Mechanisms and techniques for managing devices within an energy management system are disclosed. In one embodiment, the energy management system includes a first controller and a second controller that control communications with and manage devices. The first controller determines to transmit a system management application instruction to a device and converts the system management application instruction to a device controller instruction based on an identifier of the device. The first controller generates a system message that includes the device controller instruction and formats the system message based on a network transmission format. The second controller receives the system message from the first controller and reformats the system message based on a device controller interface format. The second controller transmits the reformatted system message to a controller interface of the device.