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Automation.com, April 2012 By Sasan Montaseri, ITTIA What are the important characteristics for selecting an embedded database for an industrial automation system? What can a database offer beyond recovery from power failure, preventing data loss, or reducing flash media wear? What are the hidden costs when selecting an embedded database?

Automation.com, April 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor The fundamental principal of root cause analysis is to use symptoms as clues to find the real source of a problem. This method requires analysis and/or testing to determine if something is a symptom or problem, but it can ultimately decrease the time to resolution.

Automation.com, April 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Sandvik Coromant, DMG / Mori Seiki USA, and Siemens PLC collaborated to replace multiple machines and cutting tools with intelligent design of a new method to accomplish gear hobbing using one machine and one cutting tool.

Automation.com, March 2012 By Mark Howard, Zettlex Resolvers are good. Encoders are good. But which is the best? This article examines the strengths and weaknesses of each and offers some alternatives.

Automation.com, March 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor The goal of FOUNDATION for Remote Operations Management (ROM) is linking people that understand the processes and equipment in a secure fashion around the world to achieve faster start-up time and reduced operating costs.

Automation.com, March 2012 By Staffan Dahlström, HMS Industrial Networks Despite a turbulent market, we saw a growing interest in industrial communication solutions in 2011. Trends include the growth of networks (70 at last count), the need to save energy, integrated safety networks and remote access.

Automation.com, March 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Tom Koulopoulos discusses innovation, big data, connections and collaboration at the recent PROFINET Executive Forum. If we open our minds and use data, connections and collaboration, we create a recipe for intelligence (success).

Automation.com, March 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor An energy savings study at Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz plants based on the use of PROFIenergy of PROFINET showed potential savings per work cell of 5,700 euro and 33.250 kg of CO2 emissions per year.

Automation.com, June 2012 By Rick Kaun, Honeywell Process Solutions By understanding the evolution of today's IT and control systems and proactively implementing a program to reduce vulnerabilities, plants can better position themselves to protect their assets, increase uptime and secure their critical infrastructure.

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.

Automation.com, May 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Energy conservation and sustainability were common topics at AHR 2012 with exhibitors showing a variety of products including primary equipment, sensors, controls, services, and building automation systems. Here are a few interesting products presented at the show.

Automation.com, May 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor As Ethernet has gained popularity in the industry and systems have evolved, the nature of Echelon's business has changed. The company has been building a business position centered on energy metering and smart grid.

Automation.com, May 2012 By Jürgen Lange, Softing Here's a history of OPC, which also gives an understanding of the importance that the new OPC Unified Architecture standard has for automation. Part 2 in a series of eight articles

Automation.com, May 2012 By Georg Süss, Softing OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) is a standard is aimed at eliminating the weak points detected in Classic OPC while significantly expanding the use case scenarios. Part 1 in a series of eight articles.

Automation.com, May 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Hannover Messe was again an impressive event that brings together people from the many isolated "silos" in manufacturing to one event for learning and sharing. China was the partner country this year providing yet another dimension to the event.

Automation.com, May 2012 By J Timothy Shea, Senior Analyst Due to expected increasing demand for level measurement and inventory tank gauging technologies as tools to help companies to continue to improve operational efficiencies, increase productivity, gain greater control over inventories and enhanced accuracy, VDC is forecasting a 5.2% CAGR through 2016.

By Mark Howard, Zettlex Inductive sensor terminology and techniques can be confusing. This article explains the various types and operating principles, as well as their consequent strengths and weaknesses.

Automation.com, December 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor Emerson is expanding their role of providing lifecycle services and achieving the "trusted advisor" status with customers. With the addition of new employees and products, they are positioning themselves to better serve process automation users.

Automation.com, November 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor The automation industry has been centered on a five layer hierarchical architecture for years but new technology is making it possible to streamline this model to eliminate layers, increase performance, and lower software maintenance costs.

Automation.com, November 2012 By Bill Lydon, Editor At a recent annual update, Schneider Electric's Jeff Drees said their big software bet is centered on StruxureWare Software - a platform and suite of applications between automation and enterprise computing.