Orlando, FL— Invensys plc (London, U.K.) kicked off its Invensys Showcase 2002 Worldwide User Conference & Expo on Sept. 9 with many events at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, including demonstration of its new ArchestrA automation architecture.
The conference brings together for the first time 10 leading companies from Invensys’ Production Management division, including APVO, Baan, Avantis, Eurotherm, Foxboro, Pacific Simulation, Simulation Sciences/Esscor, Triconex and Wonderware. The event’s approximately 2,000 expected visitors include top management, manufacturing and plant management, IT professionals, engineers, and others.
ArchestrA applications
The conference is being headlined by 25 application demonstrations incorporating ArchestrA, Invensys’ new comprehensive plant automation and information architecture that extends the life of legacy systems by leveraging software technologies. Offerings built on this architecture enable decision-makers to achieve business goals without abandoning prior investments in automation systems, production processes or intellectual property. In the ArchestrA environment, software applications can be rapidly assembled, rather than programmed, and new applications can also be created simply via reassembly of existing applications.
I/A Series A2, field devices, applications
Invensys also launched at Showcase 2002 its new I/A Series A2 system. The company says I/A Series A2 is the next major evolution of its reliable automation system and now the first to run on Microsoft Windows XP and UNIX Solaris 8.0 workstations, as well as offer fault-tolerant, 1-gigabit switched fiber-optic Ethernet for greater control network speed. Its “A2 ” designation signifies that the product uses elements of “Architecture by ArchestrA.” Offerings with this designation will reportedly integrate easily with one another and with legacy systems.
Other announcements at Showcase 2002 include: a new FDT-compliant universal field device manager; a high-performance, digital Coriolis flowmeter; high-temperature pH sensors; a new rotary lobe pump for sanitary applications; new “Production Engine” interoperability technology; an innovative on-line performance monitoring solution for petrochemical and related industries; a new inspection accelerator application; and a new industrial information portal application.
“Flow Island” demos ArchestrA
New products and applications based on both Wonderware’s (Irvine, CA) FactorySuite A2 software and Foxboro’s (Foxboro, MA) I/A Series A2 system are showing how they integrate the “Architecture by ArchestrA” concept. For example, the Flow Island demo shows how users can seamlessly link disparate fieldbus protocols—such as HART, FOUNDATION fieldbus, Profibus, Modbus and FoxCom—and safety systems, as well as plant-wide computing systems and applications.
Flow Island is a live, 35-ft flowing water process that incorporates Foxboro, Eurotherm and APV instrumentation and process equipment; multiple fieldbus networks; a Triconex safety shutdown system; control by a Foxboro I/A Series system; and operations by both Foxboro I/A Series A2 system and Wonderware FactorySuite A2 software. The latest DataAccess Server technology from the ArchestrA architecture is being used to integrate information and provide consistent systems management for this and other applications.
Industrial Intelligence area
Showcase 2002 also includes a complete “Industrial Intelligence” demo area, featuring in-formation and analysis solutions from several Invensys businesses. These solutions can be used in concert to gather and analyze production information that can help make plants more productive. This demo shows Wonderware’s SuiteVoyager 2.0 manufacturing information portal, which is presenting real-time and historical information from InTouch, InSQL, FoxView, I/A Series, and AIM* applications; and presents customized views of the data to different types of users via the SuiteVoyager portal. Web browsers, wireless tablet PCs and PDAs are integrated into this demonstration to highlight the importance of getting the right information delivered wherever and whenever it’s needed.
Meanwhile, a special PLC integration demo illustrates how customers can effectively deploy PLCs from Allen-Bradley, Siemens and Schneider in conjunction with both Foxboro I/A Series A2 system and Wonderware FactorySuite A2 software using ArchestrA-based DataAccess servers, Wonderware SuiteLink proxy, and OPC interfaces.
Control system solutions
Another exhibit at Showcase 2002 features more benefits of Foxboro’s I/A Series A2 system with workstations running on Solaris 8 and Windows XP, and communicating with new controllers over a 1-gigabit control network backbone. A separate, dedicated demo illustrates how combinations of Foxboro and Wonderware applications can provide customers with more comprehensive and easily integrated plant-wide solutions. This demo incorporates I/A Series A2 system’s DataAccess server, Alarm Provider and Systems Management integration using Microsoft Management Console.
Besides showing ArchestrA in action, several vertical industry-based applications are also showing ArchestrA as part of the Invensys industry solutions portfolio, including applications in power, pharmaceuticals, specialty/batch chemical, electronics and automotive.
Software test-drives available
Showcase 2002’s Software in the Round area is allowing visitors to test software in a hands-on, instructor-led environment. A full breadth of Invensys applications is available for sampling via a rotating schedule and multiple simultaneous sessions to ensure that attendees get to experience software first-hand. In fact, 12 “Architecture by ArchestrA”-based software sessions were scheduled in the Software in the Round area.
More 360 technical sessions
Beside its many product and solutions demos, Showcase 2002 is also featuring more than 360 technical education sessions, providing advanced learning experiences for attendees. These sessions are organized into both vertical industry tracks and technology tracks, such as field instrumentation, control and I/O, supervisory controls and manufacturing information systems, asset management solutions, dynamic simulation and operator training, APC, optimization and performance monitoring, simulation and modeling, and collaborative manufacturing and the supply chain.
Control Engineering Daily News DeskJim Montague, news [email protected]
