Honeywell buys operator training business, simulation technology from Aspen

Phoenix, AZ— Honeywell reports that it has acquired the intellectual property of Hysys modeling software and the Operator Training Simulation (OTS) business from Aspen Technology Inc. Honeywell also hired key members of Hysys’ development staff.

‘With this acquisition, customers can now rely on Honeywell for a much broader scope of advanced simulation solutions that span across the lifecycle of a plant,’ says Jack Bolick, Honeywell Process Solutions’ president. ‘We’ve not only acquired world-class simulation technology, but we’ve also brought on board simulation experts with significant skills and abilities to help our customers better understand their plant processes and how they can become more profitable.’ Honeywell Process Solutions is part of Honeywell’s Automation and Control Solutions group.

The acquired technologies extend the capabilities of Honeywell’s Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS) by improving its ability to gather data throughout the plant, and couple it with domain knowledge embedded in Hysys’ models and Honeywell’s Advanced Solutions portfolio.

Honeywell plans to develop, market, and sell Hysys as a process-modeling tool for steady-state simulation, design, performance monitoring, optimization, and business planning. To help achieve this goal, Honeywell also recently hired a number of Hysys’ development staff members from Aspen.

This acquisition reportedly broadens Honeywell’s portfolio of operator training solutions, which are unified under one platform in a common simulation environment. By enabling simulation throughout the lifecycle of a plant, this platform aims to improve users’ profitability by placing information in front of decision makers and maximizing plant resources.

Honeywell adds that it now has more than 100 engineers and development staff in 15 regional offices worldwide who are focused on simulation solutions. Acquired operator training solutions are all available for immediate sale. Hysys’ offline products and an enhanced online optimization solution, using Hysys technology, are expected to be available for sale early in 2005.

Control Engineering Daily News DeskJim Montague, news editorjmontague@reedbusiness.com

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