The weather was hot and humid in New Orleans, La., this past August, but it was still the "cool" place to be during ISA Expo/2000. Many companies displayed new and continuing Internet efforts as the world of automation and control edged closer to the pool of industries going online. The following are a few highlights.

EfficientZ Inc. (Horsham, Pa.) displayed new features and additional product categories within The Control Zone (www.thecontrolzone.com). A "myProducts" section allows users to maintain an individualized list of frequently used products. Users can also send inquiries to vendors directly through the site in a private bulletin-board format, without dealing with e-mail, voice mail or fax responses. New discussion forums have also been added.

Honeywell Industrial Control's (Phoenix, Ariz.; www.iac.honeywell.com) Hi-Spec Solutions business has enhanced its Uniformance Desktop software to include "Digital Dashboard" capability that provides structure for web-based users through a simple, customizable environment. Display information from Hi-Spec is automatically updated on a user-defined basis to ensure employees are making sound business decisions using current data. See www.microsoft.com/digitaldashboard for more information.

Iconics (Foxborough, Mass.; www.iconics.com) exhibited wireless web functionality using WAP protocol meeting with mobile HMI on a PocketPC.

Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, Wa.; www.microsoft.com) moved its DNA for Manufacturing concept to the Internet with introduction of its "Manufacturing .Net [dot net] for Manufacturing" initiative. The family of products and technologies includes development software for the Internet and tools to power Internet-based devices. Future plans for the .Net platform include new generations of the Microsoft Windows operating system, Windows DNA servers, Microsoft Office, among others.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (Palo Alto, Calif.; www.sun.com) and its strategic partners showed how Java technology extends into process control. Visitors saw working demonstrations showing how embedded Java-technology-based controllers connect to public, corporate, and control intranets to provide infrastructure for industrial automation, manufacturing production control, supply-chain management, and e-commerce.

Wonderware (Irvine, Calif.; www.wonderware. com) introduced its new Advanced Client Technology (ACT) strategy, which includes new multiclient access technologies and software tools designed to help companies seamlessly integrate critical, real-time plant-floor data captured by Wonderware's FactorySuite and MaintenanceSuite platforms with the rest of its business enterprise operations.

For more news from ISA Expo/2000, see Control Engineering Online's Daily News Archive for August 2000 at www.controleng.com/news.html.