Control Engineering announces Engineers’ Choice Award Winners, 
2007 New Product Compendium

-- Control Engineering, 2/8/2008

Oak Brook, IL — Control Engineering has announced the winners of its 2007 Engineers’ Choice Awards, and released its 2007 New Product Compendium, an online index of more than 150 control, instrumentation and automation products introduced to North America in 2007. The 21 product winners and 22 honorable mentions are published in a supplement to the magazine’s February 2008 issue.

The annual awards competition is open to products introduced and available for purchase between Jan. 1, and Nov. 1, 2007. It garnered more than 150 nominees, a 25% increase versus last year. Products from 34 companies earned awards or honorable mentions in 21 subcategories (See list below.)

Ballots were sent to members of the Control Engineering community—engineers and manufacturing professionals with hands-on interaction and/or purchasing influence for the technologies in each product class. “Response was excellent,” said Marc Moschetto, Control Engineering editorial director. “We generated more than 870 completed ballots, marking a 20% increase versus last year.”

The 2007 New Product Compendium is an electronic resource that lists more than 150 automation, control and instrumentation products introduced in North America in 2007. “What new technology might help an engineer do his or her job better in 2008? Every case is different, of course, so we thought it would help to compile an annual list of new products to act as a reference,” said Moschetto. The list includes product names and descriptions, and links to vendor Websites for more information, divided into the same product classes and subcategories as the awards.

“We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to all the vendors whose products were in the running, as well as to our readers who participated in the voting process. Their contributions ensure that manufacturers and other industrial organizations can achieve the levels of agility, efficiency and effectiveness necessary to compete and win in today’s global economy,” said Moschetto.

— Renee Robbins, senior editor
Control Engineering News Desk


2007 Engineers’ Choice Award winners and 
honorable mentions
Click on the class headline to access product descriptions.

Application & Programming Software

Applications

Winner: SolidWorks 2008 - SolidWorks Corporation

Honorable mention: promis-e 2007 – ECT International Inc.

Enterprise Integration and Analysis

Winner: FactoryTalk Historian Site Edition - Rockwell Automation

Honorable mention: Proficy Tracker - GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms

Programming

Winner: NI LabVIEW 8.5 - National Instruments

Honorable mention: Wonderware System 3.0 - Invensys

Human Machine Interface and Industrial PCs

HMI Hardware

Winner: Silver Series Plus - Maple Systems

Honorable mention: Interact Xpress and XPR PowerStations - Parker Hannifin

HMI Software

Winner: Wonderware InTouch 10.0 – Invensys

Honorable mention: ClearSCADA 2007 - Control Microsystems

Industrial PCs

Winner: Stealth LPC-450 Little PC - Stealth Computer Corp.

Honorable mention: CP72XX Control Panel - Beckhoff Automation

Motors, Motion Control & Drives

Motors

Winner: Adjustable Speed Brushless BMC & BSM - Baldor Electric

Honorable mention: DS/CM Synchronous servomotors - SEW Eurodrive

Motion Control

Winner: Allen-Bradley CompactLogix L45 - Rockwell Automation

Honorable mention (tie): C396 Electronic Overload Relay - Eaton Corporation

Honorable mention (tie): Ethernet Powerlink MotionBus controller and drives, ACR90x0 & AR-xxCE - Parker Hannifin

Drives

Winner: Allen-Bradley PowerFlex DC drives - Rockwell Automation

Honorable mention: V1000 AC MicroDrive - Yaskawa Electric America Inc.

Networks, Communications Hardware & Software

I/O Products & Cabling

Winner: Bluetooth I/O Module - connectBlue

Honorable mention: DeviceNet I/O - Balluff

Network Software & Diagnostics

Winner: KEPServerEX - Kepware Technologies

Honorable mention: Industrial SNMP - Kepware Technologies

Switches, Routers & Gateways

Winner: N-Tron 7000 series Gigabit capable industrial Ethernet switches - N-Tron

Honorable mention: EKI-2735, Ethernet switch - Advantech

Wireless Solutions

Winner: FlexPower Wireless nodes - Banner Engineering

Honorable mention: OneWireless - Honeywell Process Solutions

Machine and Embedded Control

Controllers

Winner: Modicon M340 PAC - Schneider Electric

Honorable mention: SIMOTION D410 – Siemens Energy & Automaton

Discrete Sensors & Readers

Winner: AccuProx Analog Inductive Sensor - Eaton Corporation

Honorable mention: S300 Safety Laser Scanner - SICK

Embedded Products

Winner: ThinkCore W345, embedded computer - MOXA Technologies

Honorable mention: F18 64-bit Core2Duo 3U CPCI Single Board Computer - MEN Micro Inc.

Instrumentation & Control Components

Components & Connectors

Winner: Fluke 771 Milliamp Process Clamp Meter - Fluke Corporation

Honorable mention: BLUEMARK X1 printer - Phoenix Contact

Instrumentation & Analysis

Winner: SM500F four channel recorder - ABB Instrumentation

Honorable mention: FieldMate Versatile Device Management Wizard - Yokogawa Corporation

Process Sensors

Winner: UWTC Thermocouple-to-Wireless Connector - Omega Engineering Inc.

Honorable mention: Foxboro FT10 Electrodeless Conductivity Sensor - Invensys Process Systems

Process & Advanced Control

Advanced Control

Winner: RSLogix 5000 Fuzzy Designer - Rockwell Automation

Honorable mention: LOOP-PRO Product Suite - Control Station Inc.

Process & Batch Control

Winner: Simatic PCS 7 Box 416 - Siemens Energy & Automation Inc.

Honorable mention: Fisher LCP100 - Emerson Process Management

Control Engineering
News Desk