Listen in exclusive: Wonderware Innovation Partners to create vertical software faster

Collaboration will more quickly create better operation management software for vertical industries. That’s what Wonderware, a business unit of Invensys, expects from its new partner program. Control Engineering talks with Wonderware in advance of the announcement.

By Control Engineering Staff July 15, 2008

Lake Forest, CA – Collaboration will more quickly create better operation management software for vertical industries. That’s what Wonderware , a business unit of Invensys, expects after the announcement of the Wonderware Innovation Partner Program .
Listen in exclusive: In advance of the announcement, Thomas Muth, director of the new Wonderware Innovation Partner Program, tells Control Engineering how expanding current partner programs and ecosystem benefits customers . (approximately 6 min.)
Wonderware says it created the new partner program “in response to customer and partner demands for increased collaboration in the delivery of innovative, yet sustainable real-time operations management solutions– across a wide range of vertical industries.” The new “overarching” partner program augments a distributor program active in 180 countries and a system integrator (SI) network of more than 3,000 SI firms.
Muth expects the program to expand the integrated value, scope, and capacity of solutions delivery for customers by facilitating improved collaboration and innovation among all parties. All participants in the three-tier Wonderware partner ecosystem are invited to collaborate, including software and hardware companies, solution providers, systems integrators, and strategic alliance partners, Microsoft , SAP , and Mitsubishi Electric .
Wonderware System Platform software —built on open, industry standards based, ArchestrA technology—provides the common software environment for Wonderware and partner solutions for real-time operations management in HMI, SCADA, MES, EMI, (human-machine interface, supervisory control and data acquisition, manufacturing execution software, enterprise manufacturing intelligence software) and other applications, the company says. Sudipta Bhattacharya, Wonderware president says, “By having partners and customers use this common software platform and toolset, they can accelerate their pace of innovation, their ability to add value, and their ability to collaborate and re-use solutions across the extensive Wonderware ecosystem which already includes over 4,000 companies.”
Craig Resnick of ARC Advisory Group adds, “Wonderware already has an extensive and capable channel and partner network in this market space, and this program should evolve their ecosystem’s capabilities to address an even broader range of operations management solutions for their customers.”
Three tiers in the Wonderware Innovation Partner Program are Registered, Certified and Endorsed, with Endorsed being reserved for the closest business relationships. Endorsed partner offerings are promoted, sold, and have first line support provided by the Wonderware distribution network. Certified and Endorsed members of the new program also benefit from technology sharing, joint marketing and business development, sales support, and Wonderware’s marketplace reach and expertise.
Mtelligence , Kepware and Software Toolbox are the first Endorsed Partners that have exceeded the Registered and Certified requirements and have been invited to be Wonderware Endorsed Partners.
Mtelligence is a leading provider of maintenance intelligence solutions that link plants and businesses. The company’s flagship product, MIMOSA Interop Server (MIS), allows Wonderware customers to seamlessly integrate plant floor systems with the leading Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems, such as SAP PM, IBM Maximo, Infor Datastream, AssetPoint Tabware, and Indus EMPAC.

Kepware Technologies, selected as an Endorsed partner

, will expand the breadth of Wonderware’s device communications options. Wonderware described Kepware as a leader in automation communications.
Software Toolbox Inc. also was selected to provide extended support on the Kepware products as an Endorsed Partner to Wonderware. “Wonderware and its channel have had a strong relationship with Software Toolbox for many years supporting and providing additional device connectivity for Wonderware products. As one of Kepware’s leading resellers and support providers, customers should benefit immediately from the expertise that the combination of Software Toolbox and Wonderware provides,” Muth says.
As a complementary resource to the Wonderware Innovation Partner Program—available to partners and customers in the Wonderware Customer First support program—the recently announced Wonderware Developer Network is available as an on-line collaboration Website.
Also hear and read: Listen in exclusive:

Kepware helps Wonderware with device communications software

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– Edited by Mark T. Hoske , editor in chief
Control Engineering News Desk
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