Articles and News

By Jan Pingel & Matthew Burd, Honeywell Process Solutions One of the most important characteristics of a connected plant is the ability to increase and enhance collaboration to help solve previously unsolvable problems. The emergence of the cloud-based historian is a key component, therefore, to bringing the connected plant to life because it greatly enables this type of collaboration.

Edwards will begin his tenure at the Automation Federation on 26 June. Current Automation Federation Managing Director Mike Marlowe will continue with the organization as Managing Director Emeritus until his retirement in December.

The first step of the CLPA Security WG focuses on network security, especially when the user adopts the SeamLess Message Protocol (SLMP) and CC-Link IE Field Basic where general IP communication is used for both cyclic and transient communications.

Mr. van Vuuren has been certified as a Certified Licensing Professional, and is currently in charge of service sales in the EMEA and APAC regions for Silicon Valley-based Harmonic, and will be a valuable asset in assisting Skkynet with complex partnership and sales negotiations.

By Jonathan Wilkins, EU Automation The combination of data from multiple platforms is now possible because of the OPC UA protocol - an in-demand feature - as the Internet of Things (IoT) gains traction. This article discusses how the open source protocol OPC UA is beneficial for automation.

The objective of the gathering was to examine operational technology/Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) cybersecurity challenges facing both the US and the UK.

ABB’s solar conversion technology is suitable for power ranges from small kW to multi-MW, and is backed up by a comprehensive package of communication, monitoring and control solutions, designed to maximize solar power profits and support across the entire life cycle of a project.

This addition of North Hills Signal Processing to the DDC family expands DDC’s transformer product and technology portfolio with MIL-STD-1553, RF wideband, interface and power magnetic solutions, along with expanded manufacturing capabilities and engineering resources.

By Katherine Brocklehurst, Belden IT and OT are very different organizations that have begun to converge very rapidly. This convergence has led to conflict, perhaps which has even been felt in your organization. This article addresses a major cause of their conflict and how to start resolving the growing pains.

Comtrol’s IO-Link Masters are available in three industrial Ethernet protocols: EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP and PROFINET IO, which are all capable of running OPC UA with MultiLink.

According to the joint CIGI, ISOC and UNCTAD Global Survey on Internet Security and Trust, conducted by global research company Ipsos, before the latest attack, 6 per cent of Internet users globally had already been personally affected by ransomware, with Internet users in India, Indonesia, China and the United States the most likely to be affected.

This hands-on, interactive workshop is an extension of the Telecommunications Industry Association’s (TIA) Connectivity Jam and takes place June 8, 2017 in Dallas, Texas.

The April 2017 event was a part of a regular schedule of interoperability events. It featured more than 20 devices from 13 different suppliers. These events provide ISA100 WCI member organizations an opportunity to validate the ISA100 Wireless brand promise of assured interoperability.

By Alan Grau and Dave West, Icon Labs Just as cyber-attacks take many forms and exploit a wide range of vulnerabilities in the target device, so too is cybersecurity multi-faceted. A fundamental, but often ignored, aspect of cybersecurity for IIoT devices is strong authentication.

Kepware and Microsoft’s industrial IoT solutions integrate with the help of OPC UA. KEPServerEX can move industrial control data to the Azure cloud platform by utilizing both OPC UA and MQTT via the Azure IoT Gateway SDK and Azure IoT Hub.

By Alex West, IHS Markit Overall, a number of themes could be discerned at HANNOVER MESSE this year, including cost-cutting, production efficiency, downtime reduction, quicker time-to-market, product customization, and lower development costs.

The company will award free Extrovert 4G-equipped Logic Supply industrial computers to as many as five of the most exciting project proposals submitted to their "Be an Extrovert" contest.

By Rick Delgado, Freelance Automation Writer Threat hunting is becoming more and more popular in the business industry. When it is done correctly, the concepts, processes and strategies are of critical importance to the security of an organization.

Red Trident, an industrial control systems (ICS) cyber security and process automation firm focused on protecting critical infrastructure, has joined the Bedrock Automation Systems Integration Network.

On May 11, President Trump and the White House announced a presidential executive order on the strengthening of cybersecurity efforts for federal networks and infrastructure.