Metrics you can explain in a review
Prepared for finance and financial planning and analysis operators under board, audit, or lender pressure. Date: 2 October 2026. Subject: contract-backed Gold actuals.
Finance teams will align close actuals with governed definitions after the close cycle.
Ambient Systems ships contract-backed Gold actuals for financial planning and analysis: versioned definitions, lakehouse governance, and adapters into workspace and business intelligence. Operators inspect the pattern in ambient-core (Massachusetts Institute of Technology license, local Spark and Delta). Operators run hosted validation on ambient-systems-platform when accounts gain approval. Gold leaves only through a contract.
Ability to pay before launch remains the commercial filter. Approved accounts sign in through Members.
Request validation
Work email below. We reply when there is a fit.
Hong Kong entity. Data handled per privacy policy.
What we deliver
Governed products, not presentation layers
- Primary problem: reworking, defending, and rebuilding numbers after systems are supposed to be the source of truth.
- Primary product: governed Gold-layer data products with lineage, contracts, and consumption adapters. Scope excludes standalone dashboards. Scope excludes asset management positioning.
- Contract-backed definitions auditors, lenders, and board packs can trace.
- Gold outputs flow only through documented consumption adapters (workspace, Tableau, Delta Sharing where allowed).
How it works
Medallion path to contract-backed Gold
PART 1: Layer roles
Assurance comes first. Each layer holds a defined role:
- Bronze - raw ingest, kept traceable.
- Silver - cleansed and validated records.
- Gold - metrics computed under versioned contracts so numbers stay defensible.
PART 2: Contracts and consumption
YAML and Open Data Contract Standard-shaped contracts define Gold products: schemas, quality, metric definitions, lineage, freshness. Workspace and business intelligence read Gold only through consumption adapters. Adapters consume governed metrics; adapters leave key performance indicator definitions in the contract layer.
Databricks medallion plus Unity Catalog on ambient-systems-platform. Plain language for operators.
Three pillars
- 1
Governed connection
Catalog metrics, Bronze to Silver to Gold processing, uploads, and fulfillment status. Scope excludes generic enterprise resource planning sync claims.
- 2
Auditable metrics
Financial and operational key performance indicators with lineage from pipeline to Gold. Numbers that survive review.
- 3
Consumption at the operator workspace
Workspace and business intelligence adapters read contract-backed Gold only. Gold leaves only through a contract.
Product options
ambient-core (v0.3.12) — local libraries and CLI.
ambient-systems-platform (v0.1.2) — hosted workspace.Try the app
ambient-core
Contracts, catalog, and pipeline tooling under MIT—not a dashboard product.
Managed connector OAuth self-serve stays excluded from the application today (entitlement-gated upcoming).
Open Source Integrator · v0.3.12
pip install -e ".[pipeline]"
ambient validate-contracts contracts/
ambient-catalog-generateCommercial path
Validation before hosted access
Who pays: Operator-side finance and financial planning and analysis buyers who clear ability to pay before launch. The buyer profile excludes dashboard-only shoppers.
Membership path:
- Step 1: Submit a work email for a validation conversation this month.
- Step 2: Ambient Systems reviews fit against ability to pay before launch within four weeks of submission.
- Step 3: Approved accounts sign in through Members for hosted validation ongoing. Documentation sits behind the Members wall.
- Public list pricing stays frozen until hub Stage 4 and Stage 5 gates pass.
Intellectual property: Ambient Systems ships contract-backed Gold: Open Data Contract Standard-shaped contracts, Unity Catalog governance, consumption adapters. ambient-core (Massachusetts Institute of Technology license) is the inspectable distribution.
Commercial filter: Ability to pay before launch. Ambient Systems works the qualified straight-through processing overlap. Ambient Systems reports traction only from recorded evidence.
Hosting options
Managed hosting first: one overall bill from Ambient; the app is packaged with your chosen cloud and scales with your usage. Self-managed second: you pay for the app and run your own cloud account.
Compare clouds
Self-managed: your cloud account, your provider bill.
Mix outside clouds only; Ambient-hosted stays whole. Full combination rules
Combination means mixing outside clouds only, for example OVHcloud for one part and Alibaba Cloud for another. Ambient-hosted stays one offer; we never split it or mix it with other providers. We agree the layout during validation.
Pick a setup at validation, or run ambient-core free.Request validation · ambient-core self-hosted for free
Full comparison table
| Who runs it | Ambient-hosted | GCP | Azure | AWS | OVHcloud | Tencent | Alibaba |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | Ambient Systems runs the full platform. | We provision and run it in this cloud. | We provision and run it in this cloud. | We provision and run it in this cloud. | We provision and run it in this cloud. | We provision and run it in this cloud. | We provision and run it in this cloud. |
| Where data lives | You choose the region. We confirm it with you before go-live. | Region you pick. | Region you pick. | Region you pick. | Region you pick. | Region you pick. | Region you pick (HK available). |
| What you need in place | No cloud account required. | No cloud account or billing on your side. | No cloud account or billing on your side. | No cloud account or billing on your side. | No cloud account or billing on your side. | No cloud account or billing on your side. | No cloud account or billing on your side. |
| Setup | We deliver a ready workspace. | We provision and operate. | We provision and operate. | We provision and operate. | We provision and operate. | We provision and operate. | We provision and operate. |
| Ongoing upkeep | Included with the hosted offer. | On your overall Ambient bill. | On your overall Ambient bill. | On your overall Ambient bill. | On your overall Ambient bill. | On your overall Ambient bill. | On your overall Ambient bill. |
| Support | Through your validation contact. | Through your validation contact. | Through your validation contact. | Through your validation contact. | Through your validation contact. | Through your validation contact. | Through your validation contact. |
| Pricing | Pricing | Pricing | Pricing | Pricing | Pricing | Pricing | Pricing |
Build versus buy
Rebuild path
Outside Ambient Systems
ambient-core
Open Source Integrator
ambient-systems-platform
Platform Subscriber and Command Centre
- Invent contracts, catalog, pipeline governance, and user interface from scratch.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology ambient-core: contracts, catalog, validators and command-line interface, notebooks.
- ambient_pipeline on local Spark and Delta. Databricks stays optional.
- Hosted Command Centre on Databricks.
- Multi-tenant workspace, hosted pipeline, usage gates.
- Pins tagged ambient-core. Platform keeps core as a pinned dependency.
- Months of platform work before the first finance-ready number lands.
- Inspect and run the open-source pattern locally first.
- The operator still owns deploy, tenancy, and user interface.
- Paid validation for approved accounts.
- Governed Gold in a managed workspace instead of rebuilding the stack.
- Several engineers (often 3–6+) to design and keep lakehouse, governance, contracts, and consumption alive.
- About one to two full-time equivalents to run ambient-core (pipeline, contracts, continuous integration) outside the commercial product.
- Hosted operations, tenancy, and Command Centre delivery included.
- The operator team focuses on data fit and validation.
- Software subscriptions stack fast on a do-it-yourself lakehouse and financial planning and analysis path (public list shapes, United States dollars, outside Ambient Systems quotes):
- Databricks: pay-as-you-go in database units; public cloud list prices often ~$0.15–$0.70 per database unit by compute type, plus cloud virtual machines and storage on classic stock keeping units.
- Business intelligence seats: one common public list about $14 per user per month; Tableau Creator about $75 per user per month (public list).
- Add cloud hosting, orchestration, and the engineering payroll above. Small production footprints commonly land mid-four to low-five figures United States dollars per month once interactive warehouses and business intelligence seats run, before contracts and governance finish.
- ambient-core software is free under Massachusetts Institute of Technology license. Ivan Damnjanovic maintains the public core.
- The operator still funds Spark and Delta (or other) compute, storage, continuous integration, and the one to two full-time equivalent run cost.
- Ambient Systems charges zero license fee for the open-source integrator itself.
- Buy path: hosted commercial product for approved accounts.
- Public Ambient list pricing stays frozen until hub Stage 4 and Stage 5 gates pass.
- Request validation on the home page. Ability to pay before launch is the filter.
- Ad hoc rules drift. Definitions are hard to defend under review.
- Open Open Data Contract Standard-shaped contracts and catalog.
- Data quality scorecards, lineage helpers, reviewable YAML.
- Same core contracts in production.
- Hosted workflows for benchmarking, assurance, investor, and planning loops.
- Full rebuild ownership. Stack risk stays with the operator.
- Open-source path: adopt ambient-core locally. Outside paid stock keeping units.
- Buy path: Platform Subscriber and Command Centre, the paid commercial product.
Cost notes cite public vendor list shapes (Databricks database unit ranges; business-intelligence seat lists; Tableau Creator). The figures are planning ranges. The figures stay outside Ambient Systems quotes. The figures stay outside a promise of the operator bill.
Three paths: rebuild from scratch, run ambient-core locally (open source), or buy ambient-systems-platform (commercial).
- Build from scratch - Full control of stack and process. The operator owns contracts, lineage, adapters, user interface, and validation. Cost stacks headcount plus lakehouse and business intelligence subscriptions (Databricks database units, cloud virtual machines, business-intelligence and Tableau seats - public list shapes, outside Ambient Systems quotes).
- Do-it-yourself ambient-core (open source) - Open Source Integrator: contracts, catalog, validators and command-line interface, notebooks, and ambient_pipeline on local Spark and Delta. Databricks stays optional. Open source integrator path sits outside paid stock keeping units. Software is free under Massachusetts Institute of Technology license; Ivan Damnjanovic maintains the public core. The operator still funds compute and engineering time.
- Buy ambient-systems-platform - Platform Subscriber and Command Centre: hosted multi-tenant workspace on Databricks. Pins a tagged ambient-core release; the platform keeps core as a pinned dependency. Paid validation applies to approved accounts. Ambient list pricing stays frozen until Stage 4 and Stage 5 gates pass.
Catalog industries
ambient-core reference catalog. Finance financial planning and analysis beachhead. All packs listed alphabetically.
How to choose a pack
- Start with finance-queue and financial planning and analysis and audit packs when board or lender review applies pressure.
- Open a pack in-page for sample metrics. Expand when detail is required.
- Vertical Farming ships with the others in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology catalog. Commercial beachhead remains finance financial planning and analysis.
Beachhead: finance-queue and FP&A / audit packs. Tap any card for details. All catalog verticals ship in ambient-core, including Vertical Farming - listed alphabetically below.
PART 8: Company history
Research roots to Hong Kong commercial readiness
2020
Master's research and invention
Ivan Damnjanovic's master's research. Invention disclosure filed; iterations led to a patent granted in November 2022.
2021
Pre-incorporation and early operator work
Pre-incorporation and early operator work, including vertical-farming memoranda of understanding and proofs of concept. About $100k from the National University of Singapore Deep Tech Incubator (GRIP).
2022
Singapore startup hackathon
First runner-up among forty startup teams.
2023
Hong Kong subsidiary
Ambient Systems Limited established as the Hong Kong subsidiary.
2024–2026
Experimental jurisdictions closed
Restructuring completed. Experimental jurisdictions closed: Canada federal, Quebec, and Singapore.
2026
Hong Kong primary headquarters
Hong Kong is the primary headquarters. Regulation and administration are being updated for commercial readiness: entity housekeeping, operator processes, and the membership path for approved accounts.
External mentions
Public coverage as social proof. Invented logos and ratings stay excluded.
August 15, 2022 — Toronto
University of Toronto Engineering feature(opens in new tab)
Profile on bridging data science with traditional engineering for sustainable building management.
June 2022 — Singapore
Singapore startup hackathon — first runner-up
First runner-up among 40 startup teams.
February 17, 2022 — Singapore
SMU BIG Incubator cohort(opens in new tab)
Accepted into Singapore Management University’s Business Innovations Generator incubation programme.
June 10, 2021 — Singapore
NUS GRIP Run 5 Lift-Off Day(opens in new tab)
Showcased as a deep tech startup from the National University of Singapore GRIP programme.
Incubators and recognition
Partner names link to public sources. Logo marks appear only when Ambient Systems holds licensed artwork in-repo.
- NUS GRIP graduate (2021)
Deep tech incubator; about $100k support on the Singapore founding path.
- SMU BIG Incubator (2022)
Graduate of Singapore Management University Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship BIG.
Singapore startup hackathon (2022)
First runner-up among forty startup teams.
- WIPO WO 2022/240365
Method and system for equipment settings in building management (priority 7 May 2021; published 17 November 2022).
Directories
External listings — Hong Kong is current; Singapore-era profiles are historical
Current (Hong Kong)
Historical (Singapore)
- PitchBook
Singapore-era profile
- Wellfound (AngelList)
Singapore-era profile
- StartupSG
Singapore-era profile
Company registration
One headquarters · Ambient Systems Limited
- Legal name
- Ambient Systems Limited
- Headquarters
- Hong Kong
- Business Registration
- BR 75933810
- Hong Kong since
- 2023
- Founded
- Singapore (2021) via NUS GRIP
Mission, vision, and values
Mission
Ship contract-backed Gold that survives board, audit, and lender review so operators reduce rework on the numbers.
Vision
Governed lakehouse practice where Gold leaves only through contracts and consumption adapters.
Values
Contracts first
Gold leaves only through a contract. Adapters consume governed metrics. Adapters leave key performance indicator definitions in the contract layer.
Operator outcomes
Fewer rework loops. Cleaner defense trails. Vanity metrics stay excluded.
Open-source core
ambient-core publishes the pattern in public. Paid validation stays invitation-only.
Plain governance
Open Data Contract Standard, Unity Catalog, and medallion practice in plain language for Hong Kong, United States, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations operators.
Evidence over hype
Ability to pay before launch is the filter. Ambient Systems works the qualified path. Traction claims require recorded evidence.
Governed products
Ship Gold data products with lineage. Scope excludes standalone dashboards. Scope excludes asset management positioning.