Laurent Thillou, BMS developer and Niagara integrator
After some fifteen years as a technician and then project manager in Building Management Systems (BMS), I am now an independent developer specialised in BMS and Niagara supervision, based in Lyon, France. BMS Forge brings both skill sets together to support integrators and facility operators.
LinkedIn- 15 years of hands-on BMS experience
- Technician, then project manager
- Niagara N4 supervision, BACnet, Modbus, LoRaWAN
- Java Spring, Vue.js, API development
- Based in Lyon, working across France
15 years in the field
For about fifteen years I worked on BMS projects in commercial buildings, first as a technician, then as a project manager. Controller commissioning, HVAC equipment integration, supervision set-up, client handover: I have been through every stage of a building management project.
That experience gave me a detailed understanding of the field, of integration constraints and of what operators and end clients actually expect.
The limits of standard tools
Project after project, I kept hitting the same limits: repetitive tasks done by hand (point lists, point checks and testing, imports, service reports…), supervisions that are hard to customise, a lot of time spent on low-value operations, and building data that goes largely unused.
That led me to software development, to go beyond standard integration and design solutions that fit how people really use their systems.
From BMS technician to developer
Now a developer (Java Spring, Vue.js, APIs, MQTT), I remain specialised in BMS. My goal is to combine both skill sets to deliver higher-value services: automating integration tasks, custom development, improving supervision tools and making the most of building data.
The free BMS Forge tools, such as the BMS point comparator and the Multitech BACnet/LoRaWAN configuration generator, came straight out of problems met on site.
Niagara, a natural starting point
Tridium's Niagara Framework is now a reference platform for BMS and smart buildings. Open, multi-protocol (BACnet, Modbus, LoRaWAN, MQTT…) and extensible, it lends itself particularly well to custom development.
Knowing this environment well lets me step in quickly for Niagara integrators and operators on their existing needs: commissioning, custom development, extra hands when workload peaks.
Beyond the tool: operations and data
The aim is not to stop at a single tool, but to build on the Niagara ecosystem to follow how BMS use is evolving: day-to-day operations, energy monitoring and making use of building data.