Articles and News

By Bill Lydon, Editor A single cyber security incident can lead to significant losses for any company. It is unclear to me and I am sure many readers what the insurance possibilities are for manufacturers. Insurance companies are working to ban cyber coverage under the commercial general liability (CGL) policies but are also offering separate cyber security insurance policies.

FMC Technologies uses Westermo Ethernet switches to connect equipment as deep as 3000 metres down.

By Doug Wylie, Rockwell Automation The stark reality in our contemporary digital, connected world is that there can be no absolute security. However, this by no means suggests the good guys can’t fight to win.

By Mike Hannah, Rockwell Automation Standards are critical to realize the promise of the IoT. Without standards, digital devices won’t consistently connect, leaving room for failure. Standards help ensure technologies and methodologies are proven and interoperable.

AMC’s EtherCAT products consist of panel mount and plug-in servo drives to allow for quick prototyping and ease of system integration.

The Fieldbus Certified Training Program (FCTP) released its 2015 Fieldbus Certified training schedule.

Rockwell’s CompactLogix 5370 controller and three Kinetix 350 EtherNet/IP servo drives are used as the control platform for the new tubing spooler machine.

Transparent In-Line Encryption (TILE) provides security at the industrial field device level.

UC-8100 embedded computing platform is now certified to operate on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network.

The global cloud security market was worth US$ 4.50 Bn in 2014 and is expected to reach US$ 11.84 Bn by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 12.8% from 2015 to 2022

By Bill Lydon, Editor In an article titled 'Is it time for a new automation architecture?' I posed a question that stemmed from a number of discussions with users who believe our industry is stagnant. Many users voiced their opinions in an open discussion forum. They are frustrated with debates about which existing, outdated architectures are better. Many believe it’s time for a NEW architecture.

By Jonathan Wilkins, European Automation

Enhancements in WeConfig 1.2 enable time consuming and complex configuration of large networks to be implemented reliably in just minutes.

TRW Automotive in Germany uses 80 WIN wireless transmitter units to monitor machine status.

By Lance Doherty, et al, Linear Technology One of the visions of the Internet of Things is to be able to measure and instrument things that have never before been measured. Applications call for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to deliver wire-like performance and yet be practical to deploy.

By ProSoft Industrial Ethernet protocols use Client, Server and I/O Messaging methods to communicate. This video explains how these methods work in several applications, and the positives and negatives of each communication method to help determine the best choice for your application.

The working groups’ goal is to add real-time capability to the OPC UA communication standard.

By Marcellus Buchheit, Wibu-Systems USA The increasing reliance on IP-based manufacturing has opened the door to cyber attacks on critical systems designed to control, supervise and automate operations.

The security testing services are segmented under the non-functionality testing service and adopted by most business enterprises and government organizations. With an increase in internet penetration, the number of security threats has also increased, leading to increased demand for security testing services.

Cyber threats are attempts to disrupt or damage IT systems, through the internet, and access critical information using spyware, malware, and phishing.