London—Development of open systems not only changes products and systems used in automation and process control, but also the way they're designed, delivered, maintained, and paid for, according to an Oct. 11 report from Datamonitor. "Opportunities and Threats in an Open Automation Market" says open system vendors will require new strategies, rather than just new products, to succeed in the future.

The major drawback to open systems—specifically the use of different vendors' products in one system—is the danger of reduced plant reliability. Though the future of open systems is assured, the report found this reliability problem hasn't been resolved. The use of one vendor's products in an automation solution is still the norm. To circumvent this, plant owners need to develop partnerships with systems integrators, plant contractors, and automation vendors to ensure their open automation system is best-of-breed and has high-availability.

Datamonitor's report says users will also need: performance-based maintenance strategies to ensure open system reliability; automation suppliers able to help manage risks of reduced plant availability; and "condition-oriented" and "risk-based" maintenance with an asset management system. This can eliminate multi-vendor responsibility problems by identifying which part of the system has a problem before it occurs. For more information, visit www.controleng.com/freeinfo or www.datamonitor.com.