Niagara Framework® promotes customer success in smart building and IoT deployments by enabling users to directly access, analyze and act on a wide range of operational data in an easy, customized and cybersecure way. The newest version is the first to enable subscription licensing of Niagara software and it is being launched alongside a major evolution in controller hardware, the JACE 9000.
Niagara 4.13 brings exciting new features that continue to evolve Niagara along five demand, or benefit, categories: Data Interoperability for Compelling Visualizations and User Experiences (HTML5); Connectivity ease through a vast drivers library and APIs; Defense-in-Depth Cybersecurity, Deployment ease and user productivity; and Compliance with OT and IT industry standards. Niagara 4.13’s array of new features include:
- Multi-Tiered System DB
- HTML5 Niagara Network Station Manager View
- Certificate Manager Enhancements and HTML5 View
- Subscription Licensing
- Containerized Niagara
- Haystack 4 Support
- Modern Authentication Support for Email Service
- Edge Tools Updates
- Template Improvements
- Enhanced Installer
- SysLog Integration
- Certificate Signing Service
- Updated OS and Enterprise Applications
- Hidden Gems and more!
The ‘WHY’
So I just typed a big list of words. To all those asking, ‘so what?,’ I offer this video from Bryce Anderson, principal of Lifecycle Controls, a Building Management System specialist consultancy, based in Melbourne, Australia.
I agree with both consultants in this video when they conclude that, to preserve the building owner’s investment in building operational data, the work of tagging and prepping data for further analytics, ML, etc. needs to be done in the BMS. Ideally, it should be done correctly and once by a systems integrator or MSI that understands the importance of standardized methodology like Haystack, Brick, etc. The Niagara platform is consistently advancing in ways that support this foundational work – always with a strong focus on cyber defense. (Watch the TridiumTalk webinar on Niagara’s Haystack 4 support. Also, see this TridiumTalk on Niagara Data Service.) Niagara 4.13 is an important milestone along a product roadmap whose direction is plotted well into the future by the worldwide Niagara Community of BMS specialists, like Bryce. They have demands which we strive to meet release-by-release.
Importantly, the 4.13 Features list above includes a few important advancements for the many Niagara Development partners working on edge devices and software applications that embed or overlay the BMS foundation provided by Niagara. Partners marketing their own branded ‘Powered by Niagara‘ equipment controllers, now have updated edge tools that make it easier to upgrade installed application templates. 4.13 provides greater flexibility when defining and configuring peer device and/or station proxies upon installation of an application template. Tridium’s ‘Portability’ partners get all the benefits of the Niagara Framework® right down to utilizing the Niagara licensing server to manage Niagara instances. Watch the TridiumTalk webinar with Lynxspring and Conserve-IT to learn more.
One More Thing
Demand for containerized building automation software is coming from large institutional and enterprise customers that have their own data centers and dedicated IT teams. This type of customer wants to maximize utilization of their Ethernet networking and virtualized server infrastructure. Niagara 4.13 answers this demand with Niagara Containers – software packages that bundle together the Niagara core, the JRE (Java Runtime Environment) and any additional modules required at runtime, Some Niagara Partners – including Distech, Veea and View – are very excited about Containerized Niagara.
As a deployment mechanism of Niagara Framework, containerization offers:
- Faster software delivery
- Easier portability of code from one computing environment to another
- Streamlined software life cycle management once deployed in the field
- Move of costs from CAPEX to OPEX
NOTE: Trained IT staff required to manage the virtualized environment. To learn more, watch this recent TridiumTalk Webinar on the Containerization topic featuring partner Distech.
Join us in Anaheim, California, next April when Tridium will be bringing the whole Niagara Community together for another Niagara Summit.
