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Microsoft and the OMAC Microsoft Manufacturing User Group (MS MUG) hosted the Manufacturing Operations Forum in Redmond, Washington, last week. Presentations from the forum will be posted on the MS MUG website next month.

ISA and the Open Applications Group have entered into an agreement to cooperate on joint projects and exchange standards documentation. The first step taken under this cooperative agreement is OAGi's commitment to express the ISA-95 data models in the OAGIS standard.

Unison has won an order worth over $2.5 million to supply tube-bending machinery to Northrop Grumman Newport News for aircraft carrier production. The order is for three of Unison's Breeze machines, to bend tubes of up to six inches in diameter, plus tooling and spares. Delivery will start in April 2007.

T-Slot Parts Supplement 2 offers a new line of fasteners, connectors, joining plates, hinges, floor to frame and other accessories that fit 80/20’s 10, 15, 25 and 40 Series T-slotted aluminum profiles.

By Moxa A mine uses a combination of Moxa's AWK-1100 wireless AP/Bridge/AP Client and an industrial Ethernet switch. PLCs connect to the switch, which connects to an AWK-1100 wireless AP. Another switch/AP combination is used at the control end of the system.

One-page application note describes an automatic fault-alarm system for conveyor belts that uses wireless to connect the conveyor controller to the main control system. When an error code is received, the PC searches its database to retrieve the error description, and then uses a TTS (Text-To-Speech) system or recording to broadcast the message over a loudspeaker.

Banner Engineering's 2007 racing season begins this weekend with the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona, January 27th and 28th at the Daytona speedway in Daytona Florida. Banner Engineering is campaigning two Pontiac GXP-R racecars equipped with in car and roof mounted camera units for direct coverage of all the action.

JAI, a manufacturer of high-performance industrial cameras, signed 1stVision of Andover, MA, to act as a channel distributor for industrial camera products throughout the United States and Eastern Canada.

Underwood Sales Corporation will become the exclusive representatives for SKC products throughout a six-state region of New England.

The prevalence of Wi-Fi technology in everything from notebook computers to cell phones to gaming devices has propelled worldwide sales forward again this year. Continued proliferation into phones and consumer electronics is expected to lead Wi-Fi unit sales growth to the half-billion mark by 2009.

Customers' dependence on wireless communications and their adoption of high-bandwidth 3G cellular services are the primary drivers of the global growth of in-building wireless systems that extend and create wireless coverage indoors. According to a new study from ABI Research, deployments of these systems are expected to result in revenues in excess of $3.6 billion by 2011.

Wi-Fi meshing, which allows wireless access nodes to achieve a longer range by using each other as repeaters, is becoming increasingly common in several markets. More than 50,000 Wi-Fi mesh AP unit shipments are expected in 2006, with almost 100,000 unit shipments expected in 2010.

While malware targeting mobile devices is a relatively recent problem, significant increases in shipments of smartphones, as well as increasing market penetration by Microsoft, have made mobile devices much more attractive targets for hackers. According to ABI Research, the newest and most intriguing market opportunity for mobile security is the growth of mobile device security managed services.

Loadstar completed a $7 million dollar Series B financing, raising more than twice the amount it originally sought.

Advanced Technology Services, Inc. (ATS) has opened its first international office in Monterrey, Mexico. The Monterrey facility currently employs 80 personnel, and ATS expects to double that number in 2007. The company will continue its international growth in 2007 by expanding its operations in Mexico even further and establishing offices in the UK.