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Usually during cybersecurity presentations, the speakers talk about serious consequences of cyber security and then overwhelm people, who are not familiar with the topic, with deep levels of details and intricacies. This one answers a simple question: Where does the reasoning begin?

By Bill Lydon, Editor Siemens’ MindSphere, a cloud offering that links physical products and production facilities with digital data, and which leverages OPC UA, was a major feature at the 2016 Siemens Automation Summit.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The rapid rise of the cloud and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has spurred dozens of companies to harness the new technologies and drive the evolution of the manufacturing industry. In this article, Bill talks with Honeywell about their approach to IIoT and innovation

A major driver for the effort for open process control standards, has been the widespread call for accelerative automation technology, along with an ecosystem of suppliers that can leverage the latest technology.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The 2016 Hannover Fair was full of energy and industrial innovation, highlighted by an abundance of evidence that shows Industry 4.0 is moving from concept to real-world applications.

By Bill Lydon, Editor ODVA believes EtherNet/IP is ideally positioned for the fourth industrial revolution and the world of integrated cyber physical systems. This article summarizes ODVA's initiatives for the process industries, Industry 4.0 and field device configuration/integration.

By Bill Lydon, Editor "Industrial Automation Absorbed by IT," may be the future headline if the industrial automation community does not make a commitment to multivendor, open-interoperability, and Internet of Things (IoT) technology. If this comes to pass it may not be the optimal solution for industrial automation effectiveness.

By Bill Lydon, Editor By recently joining the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), MOXA emphasized their strong focus on the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT). Another example of this commitment is their increased rugged industrial communications product scope, including security offerings.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in many respects is the progression of distributed computing. The fundamental components of an automation (or other) system are sensors; they are the “eyes, ears, and fingers” of any system. If the concepts of IIoT are to succeed, we need more effective, powerful sensors.

By Bill Lydon, Editor The OPC Foundation Information Revolution 2014 Conference was held at Microsoft's Redmond Campus on August 4-7, 2014. The conference featured industry experts who both presented and learned more about OPC Unified Architecture. This article summarizes the highlights from the conference.

By Bill Lydon, Editor At Automation Fair 2013, I spoke with Rockwell Automation’s Frank Kulaszewicz about the progress on their new architecture developments. The new controller architecture will consist of a backplane and each module will have its own IP address. Every motor drive, intelligent overload, intelligent sensor, intelligent light curtain, and other device will have an IP address.

By Bill Lydon, Editor At the 2013 Rockwell Automation Fair, Cisco described how their routers are becoming distributed embedded computer devices, intended to process and react to information from devices and sensors at the edge of the network. Could your next automation controller be embedded in an Ethernet switch?

By Bill Lydon, Editor This new initiative, supported by CISCO, Rockwell Automation, Panduit and ODVA, supports IP network convergence between the enterprise and plant floor. The Industrial IP Advantage website and activities are an agnostic way to share best practices, information, and educate the industry to accelerate adoption of IP technology.

The transformative powers of AI in manufacturing have not gone unnoticed—by hackers!

Data alone isn’t enough. The true advantage lies in how organizations use data to make smarter, faster and more responsible decisions.

As cyberattacks and threats to network security continue to rise, so does the need for securing industrial control systems for water and wastewater systems.

Various wireless topologies can be employed to meet the demands of industrial wireless applications, including star, tree, mesh, and cluster.

The development of the HART-IP and WirelessHART communications protocols have created a growing need for battery-powered solutions that can operate without maintenance for decades and provide reliable

Pressure transmitters require periodic maintenance and calibration to ensure optimal performance.

High-temperature applications are found in the metal processing, power, refining, and other industries. Sensor type will usually be a thermocouple, and selecting the right type is the first step when