Nicholas Napp
Founder, Xmark Labs, LLC. IoT engineer, building monitoring researcher, and the author behind FractionalBAS.com.
IEEE Impact Creator • NIST SBIR Phase 2 Grantee • NREL CRADA Co-Investigator
Experience and Expertise
Nicholas Napp is the founder of Xmark Labs, LLC, where he leads the development of Nosy, a wireless environmental monitoring platform for small commercial buildings. His work sits at the intersection of IoT hardware engineering, building science, and energy efficiency research.
He has been awarded a Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for work on building sensor systems, and has participated in a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which produced a published research paper on building environment monitoring in operational settings.
His areas of active work and research include:
- Wireless sensor network design and deployment for commercial buildings
- Indoor air quality monitoring and HVAC system integration
- BAS adoption barriers and cost structures in small commercial buildings
- Energy efficiency and demand control ventilation
- Occupancy detection and environmental health research
Professional Background
IEEE
Nicholas is an IEEE member and an IEEE Impact Creator, a program recognizing technical communicators who make engineering knowledge accessible to broader audiences. He has also served as a volunteer with the IEEE Public Visibility Committee.
Published Research
Nicholas contributed to a CRADA with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), producing a published paper on building environmental monitoring. The research examined real-world sensor deployment in occupied commercial building environments.
Federal Grant Funding
Xmark Labs received a Phase 2 SBIR grant from NIST through the U.S. Department of Commerce, supporting the development of commercial building sensor and monitoring technology. Phase 2 SBIR grants are awarded based on technical merit and commercialization potential, and require prior Phase 1 funding.
Media
Nicholas has been cited or published in the Wall Street Journal, ComputerWorld, and InformationWeek.
Why FractionalBAS.com
FractionalBAS.com grew out of a practical problem: the small commercial building market has almost no vendor-neutral, research-backed guidance on building monitoring and automation. Most available content is produced by vendors. Most academic research focuses on large buildings. The 87% of commercial buildings under 100,000 square feet that lack any building automation system are underserved by both.
The site’s goal is to change that. All content is reviewed against primary sources, follows clear editorial standards, and is written to be useful to a building owner or facilities manager making a real decision, not to support a particular product or vendor.
Nicholas operates Xmark Labs, which builds Nosy, a fractional BAS platform for small commercial buildings. His product experience informs the practical framing of FractionalBAS.com content. The two sites are kept editorially separate: product content lives on whatisnosy.com; educational content lives here.
Reach Out
For editorial questions, corrections, or research inquiries, use the contact page.
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