Articles and News

Automation.com, August 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Cisco's newly-formed Connected Industries Business Unit, recently created to help customers realize the benefits of the transition to Ethernet and IP in manufacturing plants, launched a new switch series and is reaching out to a broad base of potential partners.

Fourteen vendors successfully tested 22 OPC products at the three-day Asian Interoperability (IOP) Workshop, an event sponsored by the OPC Foundation and hosted by the OPC Japan Council this past June in Tokyo, Japan.

By Peter Seeberg and Jürgen Lange, Softing The third part of this series of articles outlines ten key reasons that have led to the development of an entirely new technology generation, the OPC Unified Architecture.

Automation.com, July 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor In the past, Phoenix Contact's products were typically hidden in control cabinets. Their new vertical market initiative puts them in the mainstream of automation and control solutions, including further expansion in the United States.

EST Enerji, a control system integrator in Turkey, is now a MatrikonOPC Authorized Distributor.

Michael Rothwell, Director of Controls and Industry Solutions (CIS) for Phoenix Contact, has been added to PI's Board of Directors.

T+H provides seamless integration of customer networks through all network levels – from device automation to the ERP system.

The testing session involved interoperability of the different implementations of the new IEC 62439-3 Ethernet redundancy protocols.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Chris Jones, Micro-Epsilon UK EtherCAT has established itself within the market as a communications standard that can offer true real time capabilities in automation technology. Micro-Epsilon has developed sensors and controllers with EtherCAT capability, enabling them to be smoothly integrated into existing control and automation networks.

Weidmueller will include PROFIdtm (communications or commDTM) with its WI-Manager.

The product was shipped to Atlas Copco Tools in Sweden who needed to connect one of their control systems to EtherNet/IP.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Hannover Messe provides a unique event to directly see a wide range of automation technology, its application on a wide range of equipment, and the opportunity to talk with users. These are trends and products from the fair that I think are worth noting.

This 44-page document lists hundreds of SERCOS II and Sercos III products and services from dozens of manufacturers around the world.

MatrikonOPC announces the opening of its Costa Rica office.

Kepware Technologies signed Allied Solutions in Singapore as a distributor throughout Southeast Asia.

The Safe Motion Profile guarantees that the safety-related functions of the peripheral devices are available across the entire Sercos network in a uniform and manufacturer-independent manner.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Jason Goerges, ACS Motion Control EtherCAT is becoming increasingly popular for control and system engineers as a robust, high-speed real-time network for machine control solutions. Here are some of the most prominent benefits of EtherCAT as they relate to motion control systems.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Each year at Hannover Messe, I see some really interesting, innovative and cool applications of technology. Here are a few reviews of some examples that grabbed my attention, complete with videos of each application.

This 24-page news magazine includes a feature article on Electronic Image Processing with Sercos, several applications articles, and an interview with Wago Corporation.

The I/O Modules are now certified by the PNO (PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation) in accordance with PROFINET specifications meeting all requirements for conformance class B.