Articles and News

By Bill Lydon, Editor At Automation Fair 2013, I spoke with Rockwell Automation’s Frank Kulaszewicz about the progress on their new architecture developments. The new controller architecture will consist of a backplane and each module will have its own IP address. Every motor drive, intelligent overload, intelligent sensor, intelligent light curtain, and other device will have an IP address.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The improvement of manufacturing productivity and quality requires sharing data and synchronizing controllers. This can now be accomplished by using new standards that were jointly developed by PLCopen and the OPC Foundation.

When released, the adapter will enable wired field instruments or analytical sensors to be used as ISA100 Wireless devices.

Schneider Electric added EtherNet/IP Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to the ConneXium Tofino Firewall to further harden industrial control systems against network incidents and cyberattacks.

By Bill Lydon, Editor At the 2013 Rockwell Automation Fair, Cisco described how their routers are becoming distributed embedded computer devices, intended to process and react to information from devices and sensors at the edge of the network. Could your next automation controller be embedded in an Ethernet switch?

Softing's PROFINET device implementation has passed the Class III category of the "Net Load Test" performed by PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI).

The OPC Data-UA toolkit was certified by the OPC Foundation for OPC UA client development.

By Bill Lydon, Editor With this acquisition, Schneider Electric significantly enhanced its position to serve the process industries and now has a complete portfolio of products to serve the entire industrial and process automation industry. This article highlights a few key aspects of the integration of the two companies.

How to use Mobile Devices to Improve Operator Effectiveness

As an ISA Promotional Partner, the FDT Group will provide the ISA community access to device maintenance and management strategies through a range of ISA media and direct marketing opportunities.

Automated test fixtures will be used as test tools in the production facilities where connectBlue’s latest Multiradio module OWL355 is being produced.

Sercos International will exhibit at 20 events this year, provide training, and conduct webinars.

Spectre cellular router starter kit includes free, prepaid, 60-day 100MB RacoWireless 3G data plan as a way to jump-start industrial M2M network designs.

PROFINEWS App lets users receive up-to-date information about PI and its technologies directly on their devices anytime, anywhere in the world.

Matrikon, an OPC Foundation Charter Member, has produced a 30-minute online multimedia tutorial to explain the basics and vision of OPC and how to begin integrating it into new and current systems.

Growing at a compound annual growth rate of 22.5 percent, cellular shipments are expected to reach 2.1 million in 2018.

Sercos is making recordings of webinars on the topic of “CIP Safety on Sercos & EtherNet/IP” and “Common Sercos III and EtherNet/IP Infrastructure” available free and on-demand.

To best meet the rising demand for official EtherCAT Conformance Tests, the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) has expanded the EtherCAT testing services.

At the SPS IPC Drives show in Nuremberg, Sercos International displayed twelve demo points from different manufacturing companies as well as exhibits from more than twenty companies.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Four North American members presented why they support PI standards and are members of the board. User presentations further highlighted that existing plants have many types of networks that can benefit from efficient gateways and proxies to further enhance automation with new controls and instruments.