Data Management
Take a look at typical modern production line or industrial process and you will find many different kinds of control systems, including dedicated, stand-alone controllers such as intelligent motor drives, or CNC controllers, through to SCADA and distributed systems such as DCS and PLCs, with a Fieldbus connecting remote I/O, sensors, actuators and motors on the factory floor.
The sheer diversity and complexity of such systems can create some real challenges for control engineers and IT managers alike.
For example there may be a requirement to integrate a number of systems from multiple vendors into a single functional entity.
The need to collect data, for productivity and maintenance purposes, or to comply with new legislation and statutory regulations, is ever-increasing.
The tasks of protocol conversion across disparate networks and fieldbuses, and also of formatting process data for submission to enterprise-wide systems such as ERP and MES, is non-trivial.
The problem of obsolescence and legacy systems should also not be overlooked.
INAT Industrial Networking and Data Management Products provide a wide range of connectivity solutions covering most commonly-used industrial communication protocols. This means that previously incompatible systems can communicate not only with each other, but also with higher layers of the corporate IT infrastructure.
- IT & Business Integration - Horizonal and Vertical Integration
