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BACnet


BACnet affords facility owners and managers maximum flexibility and cost-effectiveness by allowing control products made by different manufacturers to be integrated into a single, uniform system.

BACnet is designed to allow HVAC/R, lighting, life safety, access, security, power, vertical transportation, and other building system control devices to interoperate.

Brief History

The motivation for the BACnet standard was the widespread desire of building owners and operators for “interoperability” in building systems. Interoperability is the ability to integrate equipment associated with different building systems and/or buildings into a coherent automation and control system, regardless of manufacturer.

To accomplish this, the ASHRAE Standard Project Committee (SPC 135) solicited and received input from dozens of interested firms and individuals. The SPC reviewed all relevant national and international data communications standards and spent countless hours in debate and discussion on each element of the protocol.

After 9 years of development, the ASHRAE Standards Committee released BACnet to the industry in 1995. BACnet became a national standard upon approval by the American Standards Institute in (ANSI) shortly thereafter in December 1995.

Once the standard was published, SPC 135 was disbanded, and ASHRAE Standing Standards Project Committee (SSPC 135) was created in its place. SSPC 135 continues to update the BACnet standard, and its companion testing standard, to meet the evolving needs of the Building Automation industry.

BACnet Today

The BACnet protocol was developed to be a consensus standard, under full public scrutiny. Today, as a national standard, it cannot be significantly changed without public review and comment.

BACnet has since also become firmly established on the international stage, where it is a European standard (CEN). It was announced at Ashrae 2003 that BACnet has become an ISO standard (ISO 16484-5).

BACnet® is a registered trademark of ASHRAE.