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| From One Techie to Another | |||||||||||||
Open is as open does I’m sure many of you will remember the line from the movie Forrest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does.” In other words, you are what you do. If you do stupid things, you are therefore stupid. The same goes for “openness.” Automation suppliers who DO develop and sell open products CAN call themselves open. Those who DON'T develop and sell open products CAN'T call themselves open. Open is as open does. It’s that simple. In the consumer electronic market, buyers would never tolerate having to buy electronics and software from one vendor. So why do automation users tolerate it? Of course, the consumer electronic market is much larger than our humble automation market. But the same rules should apply. Is it because users are not making their needs and wants clear to suppliers? Or is it because suppliers aren’t listening and are more concerned with protecting their proprietary systems and corresponding market share? I suspect both are true. There are a number of industry organizations whose primary goal is to create and nurture open standards. The problem I see with many of them is they are funded and supported primarily by automation suppliers. Most automation suppliers won’t hesitate to jump on the organization’s bandwagon because, at a minimum, it creates the illusion that they are working toward openness. For some suppliers, it’s more than an illusion, but for others, I fear it’s nothing more. The OPC Foundation is dedicated to ensuring interoperability in automation by creating and maintaining open specifications that standardize the communication of data (via OPC and OPC-UA) between devices and to enterprise systems. The OPC Foundation has created an independent certification test lab to significantly increase the quality and reliability of OPC products in the marketplace. As with any certification program, you need people who are going to adopt them as law. In other words, you need users who will only buy products from vendors who achieve certification. The PLCopen is an organization dedicated to improving the automation programming efficiency and productivity in the controls industry. PLCopen efforts are focused on control software standards that harmonize industrial control programming worldwide. According to a news release we just published yesterday, PLCopen publishes standard on XML Control Logic, the XML standard (www.control-xml.com) provides an open, non-proprietary, software interface for the interchange of industrial and process control programs between controls, Product Life Cycle Management (PLM), Machine & Process Simulation, CAD, documentation software, and other systems. This XML standard is a big step toward open control. Just about every big automation suppliers is a member of PLCopen. It will be interesting to see how many of them actually begin supporting the standard; i.e., developing and selling control products that use the standard. It all comes down to the users. These organizations need the support of users to drive the standards - without users their point is moot. If users don’t force suppliers to be open, nobody else will. I’m posting this editorial in a Forum on My.Automation.com, and I welcome your feedback on this “open” issue. Note: You are required to register to post a response. Or, just send me a response directly. Enjoy the rest of this Automation Weekly! Rick Zabel |
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| Featured Article | |||||||||||||
2008 Pinto’s Pointers – Technologies & Markets Read full article by Jim Pinto |
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Go to our Daily News Headlines page for the latest automation news. |
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| Humor of the Week | |||||||||||||
Dilbert - Innovate until it hurts. Goin' Fishin' - Engineering Management consists of three rules… (View entire series) |
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I hope you enjoyed this Automation Weekly update. If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the content in this e-newsletter or on Automation.com, please don't hesitate to contact me. Rick Zabel For editorial inquiries, please contact Rick Zabel |
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