DDC-The Attention Is on Communication

Abstract

Open systems, connectivity, integration, interoperability and stan-
dards-in the last couple of years the marketing activity in the build-
ing control industry has focused on communication. At issue is the
ability of different building control systems to communicate using
standards and in turn talk with each other, a situation that clearly pro-
vides significant benefits for the owners of buildings. Since this has
been an issue for more than a decade, what caused this increase in
marketing expenditures and more importantly, a focused effort on
product development?
Many would point to the American Society of Heating, Refriger-
ating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) effort to develop a
communication protocol that resulted in a standard. Although the re-
lease of the BACnet standard was a watershed event, some credit
should also be given to the rise of another communication protocol.
The Echelon Corporation's LonWorks technology has provided
Lon'Talk, an alternative communication protocol that led to LonMark
interoperability standards.
If you are not involved with buildings, or the systems employed
in the control of buildings, you may have never heard of BACnet or
LonMark. Even if you are involved in the control or management of
buildings, you may not have had a chance to get beyond all the mes-
sages to understand the importance of the details of how different sys-
tems talk to each other. The world is constantly changing and the
building control industry is no different.
This article presents the current industry status and manufactur-
ers' approaches to this change. While protocols are important, the pur-
chaser of a building management system should remember the reasons
for having a system. Protocols, whether proprietary or open, are just
tools for accomplishing building control and management.