January 27, 2009 – ILS Technology and Florida Atlantic University (FAU) announced a research and development partnership in the field of device connectivity. ILS Technology, creators of the deviceWISE and secureWISE data connectivity and collaboration platforms, is opening its development-and-testing labs to FAU researchers working on technologies such as programmable logic controllers and radio-frequency identification (RFID) equipment, among others. In addition, ILS Technology will facilitate FAU’s efforts to collaborate with the OPC Foundation, an industry consortium that develops and maintains standards for open connectivity of industrial automation devices and systems. ILS Technology will also provide work-study opportunities for select FAU students.
“This partnership will give FAU unprecedented access to leading-edge research, manufacturing and collaboration tools. We are also pleased to provide thirty full-featured deviceWISE Enterprise Edition licenses that will support the students and faculty responsible for the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s new Innovation Leadership Honors Program,” said Fred Yentz, CEO of ILS Technology.
“People in the industry are thinking about data movement and asset control in new ways, and we feel it’s important to make our resources available to the next generation of engineers, scientists and thinkers in our field.”FAU researchers will have access to ILS Technology’s multi-vendor device lab, deviceWISE software and driver development kits, as well as the company’s secureWISE remote collaboration and access tools. In return, FAU will create device drivers, validate third-party drivers and collaborate with other industry-developed solutions. FAU hopes that the access to ILS Technology’s research facilities, combined with its collaboration with the OPC Foundation, will open the door for future government research grants.
“Partnering with ILS Technology provides our students and faculty with access to real-world tools to improve device-to-enterprise connectivity development, validation and research,” said Dr. Karl Stevens, dean of College of Engineering and Computer Science at FAU. “We look forward to working together with ILS Technology and other private sector partners to drive forward OPC unified architecture and other important standards initiatives.”
