BACnet stands for Building Automation and Control Network. It was officially unveiled by ASHRAE in 1996, and has been approved as ISO standard 16454-5 and is also becoming a standard in the European Union. 

BACnet IP and BACnet MS/TP are names that identify the physical layer (IP or MS/TP) used to transmit BACnet packets on the network. There are at least three other physical layers defined and in use to lesser degrees. We will talk about IP and MS/TP on this web site because those are the two most common physical layers, and because those are the two that Control Solutions supports in its product line.

 The best free tutorial we know of for BACnet is found at www.bacnet.org.