ABSTRACT

Communications engineers or systems integrators are seldom the first contact group with the users when it comes to selling an automation system. Facilities engineers and managers are involved in engineering, operating, maintaining, and managing facilities. Communications and systems interoperability issues are outside of their main focus and, to a degree, outside of their professional training. Proprietary protocols are developed by systems or computer manufacturer(s) to communicate to their own hardware and software over a recommended network. Utilizing proprietary protocols is comforting for facilities managers and engineers for one simple reason: the responsibility for the automation systems operation and troubleshooting, as well as for systems and communication integrity and reliability, is with one vendor. Opening up proprietary protocols means disclosing procedures, structures, and codes to systems integrators designing other systems to communicate on the same network. Standard protocols represent the effort of the entire industry to bring order to the ever-evolving computer, communications, and automation industry.