Coming at ISA Expo 2004: seminars, exhibits, keynotes, more

Products, services, and conferences will highlight ISA Expo 2004 as the annual conference and exhibition returns to Houston’s Reliant Center Oct. 5-7.

By Control Engineering Staff September 16, 2004

Products, services, and conferences will highlight ISA Expo 2004 as the annual conference and exhibition returns to Houston’s Reliant Center Oct. 5-7. Last year, show organizers report, the event drew more than 14,500, with more than 400 companies showcasing their wares.

This year’s event, sponsored by the Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society, will feature two technical conferences and a continuing education and training program, in addition to the usual vendor exhibits and keynote addresses. Among the new symposia are: Industrial Network and Systems Security, Industrial Networking and Communicators, and Productivity and Asset Management. The symposia will be held daily from 10 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.

At the Network and Systems symposium, presenters will explore control systems security principles and standards. It will cover such concerns as securing networks against cyberattacks, securing protocols with open-source technologies, and protecting networks with segmentation.

Networking and Communications will address Ethernet and TCP/IP issues from an industrial perspective. It will include updates on FOUNDATION Fieldbus and on Profibus. Productivity and Asset Management will concentrate on enhancing utilization of plant capital assets and boosting productivity.

For details on the conference, including presenters and topics—or to register for the event— click here .

Also on the ISA 2004 Expo agenda:

The World Batch Forum (WBF) has scheduled several seminars for the first day of the ISA Expo 2004.

Morning session will discuss the importance of ISA88 and how it has changed batch applications, and the role and value of the WBF. In the afternoon, attendees will look at the connection between the WBF and ISA95: batch-to-machine markup language (B2MML) and review how the standard has changed batch applications.

The WBF promotes the exchange of information on the management, operation, and automation of batch process manufacturing.

For a related article on the ISA CAP program exam scheduled for the first day of ISA Expo 2004, click here .

—Jeanine Katzel, senior editor, Control Engineering, jkatzel@reedbusiness.com