Look who’s one! A year in review with Visual BACnet

How Visual BACnet has changed over a year of development
happy birthday visual BACnet

One year ago today, Optigo launched Visual BACnet. When we released the advanced visualization tool on September 10th, it had already been through months of beta testing, feedback, and development. We had revised, refined, and repeated. We knew that a powerful diagnostics and analytics engine would drive the future of BACnet and smart buildings worldwide. We believed that we could pioneer that future.

A year later, our vision is even bigger. The product looks nothing like it used to, and there are major new partnerships and exciting innovations coming up for Visual BACnet. We’re so grateful for all the beta testers, early-adopters, and loyal customers who see the value of Visual BACnet and believe in it as strongly as we do. We wouldn’t be here without you.

We have plenty of plans for Visual BACnet, which you can learn about in our webinar on September 14th. For now, join me on a trip down memory lane with a Visual BACnet retrospective.

Beta Testing

happy birthday visual BACnet

This screenshot is from months before we officially launched Visual BACnet, in May 2016. It had half the number of diagnostic checks, no chat feature, and a distinctly different homepage layout.

happy birthday visual BACnet

Post-Beta Testing

After going through beta testing, Visual BACnet got more detail and a fresh new look in June 2016. We added diagnostics checks, as well as the diagnostic check summary box.

happy birthday visual BACnet

Pre-launch

In August 2016, Visual BACnet got even more diagnostic checks, organized by type of check. We added a statistics summary box, and tweaked the platform’s appearance as well. This version looks much closer to the Visual BACnet we have today.

happy birthday visual BACnet

Since we officially launched Visual BACnet to the public in September last year, we’ve continued to add tons of new features: commenting, team accounts, advanced reports, and lots of diagnostic checks. (You can see what new features we added to Visual BACnet in the links below!) We partnered with heavyweights of the building automation industry, including Contemporary Controls and KMC Controls, to give users crucial visibility into MS/TP.

happy birthday visual BACnet

Our brand new BACnet Site Monitoring product revolutionized network management, allowing users to know the instant that anything changes on their smart building network.

happy birthday visual BACnet

Thanks again to all who have joined us over the last year of Visual BACnet’s growth! Check out our webinar Leading the Future of BAS below, to hear what we have planned for the platform’s future.

June 19, 2017

 

BACnet Site Monitoring

Capture Service

 

May 3, 2017

Enhanced Device Browser

Device Detail Tool Tips

Low hop count diagnostic check

Multiple custom port settings

Advanced Reporting

 

April 7, 2017

“Reject-To-Network” diagnostic check

Amount of ReadProperty diagnostic check

Maximum number of networks diagnostic check

Router busy diagnostic check

 

 

 

November 26, 2016

Team Accounts

 

September 10, 2016

MS/TP diagnostic check

Commenting

Non-standard BACnet ports

 

July 20, 2016

Missing ACKs and Error PDUs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recent Blog Posts

You’re in the design phase of a new building. Contractors and vendors are all coming at you with demands.

The consulting specifying engineer of today is venturing into totally new territory: Division 25.

If you’re tired of going on site to capture BACnet data, look no further than your JACE.

OT Networks Overview

The latest release from Visual BACnet brings huge convenience and time saving for users with JACE controllers.

Recent Projects

Coventry University

COVENTRY UNIVERSITY

Chris Goodman, the Senior BMS Technician at Coventry University, had broadcast storms that were happening more and more frequently. 

Ongoing construction due to Coventry’s campus expansion meant lots of new activity, with technicians installing new devices and making network changes. Already juggling these constant additions and alterations, Goodman and his small team then had to deal with the subsequent broadcast storms. As the broadcast storms became more frequent, Goodman and his team needed a solution.

Find out how Visual BACnet helped Chris solve the broadcast storms and improve Network Health in our free case study!

Data center expansion with OTI and Optigo Connect

DATA CENTER EXPANSION

Stack Infrastructure is a portfolio of hyperscale computing data centers. OTI completed work on Phases I and II, and returned for the Phase III build-out of a 4-megawatt data hall and brand new central plant. The Optigo Connect network put in place in Phases I and II was expanded on this project. The team achieved quick roll-out of a large, multi-service redundant network using the Optigo OneView management interface. Going forward, the facility management team can use OneView to remotely monitor equipment, manage power usage, and meet up-time goals.

Optigo Connect MR Soluciones The Landmark

THE LANDMARK

The Landmark is a sophisticated mixed-use high-rise in Mexico. The owners wanted to integrate all OT systems in the skyscraper, while maintaining separate networks for each application. The Landmark is the fourth joint project between Optigo Networks and MR Soluciones. Together, these companies provide robust services to meet any challenge.

Australian Bureau of Statistics at 45 Benjamin Way with Delta Building Automation

45 BENJAMIN WAY

Delta Building Automation (Australia) had a big job renovating the Headquarters for the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) at 45 Benjamin Way. The building owner wanted to improve the building’s energy use and increase their National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) score to more than 4.5 stars, out of a possible total of six. Securing the network both internally and externally was a big priority, as well.

Penn State University Optigo Networks Visual BACnet

PENN STATE UNIVERSITY

When Tom Walker looked at Penn State University’s Navy Yard network, he saw huge issues. The system was busy and loud, to the point where the overrun network was bringing down the entire building. Because this was happening on the MS/TP network, pinpointing the problem would mean boots on the ground to segment and test the chain, piece by piece.

Penn State University Optigo Networks Visual BACnet

PENN STATE UNIVERSITY

When Tom Walker first started working at Penn State University four years ago, there were a lot of network issues. Buildings were dropping offline. Broadcast traffic was pushing 90,000 packets per hour. Walker was on the phone almost every single night because devices were down or had to be reset.

 

Torre Manacar Mexico City Optigo Connect

TORRE MANACAR

When MR Soluciones began work on Torre Manacar, they knew they needed a flexible and scalable network infrastructure to support a wide array of integrated systems. Optigo Networks was a natural fit for the massive project, designing a robust network at a competitive cost.

short

SHORT PUMP TOWN CENTER

Short Pump Town Center, an upscale retail center, underwent a complete renovation in 2014. The flexibility of Optigo Networks’ solution meant the retail center’s unknown final design was not a barrier to placing IP surveillance equipment in the field.

BOULEVARD MALL

BOULEVARD MALL

Optigo Networks connected New York-based Boulevard Mall’s security surveillance devices in December 2015, using a Passive Daisy Chain topology.

Visual BACnet tech support team

TECH SUPPORT TEAM

One tech support team at a manufacturer purchased an account with Visual BACnet in April 2017, for technical problems around the world.