BACnet Groups Consolidate; BACnet Adds New Addenda

By Consulting Specifying Engineer Staff February 15, 2006

Visitors to the “Controls and Automation” arena at the recent AHR Expo in Chicago were greeted by a new kid on the block. It’s the new face of the BACnet community: BACnet International.

Just before the opening of the show, members of two former organizations voted to consolidate and rename their collective assembly. The two organizations had been known as the BACnet Manufacturers Assn. (BMA) and the BACnet Interest Group of North America (BIG-NA). The former boards of these organizations have now been combined into a single and smaller board that will reflect the diversity of membership and the agility and responsiveness that will permeate the new organization.

Andy McMillan, of member company Teletrol, is a board member of BACnet International and will serve as the organization’s president for the term of one year. He explained the rationale for the organizational changes:G-NA simply lacked the resources to effectively communicate to the entire community of users. So, we began discussions many months ago to redefine our joint interests and goals.”

The organization will be a resource to the greater body of BACnet users, product providers, service providers, and building professionals. Organization leaders expect that it will begin to take on the diversity of all interested parties. Education and training will become a major focus.

A new web site is in development for BACnet International ( www.bacnetinternational.org ). info@bacnetinternational.org ).

New BACnet Addenda
In other BACnet news, five addenda to the standard were recommended for public review at ASHRAE’s 2006 Winter Meeting held Jan. 21-25, Chicago.

The proposed addenda, c, d, e, f and g to ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135-2004, BACnet are expected to be released for public comment in March.

In addition, BACnet committee chair Bill Swan announced the formation of the wireless BACnet working group.
“There is considerable interest in wireless applications for building automation,” he said, “This group will work out the details of BACnet wireless communications.”

A new means for securing network communications would be provided through proposed addendum g. Over four years in development, the proposed addendum.

For a complete description of all new addenda, go to www.ashrae.org .