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BACnet is a communication language for building systems. It lets equipment from different manufacturers – a Siemens HVAC controller, a Schneider energy meter, a wireless IoT sensor – all connect to the same building management dashboard without custom wiring or software adapters.
BACnet is an open standard (ANSI/ASHRAE 135), which means any certified product works with any other certified product. Two physical variants are common in practice:
- BACnet/IP – runs over standard Ethernet and Wi-Fi, the modern default for new installations
- BACnet MS/TP – runs over RS485 wiring, used in legacy building infrastructure
For smart building retrofits, BACnet matters because IoT gateways can translate wireless sensor data (LoRaWAN, Modbus) into BACnet messages, feeding new data into an existing BMS without replacing the underlying platform.
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