FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                  Jan Kosko
March 1, 1994                           (301) 975-2767

                                        TN-5968

                  NIST, INDUSTRY PARTNERS FORM CONSORTIUM
                   TO HELP BUILDING SYSTEMS COMMUNICATE


     Nine control system manufacturers and one software company
have joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology in
a cooperative research and development consortium to help
overcome communication barriers among building systems, making it
possible for such systems to share data and work together.

     Consortium members are:  American Auto-Matrix Inc., Export,
Pa.; Andover Controls Corp., Andover, Mass.; Delta Controls Inc.,
Surrey, Canada; Johnson Controls Inc., Milwaukee, Wis.; Landis
and Gyr Powers Inc., Buffalo Grove, Ill.; PolarSoft Inc. (a
software company), Pittsburgh, Pa.; Siebe Environmental Controls,
Richmond, Va.; SnyderGeneral Corp., Minneapolis, Minn.; Staefa
Control Systems Inc., San Diego, Calif.; and The Trane Co., St.
Paul, Minn.

     These industry partners will be testing a standard
communication protocol known as BACnet--Building Automation and
Control Network.

     Today's building industry faces many difficulties when
trying to get building systems from different manufacturers--for
functions such as fire detection, security, and energy management
and control--to talk to each other.  Currently, systems from
different companies, and in some cases from the same company, use
specific communication methods that often are incomprehensible to
each other.

     "BACnet will make it possible to have a truly `smart'
building, where all systems work together and are controlled from
a central location," says Steven Bushby, an electronics engineer
in NIST's Building and Fire Research Laboratory.

     Initially, says Bushby, BACnet will be used primarily in
expanding or upgrading components of single control systems, such
as those for heating, ventilating and air conditioning.  This
will enable building owners, for example, to purchase controllers
from manufacturer B even though the original HVAC control system
was purchased from manufacturer A.  "Right now, building owners
are `captive customers,'" says Bushby.  "If they want to modify
the control system, they either have to go back to the original
manufacturer or set up separate, independent control systems." 
He adds, "Using BACnet, they can build a system to best suit
their needs with pieces of equipment from different
manufacturers, much like you would build a custom stereo system."

     Bushby says this new technology will stimulate innovation,
promote new product development and give building owners and
designers more options.

     Consortium members will develop prototype control products
or software that implement BACnet or tools for developing and
testing the implementations.  Tests will be conducted at NIST
during the next two years primarily to verify that BACnet can
enable different manufacturers' products to communicate and to
identify problems before it becomes an industry standard.

     Developed by NIST and building industry experts, BACnet has
been published as a draft standard by the American Society of
Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers.  Bushby
expects it to become final this year.

     Others interested in joining the consortium can contact
Bushby at (301) 975-5873, e-mail:  stbushby@enh.nist.gov (via
Internet).

     A non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's
Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by
working with industry to develop and apply technology,
measurements and standards.  NIST has participated in more than
400 cooperative research and development agreements since 1988.

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