 The company developed their own control protocol, Ibex, and transitioned to using the license-free BACnet protocol beginning in 1995; in adopting BACnet, the company became the first to implement this protocol across an entire product line in the controls industry.Alerton was acquired by the UK building supplies company Novar in 2003; as part of the acquisition, "Alerton Technologies" became "Alerton", a wholly owned subsidiary of Novar Controls and part of Novar's Intelligent Building Systems division.The acquisition was aimed at being a growth opportunity for both firms, and Novar recognized Alerton as "a pioneer in the development of the BACnet protocol".