The need to secure industrial control systems (ICS) from network and computer-based attack and compromise has received a great deal of attention in recent years. A simple web search for the term “ICS Cybersecurity” will result in hundreds of thousands of references. Many are standards, guidelines, and similar documents that address what is required for an effective response.
Automation suppliers saw their revenues drop by nearly 6 percent during the fourth quarter of 2016. Depressed oil and commodity prices continued to hamper growth prospects in the worldwide automation market. Process suppliers continue to suffer most from exposure to low oil prices. Some discrete automation suppliers fared better, thanks to stronger investment activity in the electronics and automotive industries, particularly in Asia. Suppliers expect this trend to continue for the foreseeable future, with many restructuring their businesse
Manufacturing is rapidly moving into an era in which emerging IIoT-based technologies, new materials, advanced fabrication approaches, and digitalization are converging to change the face of production systems, manufacturing processes, supply chains, and even the work force. Digital transformation affects all stages of the product lifecycle; from design, simulation, production, maintenance, to service in the field.
At the OSIsoft EMEA Users Conference held last October in Berlin, Germany, Felix Hanisch of Covestro, gave a keynote on the meaning of Industrie 4.0 for the chemicals industry from Covestro’s perspective. Covestro, a specialty polymers company, was carved out from Bayer in 2015. Dr. Hanisch discussed what cloud, Big Data, and Industrie 4.0 mean for the process industry. The company aims to make the world “a brighter place," with smart ideas and smart products. Dr.
India’s Economic Survey 2016–17, a flagship annual document of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, reflects the trends in the country's economy, facilitating a better understanding of the resource mobilization and their allocation in the Budget. It summarizes the performance of major development programs and highlights the policy initiatives of the government and the prospects of the economy in the short to medium term. The Economic Survey, prepared by the Chief Economic Adviser, Arvind Subramanian, set the scene for Finance Minister Arun Jai
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has begun transforming the industrial sector, and technology users can dramatically improve both asset performance and operating performance with IIoT technologies. But what is the reality on the ground, and is the industry exploring this opportunity?
As described in a previous Insight, end users face significant challenges in ensuring the security of their industrial automation systems. The complexity of the subject can impede many organizations to a significant degree. It is unrealistic to expect plant operations staff to be experts in cybersecurity. While they are likely to be familiar with the need for risk assessment and the possible consequences, cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities evolve rapidly and are often not well understood without help from experts in the field.
Industrial processes in the era of IIoT and Industrie 4.0 need open communications between devices, systems, and layers. The industry began replacing industrial networks with Ethernet over a decade ago. Since Ethernet was designed in the 1970s for office use, the technology’s inherent drawbacks drove automation suppliers to create industrial variations of Ethernet to address those drawbacks. Unfortunately, these developments resulted in a half dozen different versions of “industrial” Ethernet, each representing the technical prowess, but also the
Worldwide enterprise software market continued its year-over-year decline in the third quarter of 2016. Euro was nearly stable with respect to the US dollar by around 0.3 percent in Q3 2016. This slight percentage exchange rate fluctuation provided stability to revenues reported in euros that ARC subsequently translated to US dollars for this report.
Suppliers included in this report recorded combined quarterly revenue of $21.4 billion, representing a 1.3 percent year-over-year decline.