ATLANTA, GA — The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) announced that its BACnet® standard should be simpler to use, now that all addenda have been consolidated into one document.

ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135-2001, BACnet — A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks, is said to allow equipment and systems manufactured by different companies to work together.

“The new standard contains all corrections, refinements, and improvements that have been adopted since the standard was first published in 1995,” said Steve Bushby, chairman of the committee that wrote the standard. “This makes the document more convenient and easier to use.”

The standard now includes:

• Increased capabilities to interconnect systems across wide area networks using Internet protocols;
• New objects and services to support fire detection and other life safety applications;
• Capabilities to backup and restore devices;
• Standard ways to collect trend data;
• New tools to make specifying BACnet systems easier; and
• A mechanism for making interoperable extensions to the standard visible.

ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135-2001 costs $99 for ASHRAE members, $124 for nonmembers. For more information, contact ASHRAE Customer Service, 1791 Tullie Circle N.E., Atlanta, GA 30329; 800-527-4723 (U.S. and Canada); 404-636-8400 (worldwide), 404-321-5478 (fax); www.ashrae.org (website).

Publication date: 01/01/2002