Dortmund, Germany: The BACnet Interest Group Europe (BIG-EU) has announced releasing the new BACnet Standard ASHRAE 135-2016, four years after the publication of the last version. A multitude of additions and revisions have been included in the 400 additional pages, added the announcement.

Among the most important developments, the announcement revealed, are BACnet’s support for IPv6 networks and RESTful Web Services, a further step towards equipping the BACnet protocol for future developments in information technology. It further said that additional functionalities for elevator and lighting controls have also been included.

In total, the announcement revealed, the Standard has been expanded to include 30 additions and revisions — so-called addenda — to help BACnet satisfy the requests that have appeared as a result of the growing expansion of the standard to more and more buildings and properties.

BIG-EU also said that the Standard has come to include functionalities for the monitoring and control of heating, ventilation, climate, fire protection, security systems, energy management, lighting controls, access control and elevator monitoring. The 2016 edition will also influence the ISO and EN Norms and, a new version of the corresponding ISO and EN Norms 16484-5 will follow, the Group informed.

Conceived in 1995 by ASHRAE as a protocol for open and interoperable building automation, the BACnet Standard, BIG-EU said, has been continuously developed and improved upon, and it was also released as ISO-Standard 16485-5 in 2004.