niagara is excellent.for those who know how to operate it.
Niagara is the de facto standard in BMS, and for good reason. But it assumes your organization has Tridium-certified engineering operating it. If you do — stay there. If you don't, AstreaBMS is built for that gap: it operates on top of your existing Niagara without replacing it, or replaces the piece you didn't need in the first place.
we're not vs niagara. we're on top.
What follows is the honest list of when Niagara, on its own, is the better tool. If you recognize your organization in these points, you're probably not our customer — and that's fine.
You have a Tridium-certified engineer on staff
Workbench is a powerful tool for those who know how to use it. If you have a dedicated person who can write wiresheet logic and maintain the station, Niagara gives you full control.
You need to write complex control logic
Multi-variable PID loops, active demand response, complex scheduling with conditional overrides — that's Niagara's work. Vaultis is read-only by design.
Your organization already standardized on Tridium
Multiple sites, all on Niagara, in-house engineering team maintaining corporate templates. Switching paradigms costs more than the upside.
Your local integrator exists + responds + updates
This is the ideal situation with Niagara. If you have it, value it. It's rare in the Mexican market — but it exists.
things niagara was never designed to do.
Niagara is a BMS integration framework. It works excellently for what it is. But most Mexican facilities need things Niagara was never designed to do.
Workbench is desktop. Legacy web dashboards look bad on a phone.
Responsive from day 1. Your supervisor operates from a phone or tablet.
Email to an inbox. No level-based escalation. No operational instructions.
SMS + WhatsApp in plain text. Configurable escalation. Every event tracked.
Whatever you build in wiresheet. Usually someone assembles them by hand each month.
Templates for audits, insurance, NOM. Exportable to PDF automatically.
Technical English. BACnet tags without context. Requires training.
Operational Spanish. Plant supervisor language, not engineer language.
Changes require workbench + credentials + engineer. Every modification is a ticket.
The operator can adjust thresholds, add users, and configure maintenance windows from the web.
with niagara or without niagara.
You don't have to choose between Niagara and AstreaBMS. There are two ways to deploy us depending on what you already have — the important difference is how much of your current stack you keep.
coexistence
Your Niagara keeps doing what it does today: polling your equipment. We read from it via BACnet/IP. No station replacement. No additional Tridium license. Vaultis sits on top — adds the operational layer Niagara never gave you.
- JACE stays intact
- BACnet/IP server enabled (we do it if it isn't)
- One-time engineering + monthly subscription
- If Niagara dies tomorrow, Vaultis keeps operating with clients we poll directly
replacement
Your BMS is new, or you're replacing the old station. We advise you: do you really need Niagara, or can we poll the equipment directly? For most mid-sized facilities in MX, direct polling + Vaultis is cheaper and more maintainable than a new Niagara.
- Direct polling via industrial gateway
- No Tridium licenses, no permanent integrator
- AstreaBMS operates everything: hardware + software + support
- Niagara remains an option if you end up needing complex control later
the math beyond the license.
At the hardware + license level, Niagara is relatively cheap. Where the math shifts is the cost of operating it over 3-5 years — integrator, maintenance, in-house engineer, custom dashboards, training.
Typical Mexican market ranges for Tier 2/3 facilities. Your specific situation may differ — we present them so you understand the order of magnitude, not as a formal quote.
niagara is a tool. we are a company.
This is the structural difference that usually isn't discussed. Niagara is a framework that needs a permanent integrator. AstreaBMS is a company that delivers a result, not software.
consulting
Before the project: we advise you on equipment selection, vendor, architecture. We don't sell you the equipment — commercial independence.
engineering + installation
We do the project. Multi-vendor, multi-protocol, Niagara-certified when applicable. We don't connect you with a partner — we are the team.
vaultis + ongoing support
After the project: your operations team works daily with Vaultis. Our support team is behind it. Direct line to whoever wrote the code.
bring your specific situation.
Do you have Niagara today? Are you quoting a new one? We'll tell you honestly which path suits you — coexistence, replacement, or staying with Niagara alone. Without selling you something you don't need.