Hey folks, Phil Zito here and welcome back. In this post, we're going to be covering how to work with IT groups. So, below you will find all the resources we reference in this post.  

In this article I am going to explore a lot of the different IT questions I've been asked by my IT for BAS Students. As you may or may not know, I run an online training program called Information Technology for Building Automation System Professionals.

I've had a lot of good questions from folks in this program. And while I've been going through this program I've had tons of conversations about all sorts of things.

Information Technology, IT, Technology!

Those words strike fear in the eyes of many BAS professionals. Now, before you get defensive, this has nothing to do with capabilities but rather it has to do with training. Up to this point no dedicated training program existed to provide those in the building automation space with the core IT skills they need in today's world.

I'm gonna tell it to you straight, BAS controls are changing! Multiple technology systems have gotten away from the proprietary controller model and if buildings are ever going to be truly intelligent than BAS systems need to do the same. In this article I will discuss what I see as the BAS of the Future and how I see it impacting our industry.

In my new role I have the privilege of leading my company's  partnerships and alliances with the world's top technology companies . One of the buzzwords that keeps coming up especially with the recent announcement from Cisco is the "Internet of Things" or the IoT.

Do You Need an Isolated Network for Building Automation Systems

Based on my experience there are so many other security concerns that are being ignored that going and splitting your trunk onto a physically isolated network is a secondary thought. Quite honestly, the concern around  if you need an isolated network for building automation systems should be something you think about only if you are in a regulated or DoD environment.

I just finished reading two interesting articles about hacking BAS systems and thought I would share my thoughts with all of you on how a BAS could be used to hack a building. First off, we still have some educating to do around BAS as a whole in the industry. Reading through Brian Prince's article at Dark Reading titled Google Building Management System Hack Highlights SCADA Security Challenges brings to mind one of the first areas in which we need to educate our IT counterparts.

Networks, they are the lifeline of modern systems and they are the bane of many owners and contractors! I'm not going to solve world hunger with this article but I will promise that you will leave here with a the Network Fundamentals that you need in order to do your job!