Niagara by Tridium

• A BMS (Building Management System) tends to be a proprietary solution developed by a manufacturer to supervise and control its own equipment (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, security, etc.). Each manufacturer has its own platform with its own specific tools. 

• Niagara, however, is not a proprietary BMS, but an open integration platform, and acts as universal middleware to connect, centralize, and unify different BMS, controls, and equipment, even from different brands. 

Niagara can be used both for small sites with few controls, and for complex property portfolios. 

Niagara officially supports more than 140 communication protocols, including: 

• The most commonly used standard protocols such as BACnet (MS/TP, IP, SC, Ethernet) and Modbus (RTU, TCP). 

• Proprietary protocols such as N2 (Johnson Controls) and Comm4 (Trane). 

• Many other less common protocols, including OPC and OPC UA for industrial applications, SNMP for IT, and LoRa for long-distance wireless communications. 

Yes. Niagara supports the main building data modelling standards, including Project Haystack and Brick Schema, as well as other open standards, which allows it to consistently interpret data from different systems, making integration easier… and making buildings smarter and more interoperable and scalable. 

Yes. The platform includes advanced analytics that analyze real-time data (sensors, energy consumption, comfort conditions, etc.), automatically detect anomalies, generate customized reports, and identify opportunities for optimization, ultimately to help improve energy performance, reduce costs, and extend equipment life. 

Yes. Niagara offers native external API integration supports, which allows you connect a predictive weather API to anticipate weather conditions, for instance, so you can automatically adjust heating, air conditioning, and lighting. Niagara can also link to a Hydro-Québec API to manage PDR (Power Demand Response) activation and reduce peak energy costs. Niagara’s flexibility makes it an intelligent, open, and IoT-ready platform. 

Weather data in Niagara, including predictive forecasting, isn’t just for visualization. Weather data can be used in real time to automatically control and optimize control sequences—for instance, adjusting set temperature, anticipating a heat wave, or decreasing ventilation before a drop in exterior temperature—which increases occupant comfort and reduces energy consumption. 

Security is at the core of the Niagara platform, which uses advanced mechanisms such as TLS encryption and fine-grained user and role management, and can generate and manage certificates directly within the platform to ensure secure communications.

Unlike many conventional BMS solutions, which often rely on a password, the Niagara platform stands out for its IT-level cybersecurity approach compliant with modern standards (BACnet/SC, OPC UA, secure MQTT via TLS, KNX Secure, etc.), which guarantees a robust, sustainable solution adapted to what today’s smart buildings need.