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Can wireless providers all just get along?
Activity on the industrial wireless front has been busy lately. Honeywell made some major announcements at its user group and there were seemingly dozens of wireless component level providers at the Sensors Expo. Dust Networks was at that show promoting WirelessHART. Not to be left behind, both Invensys and Apprion have sent teams on the road to visit industrial publications like Control Engineering and show us that they have news too. In some cases the transmissions have been as much static as broadcast, but the operative word is across all fronts is INTEROPERABILITY.
Everybody is talking about how many other systems their system will talk to. Everyone is avoiding the word proprietary like the plague, unless they're describing a competitor. Interoperability is good. It would be nice to think that users will have choices among suppliers that will allow them to cross platforms when needed and still have things work. Standards may help, but if the experiences with standards related to fieldbus protocols are any indicator, we shouldn't expect too much.
The market seems to be driving interoperability this time, and market pressure is usually more effective than standards. The thought that your new product will flop because it is too proprietary is a powerful motivator. Moreover, given that there is hardly a system designer out there that isn't using some existing technology from a third party, totally unique hardware and protocols are getting increasingly difficult to create. Some vendor partnerships are more public than others. Emerson/Dust and Invensys/Apprion are well known. Others pairings are kept more quiet, but few are manufacturing truly unique products. That should really work to everyone's advantage.
We're still early in the process, but things are becoming more interesting by the day. Further bulletins as events warrant.
Can wireless providers all just get along?
June 15, 2007
Activity on the industrial wireless front has been busy lately. Honeywell made some major announcements at its user group and there were seemingly dozens of wireless component level providers at the Sensors Expo. Dust Networks was at that show promoting WirelessHART. Not to be left behind, both Invensys and Apprion have sent teams on the road to visit industrial publications like Control Engineering and show us that they have news too. In some cases the transmissions have been as much static as broadcast, but the operative word is across all fronts is INTEROPERABILITY.Everybody is talking about how many other systems their system will talk to. Everyone is avoiding the word proprietary like the plague, unless they're describing a competitor. Interoperability is good. It would be nice to think that users will have choices among suppliers that will allow them to cross platforms when needed and still have things work. Standards may help, but if the experiences with standards related to fieldbus protocols are any indicator, we shouldn't expect too much.
The market seems to be driving interoperability this time, and market pressure is usually more effective than standards. The thought that your new product will flop because it is too proprietary is a powerful motivator. Moreover, given that there is hardly a system designer out there that isn't using some existing technology from a third party, totally unique hardware and protocols are getting increasingly difficult to create. Some vendor partnerships are more public than others. Emerson/Dust and Invensys/Apprion are well known. Others pairings are kept more quiet, but few are manufacturing truly unique products. That should really work to everyone's advantage.
We're still early in the process, but things are becoming more interesting by the day. Further bulletins as events warrant.
Posted by Peter Welander on June 15, 2007 | Comments (0)
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