveiled by Samsung in 2024, is designed to manage HVAC, displays, lighting and energy across multiple sites from a single dashboard, with AI-based monitoring and automation. Samsung has been expanding it steadily, including new HVAC offerings shown at the AHR Expo in February 2026.
"Samsung SmartThings Pro gives enterprise customers a familiar platform to manage their buildings and assets," said Chan-Woo Park, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics' Device eXperience division.
What The Integration Is Meant To Do
The practical goal is to let an operator see and control building systems from one interface, instead of switching between an ABB building management system, a Samsung portal and separate tools for each subsystem.
For hotels, the companies highlight occupancy-based energy management, where heating, cooling and lighting adjust depending on whether a room is occupied, along with centralised monitoring and the option for guests to adjust their room from their own smartphone without downloading an extra app.
For offices and retail, the value is mostly in multi-site visibility: comparing energy use across locations, spotting faults remotely and applying consistent settings across a portfolio.
Why Cloud-to-cloud Matters
The link between the two platforms runs cloud-to-cloud, not device-to-device. That makes it easier to connect existing buildings, because the field equipment keeps talking to ABB's system and only the data and commands pass between the two clouds.
The trade-off is dependence on internet connectivity and on both vendors' cloud services. Building owners will want to know how the system behaves if either cloud is unavailable, and which functions continue to run locally at the edge. For more on how edge and cloud layers divide the work in connected facilities, see our explainer on industrial IoT connectivity.
Why Buildings Are Getting This Attention
Energy rules are one reason. The EU's revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which member states were due to transpose into national law by May 2026, widens requirements for building automation and control systems. The threshold for non-residential buildings that must have such systems falls from heating or cooling systems over 290 kW to those over 70 kW by 2030, bringing many more mid-sized buildings into scope.
Cost is another. Heating, cooling and lighting are among the biggest operating expenses in commercial property, and owners with many sites want data that shows where energy is being wasted. A platform that combines building system data with occupancy information can adjust settings automatically instead of running on fixed schedules.
Security Comes With Connectivity
Connecting building systems to enterprise cloud platforms also widens the attack surface. Building automation networks were historically isolated, and many older controllers were never designed for internet exposure. In Europe, the Cyber Resilience Act for IoT makers is raising expectations for how connected products are secured and supported, which will shape how vendors in this space design and maintain their systems.
What Building Owners Should Consider
For owners and facility managers watching this partnership, a few questions will matter once pilots produce results:
· Which existing building systems and protocols are supported without replacing equipment.
· What happens to comfort, safety and access control if cloud connections fail.
· How data is shared between ABB and Samsung, and who controls it.
· What the combined service costs across a portfolio, including licences for both platforms.
· How the system supports compliance with local energy rules and reporting.
The move from sensing building conditions to acting on them automatically mirrors a wider shift across IoT, which we explored in our piece on how physical AI turns sensing into action.
The Bottom Line
ABB and Samsung are pairing a field-level building automation platform with an enterprise IoT management layer, aiming to give operators one view of lighting, climate, access and energy across their properties. The idea is sensible, and regulation and energy costs are pushing in the same direction.
For now, it remains a partnership with three pilot sites and no published pricing. Its real value will become clearer once those deployments show how well the two platforms work together in everyday building operations.
