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Thursday, March 13, 2008 |
My second PAC post generated some interesting comments. By the way, the person who said his company had the first PAC--what company is that? Check out the comments.
4:41:47 PM 
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I sat in on a "Switch2Citect" Web seminar today. They don't leave it to your imagination that they are going after Wonderware--hard. Citect has an automated import function that is supposed to take your existing Wonderware application and bring it into your new Citect application and be up and running. These import functions are seldom fool-proof, but very helpful if you are motivated to switch. I've been wondering if the HMI/SCADA wars are going to resume. We'll see if any of the other suppliers want to join the fray.
4:40:02 PM
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Wurldtech has been busy on the security front. Here are two announcements.
Wurldtech Security Technologies, a provider of cyber-security solutions to vendors and operators of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), process control and mission-critical systems worldwide, announced the launch of Delphi, said to be the industry's first cyber-security vulnerability database for industrial control systems and Achilles Industrial Cyber-Security Health Check program.
Delphi is designed to provide vendors, operators, system integrators and service providers visibility into the reliability, safety and security of the systems and networks essential to the operation of the world's critical infrastructure.
"We understand the unique security challenges facing the industrial automation industry today, particularly when attempting to address the issue of securing legacy industrial control systems," stated Tyler Williams, president and chief executive officer of Wurldtech. "Our mission is to provide meaningful cyber-security solutions to safeguard the integrity of critical industrial automation and we are proud to announce Delphi, yet another tool to help our customers accurately identify real risks and make better-informed decisions to protect their industrial operations."
As cyber-security risks increase in frequency, severity and sophistication, the process of managing the security of SCADA and process control systems is becoming extremely difficult. Currently, security solutions for legacy industrial control systems are delivered through a small number of companies and disparate commercial products from different vendors lacking integration and interoperability. The end result is a high degree of complexity, increased operational costs, limited visibility and reliance on inappropriate data to make critical security decisions. For a majority of industrial organizations, the outcome is a weak security risk profile -- an insecure network infrastructure, incomplete regulatory compliance, security audit failures and increased security management costs that are not in line with business objectives.
"A major industry challenge is the lack of known specific security risks that could impact the reliability and/or availability of industrial control systems," said Joe Weiss of Applied Control Solutions LLC. "Databases such as Delphi can provide a valuable source of information from which to plan, develop and deploy the appropriate security solutions for the unique requirements of industrial operations."
By leveraging the Achilles Security Analysis Platform, Wurldtech is able to create a comprehensive database of known and unknown risk profiles for industrial control systems to serve as a knowledge base to guide operators, integrators, and industrial professionals as they implement security plans and strategies. Delphi empowers operators to answer questions such as, "How secure am I?"; "Where should I focus my resources?"; and "Am I doing everything I can to protect my enterprise?". This intellectual property includes a repository of new signatures, vulnerabilities, safeguards and response guidance, and is regularly updated from "the largest and most comprehensive collection of security intelligence available."
The Achilles Health Check is designed to provide a quick assessment of current cyber-security readiness according to industry leading methodology and recommended practices in addition to providing a blueprint for future security implementations. The Achilles Health Check provides a rapid evaluation of the cyber-security vulnerabilities and exposure risk of SCADA and process control systems by testing against industry standards and recommended practices. By leveraging the testing technology of the Achilles evaluation platform, the Achilles Health Check includes a core set of tests designed to identify actual cyber risk profiles unique to each system. The key component of the Achilles Health Check is its ability to help establish priorities for a targeted security program based on actual risk exposures, empowering operators with a more meaningful method to plan industrial security strategies and programs.
As part of the Achilles Health Check, Wurldtech is also rolling out a partner program and is actively working with industrial security service providers and consultants. Various partnership levels and pricing models are available.
4:24:53 PM
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Dassault Systèmes, a supplier of 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, announced the availability of two new solutions developed specifically for the Life Sciences industry. The Enovia Life Sciences Accelerator for Quality Issues and the Enovia Life Sciences Accelerator for Change Control products, both developed by PLM consultant Integware Inc., enable customers to lower the total cost of ownership of their IT ecosystem, and help them comply with Quality System Regulation (QSR) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) regulations in order to bring industry-leading products to market faster and more reliably.
When companies were questioned as part of a recent AMR Research study, 31 percent of U.S. respondents identified product quality as one of the top reasons why product launches fail, while 20 perfect also highlighted regulatory issues as being a key factor.
Both Life Science Accelerators are compatible with Dassault Systèmes' recently announced V6 PLM platform to offer customers a single, flexible solution with integrated business processes to better manage core intellectual property. Based on a service oriented architecture (SOA), the Life Science Accelerators facilitate seamless interaction between all Enovia PLM business processes including Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA), Product Complaints, Change Control, Product Development and Supplier Control.
"After years of working with some of the world's leading life sciences companies, we are developing a series of products that leverage best practices to better serve specific industry needs," said Mickey Garcia, director of Life Sciences Industry Strategy, Enovia, Dassault Systèmes. âo[ogonek]Our customers âo[base "] both pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers âo[base "] rely on Enovia solutions as central tools for managing product quality, promoting greater supply chain collaboration, and ensuring regulatory compliance."
Enovia Life Sciences Accelerator for Quality Issues
The Enovia Life Sciences Accelerator for Quality Issues provides a flexible, ready-to-use business process for the management of Quality Issues such as CAPAs and Product Complaints. The Accelerator enables customers to automate many of the routine aspects of quality investigations, reducing waste and focusing attention on the truly critical issues of risk, root cause and remediation. This product also helps customers to verify that the quality investigation is executed properly and that all required deliverables are completed resulting in lower regulatory risk.
Enovia Life Sciences Accelerator for Change Control
The Enovia Life Sciences Accelerator for Change Control also provides a ready-to-use business process for the management of changes to regulated documents, procedures and specifications throughout an organization. Delivering a single Change Control process, it improves the speed of changes and reduces errors introduced by manual handoffs. This approach is designed to help customers reduce regulatory risk by automatically enforcing critical process steps, guiding regulatory, safety and financial impact assessments and capturing Part 11-compliant signatures based on a company-defined approval matrix.
4:04:38 PM
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Microsoft set the technology blogosphere buzzing last week when it announced that Internet Explorer 8 would be completely based on open standards at its MIX08 developers conference. Its unveiling of Silverlight 2, a competitive offering to Adobe Flash technology, promises a "richer, more interactive customer" experience on the Web. DoubleClick, now part of Google, previewed its Silverlight 2 software development kit for in-stream advertising.
Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie told the audience, "The Web is at the center of everything Microsoft is doing. The investments weâo[dot accent]re making will enable developers and designers to deliver a range of seamless, connected experiences across the continuum of Web applications, rich clients, mobile and other devices."
Internet Explorer 8 is the next version of Microsoftâo[dot accent]s browser, and in beta 1 it delivers "significantly improved standards support and developer platform investments with enhanced user experiences," according to the company's press release. Internet Explorer 8 beta 1 delivers increased interoperability, offers developers better predictability when designing sites, and will feature full support for cascading style sheet (CSS) 2.1 at release to manufacturing. Two new features, Activities and WebSlices, will enable developers to reach beyond the page and introduce news ways for users to stay connected to the content and services of their choice.
Silverlight 2 beta includes new features such as Deep Zoom, more than 40 new controls and a rich .Net base class library of functionality. In addition to the beta release, Microsoft announced plans to deliver Silverlight for Windows Mobile and to work with Nokia on support for S60 on Symbian OS, the world's leading smartphone software, as well as for Series 40 devices and Nokia Internet tablets. AOL, Aston Martin, Cirque du Soleil, Hard Rock and NBCOlympics.com on MSN have selected Silverlight for their Web applications "due to its performance capabilities, integration with the .Net Framework and customizable advertising opportunities."
On the enterprise side, Microsoft also announced a building-block software service called Microsoft SQL Server Data Services. The service is designed for developers building Web-based applications that need a scalable, easily programmable and highly available utility-based data store.
It's announced upcoming launch of the "Dynamic IT" initiative that includes Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 208 and SQL Server 2008 is designed to "help customers optimize their people, processes and technology, and in turn position IT as a strategic asset for their business."
Microsoft reinforced the idea of performance improvements with the new products by announcing world-record performance results TPC-E and SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) Standard Application 3-tier benchmarks running on four-socket industry-standard blade servers. It also published performance benchmarks for customer scenarios that included companies of interest to manufacturing Siemens PLM Teamcenter and Camstar manufacturing execution systems.
3:31:09 PM
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Listening to IT Conversations yesterday, I learned about a new social service on the Web called Jigsaw. This is a contact service, sort of like online business cards. Members add their contacts (business card information, no mobile phones, but name, address, title, phone, email). New contacts are not accepted from the member unless the data is complete. You get credits for entering names and can use those to get new contacts. The target audience is sales and recruiters. So, I'm not tremendously enthused about the service.
You can visit the site, though and check to see if you have been entered. If so, you can edit your contact information to make sure it's correct. I have done so. Some of you may wish to investigate this further.
11:11:24 AM
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© Copyright 2008 Gary Mintchell.
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