Articles and News

Automation.com, August 2011 By Eric Byres This tale doesn’t have princes or frogs in it, but instead it deals with SCADA and industrial control system security. It is the myth of the "air gap" between control systems and the rest of the world. Believing in it leads to a false sense of complacency by both end users and vendors, making it a very dangerous fairy tale indeed.

Automation.com, August 2011 By Joe Ciringione Cable carrier systems not only transport energy, data and media to various types of machines, but also greatly influence energy costs. To keep energy costs low, one important consideration is the amount of pull-push, or driving force, that is required at a given speed to move the cable carrier.

Softing is providing OPC components to ifm electronic to support a Condition Monitoring System for wind turbines.

Advanced Telemetry is a San Diego-based company offering end-to-end wireless and cloud-based energy management solutions for retail and commercial businesses.

Grizzly will use the PlantPAx and Endress+Hauser instrumentation to help produce more than 5,000 barrels of oil per day at the first phase of its Algar Lake Project.

Industrial Defender gains rights to the CoreTrace Bouncer 6-based host intrusion prevention system (HIPS).

VAKUMIX builds mixing and homogenizing systems using Allen-Bradley CompactLogix PAC with Distributed Point-I/O, PowerFlex variable-frequency drives, PanelView Plus HMIs and industrial components.

Automation.com, August 2011 By Brian Oulton, Rockwell Automation Proliferation of process instruments on EtherNet/IP may signal the start of a trend.

Cerutti selected EtherNet/IP and Rockwell Automation to automate its flexographic printing machines. The system handles 500 nodes and 13,000 I/O.

Power generation industry vendors are looking for ways to augment or retrofit their systems so that they’re able to provide the functions the owner operators will need.

According to IDTechEx, wireless mesh networks will grow rapidly from $0.45 billion in 2011 to $2 billion in 2021.

ABB FM (Force Measurement) is using Westermo´s Redfox industrial Ethernet switch with its latest version of Stressometer system for measurement and control of rolling mills.

RuggedCom provided RS900 Ethernet Switches and RMC30 Media Converters to implement the communications infrastructure that connects multiple remote telecontrol units in the plant.

By Dennis Brown, Dart Oil and Gas Dart Oil and Gas exploited the flexibility of the OPC Systems library to create a unique plug and play solution containing: OPC Systems Trend, OPC WebControls, OPCDatabase and OPCExcel.

This 700+ page guide includes nearly 100 pages dedicated to non-commercial and educational resource material, including content on intrinsic safety, surge protection, HART interfaces and signal conditioners.

IVC provides IP-based video solutions by combining high-quality cameras, enclosures, and software for industrial, commercial, and military applications.

Automation.com, July 2011 By Ray Rogowski, Honeywell Wireless has matured to a point where it’s operating around the world in many different industries. And, while its capabilities continue to be uncovered, it’s apparent that wireless assets are influencing users with improvements beyond just cost savings over wired systems.

ZigBee Gateway provides connectivity to Internet Protocol-based networks, plus access to a variety of cloud and smart phone services.

Comax manufactures more than 250 million parts annually for a wide variety of applications, including automotive controls.

Hungerford, the first employee of ProSoft Technology, was promoted from Managing Director of North America.