stomper/100cfm: re - Trane - re: LON v BACnet
From AutomatedBuildings.com
The fact of the matter is that each protocol has its merits. Both will be vital to the future of interoperability in the building automation systems industry.
Mark Hess, Marketing Engineer, Trane
Article: Why We Need Them Both:
It's hard not to notice the attention BACnet? and LonTalk? are getting in our industry these days. Together, these two communication protocols have become the most prominent tools for delivering interoperable solutions to commercial building control systems.
Some vendors insist that only BACnet is feasible as the standard for commercial building control, while others insist that LonTalk is the only way to go. Some are waiting for the industry to make that decision for them. The fact of the matter is that each protocol has its merits. Both will be vital to the future of interoperability in the building automation systems industry.
automatedbuildings.com
It does appear that Echelon is focussing not only on device level interoperability, but has in their sights System Level interoperability as well.
Barry Haaser, director of marketing at Echelon, equated the impact of the control industry's pending shift from proprietary to open systems to the computer industry's shift from centralized mainframes to networked PCs. Echelon, he said, has recognized the trend in its new LonPoint System, a family of intelligent control devices and network software that eases integration of Echelon products with legacy systems.
The LonPoint family comprises "the first system-level solutions we're offering to the controls market to [address] the overall system complexity that many system integrators must face today," Haaser said.
and
No gateways
The standard approach for integrating control and data networks--pursued by some of Echelon's competitors--has been to build a gateway between the two.
Haaser argued, however, that such an approach confines systems integrators to the old model of closed, centralized control systems. "If new applications are added, the control system must change," he said. "And when the control system changes, the gateway system must change."
By integrating Java with the LNS operating system, Haaser said, "we're trying to eliminate the gateways."
eet.com
I do not profess to have a clear technical understanding of these issues and hope that I'm not off base in putting these things together. Any comments would be appreciated. |
