I think I'm recovering from a couple of strenuous trips and a full weekend of soccer. Saturday I worked a jr. college game that pitted the nationally ranked number 11 and 12 teams up in Toledo. There is no way the temperature in Toledo on October 6 should have been 88, but it was. We had to work the game with only 2 referees, so that meant additional running. It was a great game--Owens Tech 1, Cincinnati State 2 in overtime. Then Sunday, I worked a men's match closer to home. With the shortage of referees we have in Ohio, I did it alone. Temperature in the low 90s. Closest I've ever been to heat problems. It's finally cooling off today. Yesterday was a company holiday, so after three interviews for my upcoming article, I kicked back and read a mystery novel. So, no posts.
All the positive comments people said to me during ISA Expo about this blog and Automation World are greatly appreciated. Carl Henning's comments about the show are here. It's a bit more negative than my last post. I was impressed by the buzz around the show, and the fact that there were a number of new products touted. However, Carl is correct in saying that the show floor was tiny, with smaller aisles designed to make it appear busier than it was. ISA also packed in several pavilions for speakers on selected subjects. I never went past one when there was a session, so I can't report on how well that went over. Most of the systems vendors had a presence. I saw Honeywell, Invensys Foxboro, Siemens, ABB, Yokogawa. However, Emerson had no presence and neither did Rockwell Automation. The most surprising to me was the GE Fanuc presence. Given that it just announced an upgraded process control platform you'd expect a process control booth. But its booth was from the software side (the old Intellution) that was staffed by the local distributor.
Part of an editor's lot in life at trade shows consists of early breakfasts and late dinners. I don't blog dinners in general, but a couple of good thoughts came from these that I'll be researching for future coverage. I had a Monday evening dinner with several people from Siemens Energy & Automation process business and Todd Stauffer raised an interesting thought. Just what is a hybrid controller? Good question. We talk about them occasionally. Does anyone know how to define one? All thoughts welcome. At Wednesday's dinner with Opto 22, Benson Hougland raised another interesting question--the definition of a PAC (programmable automation controller). Craig Resnick of ARC Advisory Group is credited with the term--most likely developed while working with one of his clients. National Instruments and Opto 22 both jumped on the term given their PC-based roots. But Benson told me something that I hadn't realized--Opto 22 has a true distributed control with its automation controller platform. He referred to IEC 61499 distributed function blocks. Something else interesting to pursue.
Actually, 2008 will be a year when I probe deeper into control at Automation World. There's a lot happening in that space that complements the rest of our coverage.
8:29:12 AM 
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