Important terminology

Item

Connect Box – Terminology

IoT connectivity

Support of the LoRaWAN protocol

Wired connectivity

Support of Modbus TCP /RTU & M-Bus, BACnet IP, KNX, LON, LPB. Diematic

Local server / gateway

Support of Modbus IP, BACnet IP and MQTT gateway/client to provide data to local endpoints defined by Customer

IN / OUT protocols and data points

IN generally concerns the protocols and data flow from the BACS network and devices to the Connect Box,
OUT generally concerns the protocols and data flow from the Connect Box to the BACS network via the local gateways or cloud, respectively.
IN (incoming) data point is a data point of an equipment connected to a Connect Box with a Cloud or On-Premise license, through wired or wireless communication. An IN data point can be of type read only, write only or read and write, and so counted as one data point regardless of type. The number of IN data points is restricted by the license chosen.
OUT (outgoing) data point is a data point redirected from the Connect Box to other equipment, a BMS or another application which can reside locally (on-site) or remotely (cloud). The number of OUT data points is neither limited nor counted.

The reference interval for data point counting is 600 seconds. Changes in the data transfer interval may result in a higher or lower limit of data points available.

Example: A LoRaWAN device downlink is generally counted as one IN data point throughout all layers of communication. A supervision system can write on downlink to LoRaWAN equipment, and in this case, the point sent from the supervision system to the Connect Box could be regarded as an IN data point. Since writing on the downlink requires an enabled downlink data point between the LoRaWAN equipment and the Connect Box, it has already been counted once. As a rule of thumb, no additional data point is counted for the supervision system; the data points on the downlink are simply treated as the same IN data point, although the Connect Box reads and writes both from the supervision system and to the LoRaWAN equipment.

Overview of important license characteristics

Item

Connect Box – Software characteristics

Functions

As per type, see details below

Metric

Per Connect Box, data points, and year, see details below

Term

Annually or multi-year, auto-renewal available for SaaS subscriptions

Billing term

Annually or multi-year, payment in advance as per type

Upgrade

Effective immediately, possible via Customer support

Downgrade/Cancellation

Effective with end of term, possible via Customer support

Devices and equipment connectivity

As per technical system and license data point limits - device-specific software to be purchased separately

Permitted Users

Unlimited, restricted by organization concept and Terms and Conditions may apply

 

Depending on the license, the software is either available as a one-time purchase or an annual / multi-year fixed-term license.

Extended Use entitles Customer to authorize its Affiliates and third parties to access and use the Cloud Services in accordance with the rights set out in the Terms and Conditions.

 

For additional information refer to chapter Ordering details and requirements.