BMS vs PEAK

Your BMS runs the building.
It cannot tell you how well.

A BMS holds setpoints and schedules. PEAK assesses how well those are actually working, finds what is going wrong, and manages the work to put it right. They do different jobs, and PEAK reads the BMS you already have.

What the BMS sees

AHU-04 · Running to schedule

No alarm. Every value inside its threshold.

↓

What PEAK sees

Starting 2h 10m early, 41 days running

Impact scored on energy and asset life. Assigned to the mechanical contractor.

↓

Schedule corrected. Verified in the data.

Where the line sits

What is the difference between a BMS and PEAK?

Two jobs, not two products competing. Most comparisons ask which one wins, which is the wrong question - almost every PEAK site runs a BMS underneath it.

Your BMS

Controls the building

It holds the control strategy and executes it. That is a real job and PEAK does not want it.

Holds setpoints, schedules and sequences

Operates within the building's design constraints

Alarms when a threshold is breached

Shows current values and historical trends

PEAK

Assesses how well it is being controlled

It reads the same data and asks a different question: is this equipment actually performing, and if not, who is fixing it?

Scores equipment performance continuously

Finds faults before a threshold is crossed

Prioritises by energy, comfort, asset life and compliance

Assigns the work and verifies the fix in the data

The BMS holds the setpoints. PEAK holds the operating record - what failed, who fixed it, and whether it stayed fixed.

Side by side

Nine places the two diverge.

The same building, the same data, two different jobs being done with it.

A BMS

CIM PEAK

Purpose
Designed to operate systems to provide specific building conditions.
Designed to analyse how those systems perform, against energy intensity, tenant comfort and asset life.
Design
Operates within the design constraints of the building.
Identifies design issues in both controls and mechanical design, and suggests how to rectify them.
Fault detection & diagnosis
Identifies issues once they have occurred, when an alarm threshold is reached or a system critically breaches.
Analyses systems at component level and flags reduction in performance before it becomes a fault. It does not wait for a threshold.

Manual changes
Treats a user adjustment to a setpoint as a fix to the problem.
Identifies when a manual adjustment has created an imbalance elsewhere in the system.
Building data quality
Collects points to determine the next control action, only from systems connected to it. Shows current values with historical trends.
Calculates virtual points where meters are absent, and presents current and historical data as one view of system operation for component-level decisions.
Fault prioritisation
Triggers on breaches of thresholds and setpoints. Volume in a complex multi-point system can become overwhelming, until faults are ignored and a tenant raises the issue instead.
Prioritises by frequency, duration, energy cost, tenant comfort and equipment lifecycle impact, so what reaches a person is worth their time.
Control logic
Operates within the barriers of the programmed control logic.
Analyses the control logic on each controller for efficiency, flags faults and suggests fixes.
Independence
The BMS provider may at times push to upgrade the existing system.
Analyses the existing BMS to confirm the most benefit is being generated before an upgrade is required.

The work itself

Ends at the alarm. What happens next lives in email, a CMMS or somebody's head.

Routes the fault to an owner, chases it to close-out and verifies the resolution in the data rather than on a form.

Compatibility

PEAK sits alongside the BMS you already have

This is the first question a BMS contractor asks, and the answer has not changed: your control strategy stays exactly where it is.

What PEAK does

✓

Reads from the BMS already installed

✓

Analyses the data independently of the system that produced it

✓

Raises, routes and verifies the resulting work

✓

Adds one device on site: the BACER collector

What PEAK does not do

✕

Require new field devices or sensors

✕

Replace any part of your controls

✕

Alter your control strategy or sequences

✕

Command plant or write setpoints

Trend, Tridium Niagara, Schneider Electric, Honeywell, Siemens, Johnson Controls, Distech Controls, Delta Controls, Alerton and Automated Logic all connect over BACnet/IP, routed BACnet MS/TP, a vendor API or scheduled exports.

See how PEAK connects to your BMS

What people ask when comparing the two

Does PEAK replace my BMS?

No. A BMS controls equipment and PEAK analyses how well that equipment is performing. PEAK reads data from the BMS you already have, does not command plant, does not change your control strategy, and does not require any part of your controls to be replaced. The only hardware added on site is the BACER collector.

My BMS already has alarms. Why do I need fault detection?

A BMS alarm fires when a value crosses a threshold, which means something has already gone wrong. Most of what degrades a building never crosses a threshold: a valve passing slightly, a schedule running two hours long, simultaneous heating and cooling. PEAK analyses at component level and finds those, then prioritises them by energy cost, comfort, asset life and compliance impact so the list stays worth reading.

Can my BMS vendor just add analytics?

Some offer it, and detection is the part of the problem most easily added. The harder part is what happens after the fault is found - routing it to the right party, chasing it to close-out and verifying the fix in the data. That is workflow and accountability across your whole supply chain rather than a feature of a controls product, and it is where PEAK is built to operate.

Which BMS platforms does PEAK work with?

PEAK is vendor-agnostic and connects by protocol rather than by brand. Platforms running in production include Trend, Tridium Niagara, Schneider Electric, Honeywell, Siemens, Johnson Controls, Distech Controls, Delta Controls, Alerton and Automated Logic. Connection is over BACnet/IP, routed BACnet MS/TP, a vendor API or scheduled exports.

Is PEAK a BMS front end or a dashboard?

Neither. A front end re-presents what the BMS already shows. PEAK runs its own analysis against a library of engineering rules, produces faults the BMS does not raise, and manages the work that follows. The interface is a consequence of that, not the product.

Do we need to upgrade the BMS before deploying PEAK?

Usually not. PEAK analyses the existing system to establish what performance is available from it before any upgrade is considered. Where a site runs BACnet MS/TP only, the trunks need routing to BACnet/IP first, and most estates already have a suitable router in place.

Where to go next

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