Jane S. Gerold

Connections

Connecting with each other is central to our well being and success. Whether it's a connection with a spouse, family members, an employer, coworkers, or a community, our relationships define our lives.For five decades, Control Engineering has covered connections in the control and automation market.

Top 10 reasons to go online

At the Control Engineering Editors' Choice Awards reception, managing editor, Mark Hoske, tongue planted firmly in cheek, asked the audience, "By show of hands, how many of you think the Internet is important to your business?" No surprise, every hand in the house shot up. In classic understatement, he joked, "I think this Internet thing is really going to catch on.

It’s the reliability, stupid!

Editors love to receive fan mail. But some of Control Engineering's recent coverage of Microsoft Corp. systems has elicited something closer to hate mail. Readers have e-mailed us complaining that Microsoft operating systems are not reliable or easy to use. In particular, readers have questioned the real-time capabilities of Windows CE.

Merger mania

Is bigger really better? Industrial controls suppliers seem to think so, as they continue a decade-long binge of merger mania.Billion-dollar fish are swallowed by multibillion-dollar fish, with conglomerates moving further up the food chain. The most recent acquisitions include ABB's approved $2.

Party Like It’s 1999!

Where will you be December 31, 1999? Unless you already have reservations, you won't be staying at Walt Disney World or jetting around the world on the Concord. Those parties are sold out. Maybe you'll be lighting bonfires in Iceland, or ringing bells in England; partying in Rio de Janeiro, or at a beach bash in Sri Lanka; watching the world's "first light" on the slopes of Mount Hakepa i...

A New Name and a New Look

Welcome to the 1999 edition of Control Engineering's annual directory of automation system integrators. This year we have a new look and a new name—the Automation Integrator Guide. All the best features of the former Automation Register are still here with several improvements to better help you find the engineering services needed for your next project.

The Ethernet wars

Profibus vs. FOUNDATION fieldbus; ControlNet vs. Interbus; DeviceNet vs. SDS; Seriplex vs. AS-Interface—the bus wars continue to rage. But a new challenger has changed the battle.Ethernet, a standard in business networking since the mid-1980s, is touted by vendors and users alike as a contender for industrial applications.

Users Pick Standards

What do Ethernet, PCs, and Micro-soft products have in common?A. They are all commercial computing standards.B. They have changed the way companies manage business data.C. They are changing the way manufacturers manage plant data.D. All of the above.The answer, of course, is D. The past five years have seen enormous changes in automation architectures—changes that would have been un...

Can We Talk?

It seemed like a simple enough question. "How many pages we will have in the September issue?" I asked our managing editor. "That depends on who's counting," he replied. Our business department monitors pages according to ad revenue; the post office counts pages by demographic distribution; and we editors count pages in terms of articles, news, and other information in the magazine.

Battling the Obsolescence Blues

Here's a scary thought. If you received your engineering degree prior to 1991, half of what you learned about your field is now obsolete. If you work in software development, it's even more bleak. Your expertise has a half-life of about two years, which means all but the most recent graduates are out-of-date.