Overview

Akenza Building Edge connects an existing building management system to the akenza platform, to read its data and to write values back to it.

Akenza Building Edge is an edge connector for building management systems. It brings data from an existing, wired BMS into akenza, covering readings such as temperature, energy consumption, HVAC performance, and occupancy. That data is stored in the same format as the data from your wireless IoT devices.

The connector can run purely read-only, or be configured to write a selected subset of points back to the BMS, so that the platform can also configure the building. See Writing back to the BMS.

The result is a single view of a building. Instead of reading HVAC and metering data on a workstation in the basement and battery-powered sensor data in a separate cloud tool, both live in the same platform, on the same dashboards, and flow through the same rules and connectors.

Supported systems

Building Edge connects to building management systems over the standard building automation protocols:

• BACnet

• KNX

• Modbus

It is based on the Niagara Framework, which is widely deployed in building automation and provides the driver layer for these protocols.

How it works

1

An akenza plugin runs on Niagara

Building Edge is delivered as an akenza plugin for a Niagara controller on site. The controller already speaks the protocols your BMS uses, so no change to the BMS itself is required.

2

You select the data points to publish

Rather than pushing everything the BMS knows, you choose which data points should be available in the cloud. This keeps the cloud model focused on what you actually want to monitor and controls how much data leaves the building.

3

Data is published to akenza over MQTT

The plugin sends the selected data points to akenza using MQTT, a lightweight messaging protocol. Where write access is configured, the same connection carries those writes in the opposite direction.

4

The BMS appears as a device in akenza

In akenza, the connected BMS is represented as a set of devices. Data passes through a data flow like any other uplink, and is decoded and stored in the same structure as IoT device data.

What you can do with BMS data in akenza

Once BMS data points are in the platform, they are ordinary akenza data. That means you can:

• Visualize them alongside IoT sensor data in the Dashboard Builder, including on floorplans and signage screens.

• Act on them with the rule engine, for example to raise an alert when a plant reading crosses a threshold, or to combine BMS values with wireless sensor readings in a single rule.

• Forward them through output connectors to your own database, data warehouse, or streaming service for long-term analysis.

• Contextualize them with the Data Fusion Layer, which places BMS systems and IoT sensors in a shared model of sites, floors, and zones.

• Query them in natural language with Genio.

• Write back to them, for the subset of points the connector is configured to allow.

Writing back to the BMS

Write access is part of the deployment configuration, and it is granted per data point. A connector can be set up in either mode:

• Read-only. Building Edge only publishes data to akenza, and nothing in the cloud can change the building.

• Selected points writable. A defined subset of points, typically a few setpoints, accepts writes. Everything else stays read-only.

Where a point is writable, writing to it is an ordinary downlink, because the BMS is represented in akenza as a set of devices. Dashboards, rules, and the REST API can all drive it.

Writing to a BMS changes how a building physically behaves. Keep the writable subset as small as the use case allows, and keep safety logic and interlocks in the BMS, where they continue to work if the connection to akenza is interrupted.

Why it matters

A traditional BMS is typically reachable only from the local environment, which makes every question about building performance depend on someone being on site. Wireless IoT sensors, meanwhile, are easy to deploy but cover only what they were installed to measure and often end up in a separate tool. Building Edge removes that split: the wired and the wireless side of a building report into one platform, so facility teams get a holistic view of their facilities and can monitor building performance remotely. Where write access is configured, that view is something they can act on rather than only read.

Getting started

Building Edge is installed on site, on a Niagara station, and is typically set up together with a building automation partner who knows the BMS in question.

To scope a Building Edge deployment for your building, get in touch through the Service Desk, or read more at akenza.io.