Napa-made software helps manage real estate

A frustration for a Napa-based installer of telephone and data systems for large companies and organizations over the past three years has turned into a software product designed to allow anyone needing to keep track of and maintain equipment and systems in a facility to do so with fewer features to learn and pay for.

Jason Chavez started ComNet Technology 15 years ago as an information technology professional services company and operated it as such for about 10 years. He said he kept the business small - only about 10 employees - to be able to coach games for his three children and attend more of their events. In three years, he now has 40 employees and revenue has doubled.

After tiring with paper floorplans with hand-written notes and color highlighting, Chavez decided to explore better options. After surveying available software such as Autodesk’s Revit and facility management products such as TOPS for community associations and Facility Dude, he found that a number technicians or tradespeople where working around software because it was too challenging to learn.

“If the person who is supposed to use the software is not motivated to use it because it is too difficult and you don’t get the information into the system, you fail before you get out of the gate,” Chavez said.

Xyicon SpaceRunner is a web-based application that serves as a “visual spreadsheet” for the many different “things” associated with any floorplan, location map or building image.

The software equips building operators and facility managers to “think outside the spreadsheet” by displaying equipment, assets and related data for any “space.” These are placed in the space via “Xyicons” - location-specific icons that link to data on the “thing.”

The system is similar to building information modeling, or BIM, but vastly simplified. While the software doesn’t automatically import from and export to BIM-ready software such as Revit, Xyicon’s professional services division, somewhat shared with ComNet, offer a service for moving BIM data back and forth.

Xyicon (xyicon.com) was floated to a major client, an undisclosed large West Coast health care provider with several billion dollars in current construction. The provider now uses BIM software to design the project but SpaceRunner on tablets for project managers and field workers.

SpaceRunner costs start at $20 monthly for three users and up to 500 Xyicons.

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