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What is a Building Network?
Everyone agrees: CRE has too many acronyms! Case in point: depending on who you talk to a building systems network is known as:
- Converged Network (CN)
- Converged Network System (CNS)
- Base Building Network (BBN)
- Building Services Network (BSN)
- Integrated Communications Network (ICN)
It’s all the same! All of these terms simply describe a single network, located in a building, that is dedicated to running the building systems.
In its simplest form, a building network is the communications infrastructure that connects the building systems – like Access Control, BAS/BMS, Security System, etc. The building network is dedicated (separate from Corporate IT and tenants). Its sole purpose is to keep building systems secure, up, and running.
You can see that the building systems are connected to a common infrastructure (green lines) that is monitored and maintained (blue cloud on the right), and that users are able to securely access specific systems (blue cloud on the left).
What Most Building Networks Look Like Today
In most buildings, everything is a tangled mess – the result of years of people “just doing stuff.” As a result, most buildings don’t know what they have, where it’s located, or how it’s connected. If that sounds like your situation, click the link to learn how most buildings start with an assessment.
