The DSC8500 system pre-dates Metasys and does not use the N2 protocol. Therefore, our S4 Open Appliances (OPC-N2 Router and BACnet-N2 Router) do not support them.
We did do some market analysis and could not find enough demand for us to invest in reverse engineering the DSC8500 protocol and developing a product on speculation. It is doubtful that we could recover our engineering and development investment. The biggest concern that I heard from potential customers was that there is not enough expected useful life left in these systems for customers to invest in an integration solution. What I’ve heard is that the systems are so old that they can no longer be maintained and that the preferred approach is to replace these systems with newer technology.
In fact, we look at each possible new integration project in this same way. We have to answer the following questions:
Is there enought useful life left in the legacy systems?
Can the legacy systems be repaired and supported?
Is there expertise available to recommission or reprogram the legacy systems?
Is there enough installed base that is likely to choose integration vs replacement to recover the R&D costs and make a reasonable profit on our efforts?
Are there other integrations that the market is asking for that should be a higher priority?