Butlr Platform Overview

Overview

Butlr is a privacy-first ambient sensing platform that transforms anonymous thermal signals into actionable operational intelligence. Using low-resolution thermal sensing and AI-powered modeling, Butlr helps organizations understand how people interact with physical spaces, and how the equipment inside them is performing, without cameras or wearable devices.

The Butlr platform combines:

• Intelligent thermal sensors
• Edge gateways and connectivity infrastructure
• Cloud-based intelligence services
• Operational applications
• APIs and integration tools

Together, these components enable organizations to optimize workplace operations, improve safety outcomes, monitor critical infrastructure, automate building systems, and develop custom sensing-driven workflows.

Privacy-First by Design

At the core of the platform is the Heatic™ sensor — a thermal sensing device designed to detect occ upancy, movement, and activity patterns while preserving privacy. Unlike camera-based systems, Heatic sensors do not capture visual imagery or personally identifiable information (PII). Instead, they interpret anonymous thermal signatures to infer human presence and activity.

This approach allows organizations to gain occupancy insights while supporting privacy-sensitive environments such as:

• Offices and workplaces
• Healthcare and residential care
• Data centers and critical facilities
• Public spaces
• Smart buildings
• Shared environments

Core Platform Components

The Butlr ecosystem consists of four primary layers:

1. Heatic™ Sensors

Heatic sensors use low-resolution thermal sensing and onboard intelligence to detect:

• Human presence
• Movement patterns
• Occupancy counts
• Traffic flow
• Activity trends
• Surface temperature of equipment, such as power connections and racks

Depending on the deployment type, sensors may operate in Presence Mode, Traffic Mode, or continuous thermal monitoring for data center equipment.

For data centers, the Heatic™ family also includes Heatic Spine, a rack-level sensor that mounts on the front or back rack rail.

2. Gateways & Connectivity

Sensors communicate with Hive gateways, which securely transmit sensor data to the cloud using:

• Wi-Fi
• Ethernet
• Cellular connectivity

In data centers, Heatic™ sensors cover aisles, busway, and power gear through Hive gateways. Heatic Spine sensors on the rack rail daisy-chain over USB-C, one cable carrying power and data, to a small in-rack PoE device or a Hive gateway. That device provides the internet connection and sends the data to the cloud. Installation needs no hall shutdown.

This infrastructure layer manages:

• Device provisioning
• Network communication
• Firmware updates
• Device health monitoring
• Secure cloud connectivity

3. Cloud Intelligence Services

Butlr’s cloud platform processes raw thermal signals into structured occupancy and activity insights.

Core services include:

• Occupancy modeling
• Traffic analysis
• Thermal mapping and hotspot detection
• Event processing
• Data aggregation
• Alert workflows, including per-zone thresholds
• Device management
• User access control
• API services

These shared intelligence services power multiple Butlr applications, integrations, and connected operational workflows.

4. Applications & Integrations

Butlr provides application workflows and APIs designed for different operational environments.

Butlr Workplace+

Occupancy intelligence for modern workplaces.

Designed for commercial real estate and workplace operations, Workplace+ supports:

• Space utilization analytics
• Traffic monitoring
• Workplace planning
• Occupancy reporting
• Operational optimization

Butlr Care

Human safety intelligence for care environments.

Butlr Care supports residential and care-focused workflows including:

• Fall detection
• Resident activity awareness
• Risk monitoring
• Safety workflows
• Care operations

Butlr Data Center

Thermal intelligence for data centers and AI factories.

Built for data center operations, facilities, and commissioning teams, Butlr Data Center supports:

• Continuous thermal monitoring across the power path: RPPs, busway tap-offs, power whips, rack PDUs, and busbar joints
• A live thermal digital twin, per hall, rack, and U
• Server telemetry from BMC, shown alongside thermal data
• Comparing measured cooling against CFD airflow models before go-live

Butlr Data Center is available at datacenter.butlr.io. Available capabilities vary by deployment.

Some Butlr Care features may require newer hardware generations and specialized deployment configurations.

APIs & Integrations

Butlr also provides APIs and developer tools for integrating occupancy intelligence into third-party systems and operational workflows.

Common integration use cases include:

• Building management systems (BMS)
• IWMS platforms
• Facility monitoring platforms
• Space booking systems
• HVAC automation
• Real-time alerts
• Custom analytics applications

Developer resources are available in the Developer Docs section.

From Signals to Operational Intelligence

The Butlr platform transforms ambient thermal signals into operational insights through a multi-stage process:

1. Sensors detect anonymous thermal activity and equipment heat
2. Hive gateways securely relay data to the cloud
3. Cloud services process occupancy and movement signals
4. Applications and APIs expose operational insights
5. Organizations use these insights to improve operations, automation, and decision-making

This shared platform architecture supports multiple operational applications and connected systems while maintaining a consistent sensing and infrastructure foundation.

Common Use Cases

Organizations use Butlr to support:

• Workplace occupancy analytics
• Space optimization
• Smart cleaning workflows
• HVAC optimization
• Traffic analysis
• Safety monitoring
• Fall detection
• Building automation
• Occupancy-driven integrations
• Power path thermal monitoring
• Data center commissioning

Extensible Intelligence Platform

In addition to Heatic™ sensors, the Butlr platform can integrate with select third-party devices and operational systems to support broader building intelligence workflows.

Examples may include:

• Select third-party sensors
• Building management systems (BMS)
• Workplace technologies
• Operational automation platforms
• Custom API integrations

These integrations help organizations combine occupancy intelligence with additional environmental and operational context.

Additional Resources

To continue learning about the platform, explore the following sections:

• Get Started — Platform basics and onboarding guides
• Hardware — Sensors, gateways, and connectivity guidance
• Deployment Playbook — Installation and deployment best practices
• Butlr Workplace+ — Occupancy analytics and workplace workflows
• Butlr Care — Care monitoring and safety workflows
• Butlr Data Center — Thermal monitoring for data centers and AI factories
• Developer Docs — APIs and integration resources