In addition to providing the enhanced security required by building automation systems, BACnet/SC can eliminate much of the concern and work that non-standard systems require of IT departments.
Significant differences between BACnet/IP and BACnet/SC include these:
| Feature | BACnet/IP | BACnet/SC |
|---|---|---|
| Transport Protocol | UDP | TCP |
| Device authentication | none | TLS (version 1.3) |
| IP addresses | mostly static | static or dynamic |
| BACnet/IP/BBMD | used mostly | none |
| BACnet/SC hubs | none | a minimum of one per network |
| Encrypted communication | none | TLS (version 1.3 with option for 128–bit and 256–bit elliptic curve cryptography) |
| DNS | not used | supported |
| NAT tolerant | none | yes |
You can integrate BACnet/SC into a station and configure it, which includes having the appropriate certificates in place. For devices that only support BACnet/IP, a firmware upgrade is needed. You can send messages between a BACnet/SC network and a non-secure network such as BACnet/IP and MS/TP provided that you have SC-IP and/or SC-MS/TP routers in your network. Once the BACnet/SC network is configured, it is easy to update a device in a BACnet/SC, IP or MS/TP environment.