IONA vs JACE: Which Niagara 4 Controller Should You Choose?

IONA and the JACE 9000 both run Niagara 4. IONA adds 24 onboard I/O points, an optional LoRaWAN gateway and 4G. Here is how to choose between them.

Both controllers run a standard Tridium Niagara 4 station, so the engineering, drivers, graphics and supervisor integration are the same. The difference is the hardware around the station and what that hardware lets you leave out of the panel. This guide compares the IONA Niagara 4 controller from Tyrrell Products with Tridium's JACE 9000 and JACE 8000, feature by feature, and gives clear rules for choosing.

Who makes IONA and JACE?

The JACE (Java Application Control Engine) is designed and manufactured by Tridium, the company behind the Niagara Framework. The current model is the JACE 9000; its predecessor, the JACE 8000, is now end of sale. See What is a JACE controller? for background.

IONA is designed and built by Tyrrell Products in the UK as a licensed Niagara 4 controller. It runs the same Niagara 4 software as a JACE but adds integrated I/O and wireless options aimed at plant control, IoT deployments, smart buildings and edge-to-cloud analytics.

Because both run Niagara 4, a station can be moved between them, any Niagara-certified engineer can maintain either, and both connect to a Niagara 4 Web Supervisor in exactly the same way.

IONA vs JACE at a glance

Always check the current datasheet before specifying; options and variants change.

The key differences explained

1. Onboard I/O

This is the biggest practical difference. A JACE has no physical I/O. Every sensor, valve or relay it controls directly needs a separate I/O module (Tridium NRIO or a third-party BACnet or Modbus module), with its own power, wiring and addressing.

IONA has 24 points of I/O built in:

• 6 universal inputs (UI): 0–10 V, 4–20 mA, NTC thermistor, monitored input, digital input or pulse
• 6 digital inputs (DI): volt-free status or pulse counting
• 4 digital outputs (DO): relays rated up to 5 A at 230 V
• 8 analogue outputs (AO): 0–10 V (20 mA max)

That covers a typical small air handling unit, a boiler and pump set, or a heating and hot water plant without any extra modules. Fewer modules mean a smaller panel, less wiring, fewer devices to address and fewer points of failure. See IONA I/O and expansion for detail.

2. LoRaWAN built in

With the LoRaWAN option, IONA becomes a LoRaWAN gateway and network server as well as a Niagara 4 controller. Battery-powered wireless sensors (temperature, CO2, occupancy, energy, leak detection) report straight into the station with no separate gateway, no cloud network server and no extra integration layer.

A JACE needs a separate LoRaWAN gateway and network server, then a driver or MQTT integration to bring the data in. For smart building and retrofit projects this is often the deciding factor. See What is LoRaWAN? and IONA option cards.

3. Built-in 4G

The cellular option gives IONA its own 4G LTE connection for remote access, alarm delivery and cloud data where there is no reliable building network, for example plant rooms, pumping stations, remote sites, temporary buildings or estates where IT will not allow BMS traffic on the corporate network.

4. Speed

Tyrrell Products' testing shows IONA commissioning and station restarts running up to three times faster than a traditional JACE. The Intel Elkhart Lake variant can have its station running in around 30 seconds, which matters during commissioning and after every station save and restart.

5. Niagara 5

The JACE 9000 is Tridium's Niagara 5 controller. IONA is a Niagara 4 controller on 4.15, the long-term support release maintained until the end of 2028. Both can sit under a Niagara 5 supervisor, which supports Niagara 4 stations. If running Niagara 5 at the edge is a firm requirement of your specification, choose the JACE 9000. For the Niagara 5 roadmap of IONA, contact our team.

6. Licensing

Both are licensed by points. IONA licences come in tiers of 100, 250, 500, 1,250, 2,500, 5,000 and 10,000 points, with upgrades available from 50 points, and include 12 months of software maintenance. An IONA licensed for fewer than 150 points is classed as a Niagara Edge device. Under Tridium's Edge licensing scheme (Niagara 4.10 and later), an Edge-class device counts as one tenth of a standard Niagara network connection on a supervisor, so up to ten such IONAs use the same supervisor connection as one JACE, which the scheme does not apply to regardless of point count. On estates with many small plant rooms, that can cut supervisor licensing costs substantially. Each onboard I/O point consumes one point of the licence.

7. Wi-Fi and environment

The JACE 9000 offers optional Wi-Fi and a wider operating temperature range (−20 to 60 °C), which suits rooftop or unheated enclosures. IONA is rated 0 to 50 °C and is intended for plant rooms and controlled panels.

When to choose IONA

Choose IONA when:

• the panel needs local I/O, especially a small to medium plant where 24 points removes one or more I/O modules
• you want wireless sensors without adding and integrating a separate LoRaWAN gateway
• the site lacks a dependable network and 4G connectivity would simplify remote access
• you are replacing a Niagara Edge 10, which also had onboard I/O (see Edge 10 end of life)
• you are retrofitting an existing system (Trend, Satchwell or other) and want to add Niagara control and IoT sensing on top
• budget matters on small sites, where IONA's lower licence tiers and integrated hardware reduce total cost

When to choose a JACE 9000

Choose the JACE 9000 when:

• the specification requires Niagara 5 at the controller
• the controller is purely an integration gateway with no local I/O
• you need Wi-Fi or the wider temperature range
• the end client mandates Tridium-branded hardware across its estate
• you are moving an existing JACE 8000 using Tridium's licence transfer promotion (see JACE 8000 to 9000 upgrade)

Comparing total installed cost

Controller price alone is a misleading comparison, because the two designs need different amounts of surrounding hardware. Compare the whole panel. For a typical small plant room with a dozen hard-wired points and a handful of wireless sensors, the bill of materials looks like this:

The more of those extra boxes a project needs, the stronger the case for IONA. For a pure integration job with no I/O and no wireless, the JACE 9000 design has nothing extra to remove, and the comparison comes down to licence price, Niagara 5 requirements and client preference.

What stays the same for engineers

Engineers sometimes worry that a non-Tridium controller means learning a new tool. It does not:

• Workbench connects to IONA exactly as it does to a JACE, through platform and station connections.
• Commissioning uses the familiar Niagara steps: licence, certificates, modules, station copy.
• Drivers are standard Niagara modules. BACnet, Modbus, Tyrrell Products drivers and other vendors' drivers install the same way, built for the matching Niagara version.
• Graphics, tagging, hierarchies and templates are shared across both, so an estate standard works on either.
• Supervisor integration uses the Niagara network over FoxS, with history import and alarm routing as normal.
• Training: a Niagara 4 TCP-certified engineer is qualified to work on both.

The only new elements on IONA are the onboard I/O points and the optional LoRaWAN network server, both configured inside the station.

Mixed estates

Many estates use both. A common pattern is JACE 9000s as integration controllers in large plant rooms, IONAs in smaller buildings and plant rooms where onboard I/O and LoRaWAN save hardware, and one Niagara Web Supervisor over everything. Because both run Niagara, templates, graphics, tagging and Px pages are shared across the estate.

Quick decision checklist

Answer these five questions for each panel:

1. Does the specification require Niagara 5 at the controller? Yes → JACE 9000.
2. Does the panel need hard-wired I/O? Up to around 24 points → IONA removes the I/O modules. Many more points → either controller with expansion I/O; IONA still saves the first 24.
3. Will the building use wireless sensors? Yes → IONA with LoRaWAN saves a gateway, a network server and an integration.
4. Is there a reliable building network the BMS may use? No → IONA with 4G.
5. Does the client mandate Tridium-branded hardware? Yes → JACE 9000.

If none of the answers points strongly either way, compare the total installed cost of each design and the licence tier that fits the point count.

Real-world example

On a garden centre project, Tyrrell Products' partners deployed an IONA controller with embedded LoRaWAN, integrated the site's existing Trend BMS, added LoRaWAN energy meters and connected everything to Tyrrell Analytics. The heating plant was then enabled on demand instead of running on stand-by. The site achieved a 40% month-on-month and 14% year-on-year reduction in energy consumption, without replacing the existing BMS. A JACE could have done the integration, but it would have needed a separate LoRaWAN gateway and network server to reach the same result.

Frequently asked questions

Is IONA a Tridium product?

No. IONA is designed and manufactured by Tyrrell Products. It runs Tridium's Niagara 4 software under licence, so it behaves like any other Niagara 4 controller.

Can I move a station from a JACE to an IONA?

Yes. Both run Niagara 4, so a station can be moved between them, subject to matching Niagara versions, the licence and any drivers it uses. Plan point assignments for IONA's onboard I/O as part of the move.

Is IONA a good JACE 9000 alternative?

For projects that need local I/O, LoRaWAN or 4G, IONA is often the better fit and can reduce panel hardware. If you need Niagara 5 at the controller or Tridium-branded hardware, choose the JACE 9000.

Does IONA work with a Niagara Web Supervisor?

Yes. IONA joins the Niagara network like any JACE, and the supervisor imports its histories and alarms in the normal way.

How many I/O points does IONA have?

24 onboard: 6 universal inputs, 6 digital inputs, 4 digital outputs and 8 analogue outputs, with more available on the dedicated eBMS I/O bus.

Can a JACE 8000 be replaced with an IONA?

Yes. The station can be upgraded to a compatible Niagara 4 version and moved to IONA. This is a common choice when the panel also contains separate I/O modules that IONA's onboard points can replace.

Related guides

• IONA I/O and expansion options
• IONA option cards: LoRaWAN and 4G
• What is a JACE controller?
• JACE 8000 to JACE 9000 upgrade guide
• How to choose a BMS controller