KONE has brought its IBM Watson-powered smart elevator and escalator service to Australia and New Zealand for the first time.

The service was first launched internationally in February 2016 but has taken some time to reach our shores.

Called 24/7 Connected Services, it uses the IBM Watson IoT platform and other technologies “to bring intelligent services to elevators and escalators”, the company said.

“The system enables vast amounts of data from elevator sensors to be monitored, analysed and displayed in real-time, improving equipment performance, reliability and safety.”

KONE said the service was designed to keep elevators and escalators running, with less downtime and more advanced notice of when maintenance of the assets would be required.

Using sensors, data is collected from each elevator or escalator and stored in the cloud for KONE to monitor and identify patterns.

“Using artificial intelligence, patterns can act as indicators of potential faults or sub-optimal performance, enabling KONE to send out support to carry out preventive maintenance prior to a fault or stoppage,” it said.

KONE said it aims to connect over one million additional elevators and escalators to the cloud over the next few years.