BACnet, fully unified inside xSERVA
xSERVA brings BACnet/IP and BACnet MS/TP devices into the same platform as your KNX, MQTT, and Modbus systems, with BTL Listed conformance and BACnet/SC secure networking built in from day one.
Book a DemoWhat is BACnet?
BACnet (Building Automation and Control Networking Protocol) is an open, ASHRAE- and ISO-standardized communication protocol purpose-built for building automation and control systems. It defines a common language that lets HVAC controllers, lighting panels, access-control units, and fire-safety devices from different manufacturers exchange data over the same network, without proprietary translation. Since its ratification, BACnet has become the dominant protocol for commercial building controls worldwide, and it is the language most large HVAC plants, chillers, and air-handling units already speak.
BACnet/IP and MS/TP support
xSERVA natively supports both major BACnet transports. BACnet/IP carries device traffic over standard Ethernet and IP networks, making it the natural fit for modern network-connected controllers, routers, and building-wide backbones. BACnet MS/TP (Master-Slave/Token-Passing) runs over RS-485 field buses, which remains the standard for zone controllers, VAV boxes, and other field-level devices wired on a daisy-chain trunk. Because most real buildings run both simultaneously — an IP backbone feeding MS/TP field segments — xSERVA reads and writes to both transports through the same interface, so operators never have to know or care which wire a given point sits on.
BTL Listed conformance
BTL Listed is the BACnet Testing Laboratories certification mark, issued after a device or gateway passes independent, standardized conformance testing against the BACnet specification. For integrators and specifiers, a BTL Listed component is a documented guarantee that its BACnet implementation behaves the way the standard says it should, reducing the guesswork and rework that comes from vendors implementing BACnet loosely. xSERVA's BACnet integration is built to that same conformance bar, which matters directly on tenders and RFPs that explicitly require certified BACnet interoperability as a condition of award.
BACnet/SC (Secure Connect)
BACnet/SC is the newer, security-hardened BACnet data link that runs encrypted BACnet traffic over standard TLS-secured WebSocket connections, replacing the historically unencrypted assumptions of BACnet/IP with certificate-based device authentication and encrypted transport. It is designed to traverse firewalls and corporate IT networks cleanly, which matters as building networks converge with enterprise IT rather than sitting isolated on their own switch. xSERVA supports BACnet/SC alongside classic BACnet/IP and MS/TP, so buildings that need encrypted, audit-ready BACnet networking — government, healthcare, and finance among them — are covered without waiting on a future platform upgrade or a parallel network rebuild.
Where BACnet shows up in real buildings
BACnet is the backbone protocol behind most commercial HVAC control: chiller and boiler plants, air-handling units, VAV terminal boxes, rooftop units, and the building management system supervisory layer that ties them together. It is equally common in central-plant retrofit projects, where an existing BACnet controller estate needs to be brought into a modern platform without replacing hardware. xSERVA connects to that existing BACnet infrastructure directly — discovering objects, reading points, writing setpoints — and folds it into the same dashboards, alarm queues, and energy models used for every other protocol on site, so a BACnet chiller plant and a KNX lighting scene can be monitored, scheduled, and optimized from one console.
Frequently asked questions
Does xSERVA support both BACnet/IP and BACnet MS/TP?
Yes. xSERVA natively supports BACnet/IP for network-connected devices and BACnet MS/TP for RS-485 field-bus devices, often within the same building.
What does BTL Listed mean, and does it matter for my project?
BTL Listed means a device or gateway has passed independent BACnet Testing Laboratories conformance testing. It matters because it lowers integration risk on projects that specify certified BACnet interoperability.
Is BACnet/SC required for a new installation?
Not required everywhere yet, but xSERVA supports BACnet/SC so buildings that require encrypted, firewall-friendly BACnet networking are already covered without a forklift upgrade later.
What kind of buildings typically run BACnet?
Commercial office towers, hospitals, hotels, and campuses with centralized HVAC plants are the most common BACnet environments, since it was designed specifically for building controller communication.