What do the stars of futuristic thrillers such as “The Matrix” and residents living in a multifamily property in the year 2012 have in common? Both will likely use biometrics—retina scans, thumbprints, and other biological data—to gain access into secure areas such as apartment buildings.
Remember when a fitness center was just a handful of stationary bikes and a collection of free weights? How times have changed. Today's multifamily fitness facilities can be anything from medical clinics to cardio theaters, where residents can find a host of technology—glucose detectors, heart and blood pressure monitors, sensors that track movement and climate controls—that they and their family members and doctors can use to track their health and fitness.
When Hurricane Katrina blew across the Gulf Coast and devastated New Orleans, she left countless businesses broken in her wake after she essentially wiped out critical communications infrastructure; dowsed systems and facilities with dirty, debris-laden water; and brought business operations to a virtual standstill for weeks, which then stretched into months.
Hardly a week passes without a scary news story from a major credit card company, bank, or online shopping site that the security of critical consumer data has been compromised. If these data-heavy, security-oriented companies can't adequately protect their sensitive customer information, then how will apartment companies and their business partners be able to accomplish such a task?
Soon, if a resident at Miami's Grovenor House on the Biscayne Bay needs his car, he'll only have to press a single button on a "wireless concierge" device to call up his automobile. The same goes for residents of Paramount's Royal Palm Communities, Paramount Beach, and Bay projects, where restaurant reservations and restricted social club access are just a button away, thanks to a wireless touchpad panel.