The Internet at ISA Expo/2000

The weather was hot and humid in New Orleans, La., this past August, but it was still the “cool” place to be during ISA Expo/2000. Many companies displayed new and continuing Internet efforts as the world of automation and control edged closer to the pool of industries going online. The following are a few highlights.

EfficientZ Inc. (Horsham, Pa.) displayed new features and additional product categories within The Control Zone ( www.thecontrolzone.com ). A “myProducts” section allows users to maintain an individualized list of frequently used products. Users can also send inquiries to vendors directly through the site in a private bulletin-board format, without dealing with e-mail, voice mail or fax responses. New discussion forums have also been added.

Honeywell Industrial Control’s (Phoenix, Ariz.; www.iac.honeywell.com ) Hi-Spec Solutions business has enhanced its Uniformance Desktop software to include “Digital Dashboard” capability that provides structure for web-based users through a simple, customizable environment. Display information from Hi-Spec is automatically updated on a user-defined basis to ensure employees are making sound business decisions using current data. See www.microsoft.com/digitaldashboard for more information.

Iconics (Foxborough, Mass.; www.iconics.com ) exhibited wireless web functionality using WAP protocol meeting with mobile HMI on a PocketPC.

Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, Wa.; www.microsoft.com ) moved its DNA for Manufacturing concept to the Internet with introduction of its “Manufacturing .Net [dot net] for Manufacturing” initiative. The family of products and technologies includes development software for the Internet and tools to power Internet-based devices. Future plans for the .Net platform include new generations of the Microsoft Windows operating system, Windows DNA servers, Microsoft Office, among others.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (Palo Alto, Calif.; www.sun.com ) and its strategic partners showed how Java technology extends into process control. Visitors saw working demonstrations showing how embedded Java-technology-based controllers connect to public, corporate, and control intranets to provide infrastructure for industrial automation, manufacturing production control, supply-chain management, and e-commerce.

Wonderware (Irvine, Calif.; www.wonderware. com ) introduced its new Advanced Client Technology (ACT) strategy, which includes new multiclient access technologies and software tools designed to help companies seamlessly integrate critical, real-time plant-floor data captured by Wonderware’s FactorySuite and MaintenanceSuite platforms with the rest of its business enterprise operations.

For more news from ISA Expo/2000, see Control Engineering Online ‘s Daily News Archive for August 2000 at www.controleng.com/news.html .

Author Information

Laura Zurawski, web editor lzurawski@cahners.com

Trade shows and conferences

Control Engineering Online keeps you up-to-date on industry trade shows, conferences, and events. In September and October, Control Engineering editors have attended, collected information from, and are passing along the best of IMTS, Sensors Expo, Miconex, and Embedded Systems, as well as multiple invitation-only events.

Upcoming shows include:

World Batch forum and Batch World 2000 (

SPS/IPC/Drives 2000 (

Allen-Bradley Automation Fair 2000 (

National Industrial Automation Show/National Manufacturing Week 2001 (

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