Niagara Framework (Niagara 4)

Niagara is a software framework from Tridium for connecting, monitoring, and controlling building and facility equipment. A Niagara station runs on a supervisor server or on embedded controllers (JACE units and Niagara-based controllers sold under many OEM brands), talks to devices through drivers for protocols such as BACnet and Modbus, normalizes the data, and provides histories, schedules, alarms, and web graphics. Integrators configure it with the Workbench engineering tool. It is common in commercial buildings, campuses, and data centers.

Where it bites hardware teams: licenses and tools are sold through Tridium's network of OEM and channel partners, so which edition, features, and upgrade rights you get depends on that channel and on keeping the software maintenance current. Many sites still run the older Niagara AX, and moving stations, graphics, and custom modules to Niagara 4 takes care. Custom drivers are Java modules built against the framework and must be tested across Niagara versions.

Outside help is worth it when a new product has to appear cleanly in customers' Niagara stations, when a proprietary protocol needs a custom driver, when AX sites need migrating, or when a station must be hardened before it is exposed to a network.