I have been to meetings with BACnet types and Lonworks types and not sure if I could say one is winning over the other overall, but certianly each has its pros and cons for specific applications. In terms of the primary Building Automation Controls, meaning the top 7 or 8 BAS manufacturers I find that they all are or are moving to BACnet capability. Many also will have Lonworks capability, because Lonworks has a broader use among the smaller control systems in a building such as VAV, temperature, chillers, etc. controls. BACnet has more capability for overall building control, Lonworks has more capability for individual sensor/control elements. There are obviously a higher number of sensor/control elements in a building than there are central control systems, thus there are probably more Lonworks devices than BACnet devices in a specific location. Most of the major commercial building examples that Echelon and Lonmark point out as examples of building automation have both BACnet and Lonworks involved. I will also admit that Lonworks, which has the advantage of a specific company coordinating marketing efforts has a better PR operation than BACnet which depends upon a combination of organizations, including ASHRAE, BIG-NA, a new BACnet Manufacturers organization and many individual companies to do its PR.
I have found out today that Echelon lets the company use its ANSI standard for protocol development, but charges for node ID number assignment. I presume this is or is like a license. Not sure how much they charge but I do know that many Lonworks manufacturers dislike their arrangements with Echelon over the years and believe that many promises have not been kept. Will check this out further as to whether this is foolproof.
By the way, I am certainly not anti-ELON, I have worked with them (in business, not as a shareholder) for years and do believe that they are well placed in the building controls arena. And I can't argue with the growth we have seen in the last few months. I just am hesitant about whether the potential is as great as everyone else appears to believe for them. Doing my own DD. |
