Rockwell Joins the Digital Factory and IT/OT Convergence Fray
So I decided not to make a cross country trip to San Diego for Rockwell Automation’s RATechEd event this year. I have cross country trips coming up the next two weeks followed by family time. So, I’m doing a one-day business trip plus taking my wife out for dinner in...
Ernst and Young Industrial Products Survey
The 2018 EY Industrial Products Survey was conducted among 500 Industrial Products (IP) executives whose businesses yield over $1B in annual revenue. These surveys are coming in with similar results. You can look at the results and say “Wow, almost half of executives...
Asset Performance Management and Service Apps Optimize Operations
Have you been wondering about GE Digital and such products as Predix Asset Performance Management since the announcements of the new GE CEO reducing the group and throwing it into turmoil? Well, just when I realized I had not heard anything for a while, this press...
More Accurate Location Services
I met with the representative of an interesting company with a different take on indoor location services. Years ago I listened to a podcast called the Gillmor Gang and a famous (at the time) blogger Robert Scoble was always extolling the virtues of beacons. They will...
Microsoft Acquires GitHub and Other Big Company and Open Source Thoughts
Microsoft acquiring GitHub, the repository of many open source projects, on the surface appears almost as an oxymoron. However, as I've written previously about big companies and OPC UA standard big companies now find open source and interoperability to be sound...
AI Understood and Misunderstood
Artificial Intelligence (AI) draws a lot of attention and media space. But what is it, really? Elon Musk has recently spoken about AI in the terms of dystopian SciFi movies. Recently I’ve heard Eric Schmidt and Michael Dell talk much more positively about the...
Advantech Morphs Strategy for Internet of Things Development
Taiwan-based Advantech’s leaders have always been intellectual strategic thinkers. They have clued me in on several good management books. The company is an industrial computer company with industrial data acquisition and I/O devices that has successfully positioned...
Easy to Build Reports from Automation Data
Data are worthless without the ability to put it into a context and present it in a simple way to decision makers—no matter where in the company they reside. Enter Ocean Data Systems (ODS) and its product Dream Report. Note: Dream Report obviously is an advertiser on...
NI Focusing on Test and Measurement Updates LabView
NI Week was last week, and for only the second time in 20 years, I didn't go. NI, formerly National Instruments, has been focusing more on test and measurement lately. Not so much automation. My interest is mostly on its IoT efforts especially TSN. I figure I can get...
Software, Robots, Friday Updates, Automation and Ethics
It’s Friday before Memorial Day and I’m catching up on a number of items I’ve read this week concerning automation and ethics. GPR AI (Eric Schmidt / Elon Musk) Robot Market Automation Tsunami Rockwell Automation OPC UA Schneider Electric Triconex Peaceful Fruit GDPR...