BACnet Web Services is a standardized system that helps facilities managers integrate different types of information to understand their building and network. Traditionally, this would have to be done through a gateway that converts to a native protocol, such as BACnet. Now, you can do it all with one common service. BACnet Web Services was approved and released back in 2004 as an addendum to BACnet and has continued to be updated in the years since.
Essentially, BACnet Web Services lets facilities managers aggregate information and understand their facilities at a larger level. With it, you can gather data that you couldn’t get before: logistics from trucking companies, people-counting using Wi-Fi networks, smaller weather gateways or traffic patterns, and much more. Web Services works with a wide array of systems, so facilities managers can integrate platforms that give them whatever information they need. And there are so many integrations that can help make buildings more efficient. In an article for Automated Buildings, Steve Tom from Automated Logic Corporation wrote that “Within the OT network industry, Web Services are already being used worldwide to import HVAC after-hours use and utility meter readings into accounting systems and automatically generate tenant bills.” He added that “Universities are exploring the possibility of using their central classroom scheduling computer to automatically schedule HVAC, lighting, and other classroom services.”
While BACnet Web Services was first released before the Internet of Things was fully conceptualized, the two go together. BACnet Web Services will allow us to harness the power of IoT by bringing all our data together. Additionally, ASHRAE continues to update BACnet Web Services, with changes just a few years ago to add the RESTful API.
