Honeywell Technologies Debuts Forge Cognition AI Platform with Nvidia and Dell for Smart Buildings

Honeywell Technologies Unveils AI-Driven Platform for Building Operations

Honeywell Technologies launched Forge Cognition, a self-contained agentic AI and simulation platform developed in partnership with Nvidia and Dell Technologies. The AI-driven platform combines AI agents and digital twins to transform how facility operators manage buildings, campuses and industrial operations. Built on Nvidia's open-source AI models and Dell's infrastructure, Forge Cognition aims to improve asset reliability, energy efficiency and occupant comfort across existing systems.1

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The platform represents the first major product from the restructured Honeywell Technologies, which spun off its advanced-materials and aerospace businesses over the past year to focus on automation for buildings, factories and process plants. Chief Technology Officer Suresh Venkatarayalu describes it as "a brain behind a building" that adds intelligence to the systems that heat, cool, secure and power facilities.1

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Human-in-the-Loop Approach Despite Autonomous Capabilities

While Forge Cognition can operate in three modes—manual, semi-autonomous and autonomous—Honeywell Technologies has deliberately not activated full autonomy. Suresh Venkatarayalu told Fortune that the company plans to keep humans in the loop for the next two to three years before customers can decide when to enable fully autonomous actions. "For me, I wouldn't deploy these agents without my control system in place," he said. This cautious approach reflects the critical question facing companies deploying AI agents in physical operations: how much control should software have over equipment people depend on daily?1

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The platform currently allows operators to review every decision AI agents make, creating a feedback loop that builds trust over time. Operators can examine each alarm classification and confirm whether they agree with the system's assessment, ensuring transparency in how autonomous actions are coordinated across building automation systems.1

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90-Day Challenge at Nvidia Voyager Campus Delivers Results

The development of Forge Cognition accelerated after a challenge at CES in January. When Nvidia leadership asked Honeywell Technologies to identify a lighthouse customer, CEO Vimal Kapur turned the question around: "Why can't you be my lighthouse customer?" Nvidia accepted, and the companies set a 90-day target to demonstrate results at Nvidia Voyager campus, a roughly 750,000-square-foot headquarters building in Santa Clara.1

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Within 30 days, Suresh Venkatarayalu was pitching Nvidia's operations and real estate team. Scott Ekman, Nvidia's head of operations and real estate, wanted more than a demo—he had specific business objectives. The teams agreed on five performance targets and tracked progress weekly across approximately 900 pieces of equipment. By late April, Honeywell Technologies had enough data to present a three-minute live demonstration to investors.1

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Up to 90% Reduction in False Alarms Through AI Agents

The first target addressed a persistent challenge in building automation: alarm fatigue. Building systems flag everything to err on caution, creating overwhelming noise for operators. At the Nvidia Voyager campus security and access-control system, close to 90% to 95% of alarms were false positives, requiring eight or nine people per shift to clear them. Honeywell Technologies trained Nvidia's open-source Nemotron model on its engineering knowledge to distinguish real alarms from noise, achieving up to a 90% reduction in unnecessary alerts related to the Building Management System.1

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Energy Efficiency Gains Through Intelligent System Analysis

The second target focused on energy efficiency. AI agents analyzed Voyager's utility consumption by floor, zone, and peak versus off-peak hours, uncovering inefficiencies in heating system operation. Suresh Venkatarayalu explained they discovered zones running heating at approximately 58 degrees throughout the year without sensing external temperature changes. "Why should I be running the heating system?" he asked. Through more intelligent understanding and optimization of operating conditions, Honeywell Technologies identified close to 10% potential energy savings—a figure representing opportunities the teams have flagged but not yet fully realized.1

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Technical Foundation: Nvidia and Dell Technologies Integration

Forge Cognition leverages Nvidia Omniverse libraries to create physically accurate simulations that help teams model building performance and test operational changes. Operators can interact with a digital replica of facilities like Voyager, drilling down to individual floors, zones or machines. "Can I talk to the building? Can I talk to a physical asset?" Suresh Venkatarayalu asked, describing the platform's conversational interface for infrastructure.1

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Dell Technologies provides the critical AI infrastructure through the Dell AI Factory with Nvidia, including Dell PowerEdge XE servers, Dell AI Data Platform data and storage engines, and cyber resiliency solutions. The platform uses Nvidia RTX PRO GPUs and is expanding to accommodate far-edge deployments with Nvidia DGX Spark to accelerate physical AI operations. Dell Services supports Honeywell Technologies in developing, training and operationalizing the AI models that power intelligent physical operations.2

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From "See and Act" to "Think and Learn" in Building Automation

Suresh Venkatarayalu frames the shift as fundamental to how building automation works. Traditional systems could "see and act"—sensors collected data and operators responded. Forge Cognition adds "think" and "learn" capabilities: AI models trained on Honeywell Technologies' decades of domain expertise and installed base of more than 300,000 sites interpret sensor data, while operator feedback continuously improves performance. The platform connects to existing customer deployments, adding AI capabilities without requiring system replacement.1

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The AI facility simulation platform combines real-time digital twins with AI agents that discover, contextualize and analyze equipment behavior and relationships between systems. Nvidia Cosmos open models with the Nvidia Metropolis VSS Blueprint enable vision AI agents to understand, search and summarize live or recorded sensor data, expanding how operators monitor and manage facilities.2

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Pilot Deployments Across Global Facilities

Honeywell Technologies is piloting Forge Cognition at multiple high-profile locations beyond the Nvidia Voyager campus. Early deployments include the Fairmont Hotel in Dubai, NEX Mall in Singapore, Vanderbilt University in the United States, and Honeywell's own campuses in Bangalore, India and Richardson, Texas. These pilots provide diverse testing environments across different facility types, climates and operational requirements, demonstrating how the AI-driven platform can adapt to complex facilities worldwide.2

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"The physical world demands more than a powerful AI model," Suresh Venkatarayalu said. "It requires AI to understand how systems actually operate and interact—that is where the next breakthrough is happening." This statement captures the platform's ambition: moving beyond theoretical AI capabilities to practical applications that improve how buildings and industrial operations function daily.3

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