The Sona BMS platform brings BACnet, Modbus, KNX, DALI, M-Bus, MQTT and many more protocols together in a single device, lets you design your own visualization and adds schedules, scripting, trends, reporting, mobile control, voice control and much more, and pulls every job in the building — from HVAC control and lighting automation to energy analysis and the monitoring of systems such as fire and elevators — into one automation server, as a self-contained solution with the server built in.
How Sona BMS works
Sona BMS gathers every system in the building onto one server. Field systems connect over their own protocols; the operator monitors and runs all of them from a browser on a PC, from a touch panel or from a phone.
Systems under control
Air handling units, fan coil units and heating and cooling circuits are run from the server. Lighting, DALI and emergency lighting work on the same platform; power analyzers, generators, UPS and solar PV are monitored. The server room, water systems, fire alarm panel, elevators and cameras are followed from one place; blinds, façades, hotel rooms and meeting rooms join the system too.
Protocols
BACnet, Modbus, KNX, MQTT, SNMP, HTTP/REST and DMX512 are supported directly. DALI, Zigbee, Z-Wave, M-Bus and EnOcean devices join through a gateway. The system installs on top of the existing installation; nothing in the field has to be replaced.
Operations
Alarms are collected in one place, prioritized and acknowledged. Trend records are kept for years; regulatory, carbon and ESG reports are produced on a schedule. Maintenance reminders are triggered by run hours; several buildings are watched on one screen. Mobile and cloud access are free, and an audit trail records what operators did.
Advanced operational work such as alarms, trends, reporting and multi-building monitoring is unlocked with the BMS and BMS Plus licenses; the full list is in the capability table below.
Full capability table
Sona BMS Capabilities
A FIELD SYSTEMS
| Code | Capability | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | HVAC control (air handling units, fan coils, VAV, heating/cooling circuits) | ✓ Available | Through the block and script layer; ready-made HVAC blocks coming soon |
| A2 | Lighting control (scenes, constant light with sensors) | ✓ Available | |
| A3 | DALI lighting and fault monitoring (via gateway) | With BMS license | |
| A4 | Emergency lighting automatic testing and reporting | With BMS license | |
| A5 | Energy analyzers | ✓ Available | |
| A6 | Power system monitoring (generator, UPS, solar/PV) | ✓ Available | |
| A7 | Data center / server room environmental monitoring | ✓ Available | |
| A8 | Water systems (booster pump, tank level, irrigation) | ✓ Available | |
| A9 | CCTV / camera integration | ✓ Available | Live camera viewing over HTTP stream |
| A10 | Fire alarm panel monitoring | ✓ Available | Panels speaking Modbus, BACnet or ASCII protocols |
| A11 | Elevator monitoring | ✓ Available | Systems speaking Modbus, BACnet or ASCII protocols |
| A12 | Blind / shutter / façade control | ✓ Available | |
| A13 | Room automation (hotel room, meeting room) | ✓ Available | |
| A14 | Indoor air quality (CO2, VOC, humidity) | ✓ Available | |
| A15 | Occupancy detection | ✓ Available |
B PROTOCOLS & INTEGRATION
| Code | Capability | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | BACnet IP (server + client) | ✓ Available | |
| B2 | Modbus RTU/TCP (master + slave) | ✓ Available | |
| B3 | KNX TP and KNX IP | ✓ Available | |
| B4 | DALI | ✓ Available | Via KNX-DALI converter |
| B5 | M-Bus (meters) | ✓ Available | Via RS-232 converter |
| B6 | SNMP (IT / network equipment) | ✓ Available | |
| B7 | MQTT (IoT / cloud) | ✓ Available | |
| B8 | HTTP/REST API (both directions) | ✓ Available | |
| B9 | OPC UA | 🔜 Coming soon | With BMS license |
| B10 | Feeding data to cloud analytics (Azure, AWS, InfluxDB and the like) | ✓ Available | |
| B11 | Hotel PMS integration (Opera/FIAS) | With BMS Plus license | |
| B12 | Calendar integration (Exchange/Google) | 🔜 Coming soon | With BMS license |
| B13 | AV / multimedia (audio systems, projector) | 🔜 Coming soon | With Home license |
| B14 | Voice assistants (Alexa, Google, HomeKit) | ✓ Available |
C MONITORING & OPERATOR INTERFACE
| Code | Capability | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | Real-time graphic monitoring (SCADA pages) | ✓ Available | |
| C2 | Live values on the floor plan | ✓ Available | |
| C3 | Web-based access (no client to install) | ✓ Available | |
| C4 | Free mobile access | ✓ Available | |
| C5 | Free cloud access | ✓ Available | |
| C6 | VPN support (ZeroTier, OpenVPN, WireGuard) | ✓ Available | |
| C7 | Touch panel support | ✓ Available | With SonaHMI |
| C8 | Central monitoring across multiple buildings / a campus | With BMS license | |
| C9 | Multilingual interface | ✓ Available |
D AUTOMATION & LOGIC
| Code | Capability | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Weekly schedules | ✓ Available | |
| D2 | Holiday calendar | ✓ Available | |
| D3 | Astronomical clock (sunrise/sunset, without internet) | ✓ Available | |
| D4 | Scenarios / scenes | ✓ Available | |
| D5 | Visual block programming | ✓ Available | |
| D6 | Scripting / advanced programming | ✓ Available | |
| D7 | PID control loops | ✓ Available | |
| D8 | Calculation (min/max/average, formulas) | ✓ Available | |
| D9 | Counters and runtime tracking | ✓ Available | |
| D10 | Presence simulation | ✓ Available |
E ALARM MANAGEMENT
| Code | Capability | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | Real-time alarm generation (threshold/state) | With BMS license | |
| E2 | Alarm priority classes | With BMS license | |
| E3 | Alarm acknowledgment + operator trail | With BMS license | |
| E4 | Alarm history / archive | With BMS license | |
| E5 | Escalation | With BMS license | |
| E6 | Email notification | With BMS license | |
| E7 | SMS notification | With BMS license | |
| E8 | Push / mobile notification | With BMS license | |
| E9 | Messaging notifications (Telegram and the like) | ✓ Available | |
| E10 | Audible / visual alarm on the panel | ✓ Available | |
| E11 | Alarms from several buildings collected in one place | With BMS license | |
| E12 | Planned maintenance mode (alarm suppression) | With BMS license |
F DATA, TRENDS & REPORTING
| Code | Capability | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | Trend logs (time series) | With BMS license | |
| F2 | Data kept over years | With BMS license | |
| F3 | Comparing several trends | With BMS license | |
| F4 | Excel/CSV export | With BMS license | |
| F5 | PDF report | With BMS license | |
| F6 | Scheduled automatic report | With BMS license | |
| F7 | Regulatory / compliance reports | With BMS license | |
| F8 | Audit trail | With BMS license | |
| F9 | Fault detection and diagnostics / analytics (FDD) | With BMS license | |
| F10 | Carbon / ESG reporting | With BMS license |
G ENERGY MANAGEMENT
| Code | Capability | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| G1 | Energy monitoring dashboard | ✓ Available | |
| G2 | Power quality (harmonics, power factor) | ✓ Available | |
| G3 | Reactive power penalty monitoring | ✓ Available | |
| G4 | Demand management (peak shaving) | ✓ Available | |
| G5 | Tenant billing / cost allocation | 🔜 Coming soon | With BMS Plus license |
| G6 | Period-to-period comparison / benchmarking | ✓ Available | |
| G7 | Efficiency target tracking | ✓ Available |
H MAINTENANCE & OPERATIONS
| Code | Capability | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| H1 | Maintenance reminders based on running hours | ✓ Available | |
| H2 | Device health / communication monitoring | 🔜 Coming soon | With BMS license |
| H3 | Equipment inventory | 🔜 Coming soon | With BMS Plus license |
| H4 | Maintenance records / work order integration | 🔜 Coming soon | With BMS Plus license |
I PLATFORM & SYSTEM
| Code | Capability | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| I1 | Application store / installable applications | ✓ Available | |
| I2 | Backup and restore | ✓ Available | |
| I3 | Remote / OTA update | ✓ Available | |
| I4 | Project templates / duplication | ✓ Available | |
| I5 | Role-based user permissions | ✓ Available | |
| I6 | Secure access over HTTPS/TLS | ✓ Available | |
| I7 | Opening an API to third-party software | ✓ Available | |
| I8 | Redundant server | ✓ Available | |
| I9 | Remote KNX service with ETS, without port forwarding | ✓ Available |
This table is updated together with the product; the 'coming soon' rows are not marketing decoration, they are our roadmap.
It grows with applications
What Sona BMS can do grows with applications installed from the store. When a new need appears, you add an application, not a new system.
Alarm management for the building is handled by the Alert Plus application.
Emergency lighting tests and DALI fault tracking are handled by the Emergency Lighting and DALI Faults application.
To manage the touch panels across the building from one place, use the SonaHMI Manager application.
To tie hotel room occupancy into the automation, use the Opera PMS Local application.
To bring servers in different buildings onto a single screen, use the BMS Master and BMS Slave applications.
Frequently asked questions
Can it be installed on top of an existing installation?
Yes. Sona BMS installs on top of the existing installation. BACnet and Modbus devices connect directly; a KNX installation is used as it stands. Nothing in the field has to be replaced; the server goes into the panel and connects to the existing lines.
Which protocols are supported?
BACnet, Modbus, KNX, MQTT, SNMP, HTTP/REST and DMX512 are supported directly. DALI, Zigbee, Z-Wave, M-Bus and EnOcean connect through a gateway; the detail is on the Compatible Systems page.
How do the emergency lighting tests work?
The emergency lighting application starts luminaire tests itself and reports the results to the EN 50172 framework; DALI luminaire faults are watched from one place. This work is unlocked with the BMS license.
Do I need a separate SCADA package?
No. Visualization, trends and alarms run inside the server; the operator simply opens a browser. There is no software to install on a PC, no separate server and no SCADA license.
Can I monitor several buildings from one place?
Yes. Servers connect to each other, and buildings are monitored on one screen with one login, up to ten buildings. Multi-building monitoring and central alarm collection are unlocked with the BMS license.
How does the license model work?
A one-time license is bought per server; there is no subscription. Basic work comes with the server; advanced work is unlocked with the BMS and BMS Plus licenses. Which job comes with which license is visible row by row in the capability table.
Become a Sona dealer.
Build your projects on a single platform. Training, technical support and the application catalog are open to our dealers.