More than 100 Engineers Participate in Sixth Annual BACnet Plugfest

By Consulting Specifying Engineer Staff October 27, 2005

The BACnet Testing Laboratories (BTL) held their sixth annual BACnet Interoperability Workstation, better know as the “Plugfest.” The mid-September event was held in Danvers, Mass. and hosted by building automation, security systems and energy solutions developer TAC.

BACnet is an ISO standard 16484-5 for building technology protocols and is a registered trademark of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

The BACnet Manufacturers Association (BMA) is an organization that encourages the successful use of BACnet in building automation and control systems through compliance and interoperability testing, educational programs and promotional activities. For information about the BMA, please call 617-426-6959 or visit

www.bacnetassociation.org .

The BACnet Testing Laboratories (BTL), which is part of the BACnet Manufacturers Association (BMA), offers a product testing and listing program for products that have BACnet capability. The BTL’s authorized test laboratories will test the BACnet functionality of a product to a set of requirements developed by the BTL that are based on ASHRAE Standard 135.1P. Products that meet the BTL’s requirements are eligible to receive a BTL listing.

Every year Plugfest brings together BACnet vendors from all over the world to test their BACnet solutions and improve interoperability in a non-competitive environment. This was the largest Plugfest to date, with over 100 engineers and 27 vendors participating. Companies represented at this year’s event included ABB, Alerton, American Auto-Matrix, Automated Logic, BACnet Testing Laboratories, Cimetrics, Delta Controls, FieldServer Technologies, Honeywell Fire Systems—Notifier, Honeywell International, Invensys, ITT Bell & Gossett, Johnson Controls, Kiyon, KMC Controls, Lithonia Lighting, LOYTEC Electronics, McQuay, Phoenix Controls, Priva Building Automation, Reliable Controls, Siemens Building Technologies, Teletrol Systems, TAC, Trane, Tridium, Viconics, and York International.

“Round Table” testing was introduced to the Plugfest this year in addition to the usual one-on-one testing. The round table allows all the vendors to plug-in and test their solutions in one large multi-vendor network.

“The Round Table was a great success and the perfect example of the current state of BACnet,” said Jon Williamson, product marketing manager for TAC and marketing chairmen of the BACnet Manufacturers Association. “It demonstrated that a wide-variety of BACnet devices can be hooked up in a matter of minutes without difficulty using the BACnet protocol.”