Articles and News

By Benson Hougland, Opto 22 Traditional industrial networking methods have proved workable but difficult to implement. The next generation of communication technologies may work to ease implementation while addressing security concerns.

By Stephany Romanow, Industry Consultant Because of the ever-changing business environment, O&G operators can no longer thrive, or even survive, by relying solely on yesterday’s technologies. They must reinvent themselves to be competitive within the marketplace and remain attractive to investors.

By Christopher Ealahan, Teguar Computers The factory floor can be an unforgiving place for equipment, especially when it comes to electronics. Very few of these devices make it out of the plant intact or have a long operational life. Here are five factors that any industrial user should look for in their search for the right tablet computer.

Designed for implementing small touch pads and screens, the 2D Touch Surface library runs on a device’s existing MCU. This removes the need for a dedicated touch controller, giving product designers the flexibility to add finger position tracking and gesture detection, such as swipes, pinch and zoom, to products.

AWS Greengrass, part of the AWS IoT offering, allows users to run local compute, messaging & data caching for connected IoT devices. With AWS Greengrass, connected devices can run AWS Lambda functions, keep device data in sync, and communicate with other devices securely

By Bill Lydon, Editor, Automation.com At Hannover Messe 2018, it was clear that many in the computing industry are focused on implementing a holistic cyber security approach, encompassing the entire architecture including cloud, enterprise, and edge devices. This article will explore some of these efforts and explain how they are shaping the future of cybersecurity in industrial automation.

At Hannover Fair 2018, the vision for a seamless architecture from edge devices to enterprise and cloud computing was a prominent theme. Numerous product demonstrations, announcements, and discussions promoted the combination of Time Sensitive Networking (TSN IEEE 802.1) with OPC UA messaging and data models to create a new manufacturing and production architecture

Microsoft has announced several updates and advancements at Digital Factory Hall at Hannover Messe 2018, the world’s largest annual manufacturing exhibition in Hannover, Germany.

The HARTING Technology Group has been cooperating with systems integrators and IT specialists within the MICA.network user organisation since 2016, giving customers access to data-based efficiency improvements for their machinery. The network showcases solutions for machine data pooling and ERP applications based around the MICA Edge Computing System

Construction will be conducted in two phases and is expected to be completed by 2024. The company also plans to add 350 jobs in the fields of engineering, mechatronics, purchasing and material management, as well as production and logistics operations, over the next five years.

By Benson Hougland, Opto 22 Products developed using open systems technologies are in widespread use throughout the commercial sector, providing a host of benefits to vendors and their customers. But the open systems movement has been slow to penetrate the often closed and proprietary world of industrial automation—denying end users, OEMs and system integrators the same types of benefits.

Integrating the usability and familiarity of this Windows OS with ARM CPUs gives developers more options and it also brings Microsoft computing to the low power consumption, mobile market.

By Bill Lydon, Editor, Automation.com HARTING has been expanding into edge computing for Industry 4.0 and IoT applications. 2018 for HARTING will see an enhanced focus on digitalization, education and edge computing.

By Stefan Hoppe, OPC Foundation The Industrial Internet of Things – abbreviated to IIoT and known in Germany as Industrie 4.0 – is a technology trend that is the enabler of the 4th industrial revolution, and is bringing about a transformation in the way we do business.

From February 19-22, 2018, in San Antonio, Texas, approximately 130 people gathered for four days of product presentations, emerging technology discussions and a market trend outlook at the Siemens Factory Automation SCADA/IPC Days 2018.

Commenting on the Lebanon, Ohio facility, Thorsten Julich noted the in-house development of Siemens IPC technology for this market segment will include both software and motherboard manufacturing.

RTS will become a wholly owned subsidiary of congatec. The company will continue to operate independently, doing business as it always has, providing it’s software to run on any x86 hardware, but now with worldwide sales and technical support teams ready to support the product.

At the Hannover Messe 2018, Siemens will be showcasing a series of examples which demonstrate how users can harness the potential of Industrie 4.0 by implementing Digital Enterprise solutions.

By Craig Witt, MotionPoint Disruptive technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and machine learning get a lot of press and attention today. Yet marketers across the manufacturing sector have one of the most powerful digital transformation technologies right at their fingertips already

This two-day, multi-stream, event will be held in collaboration with PDT North America (PDT) at the Marriott Hotel, Tysons Corner, Virginia, USA on May 15-16. The theme for PLM Road Map North America 2018 (PLM Road Map) will be, "Charting the Course to PLM Value Together: Expanding the Value Footprint of PLM and Tackling PLM's Persistent Pain Points."