• Two factory automation companies merge - Automation Syatems and Products Inc (ASAP), a leading producer of software serving the industrial automation market, has signed a definitive agreement to merge with Xycom, the well known manufacturer of products and services for factory floor automation. Specific terms have not been released yet.
• Astronomical forecasting! - A single point from the latest Frost & Sullivan report on the European Market for Internet Software. They value the European Software market at us$819.7m in terms of revenue in 1997. By 2004 (6 years) they reckon it will be worth us$6.77billion! A whole lotta bread!!
• Approval - Rhone-Poulenc, a world leading life sciences company, has announced that Intellution's FIX Dynamics VisualBatch will be recommended as a worldwide platform for batch control.

• Smart thermal mass flow meters - Smart Thermal Mass Flow Meters from Sierra Instruments, provide a variety of self-diagnostic and field adjustment features, as well as the ability to confirm or 'field-validate' the meter's calibration and measurement accuracy in the field.
• Measure with wizards! - National Instruments has launched a new version of Measure software for direct data acquisition and instrument control using Microsoft Excel on Windows 95/NT PCs. It features easy-to use dialogs for setting up acquisition and control applications. Measure Version II 2.0 adds support for the DAQ Channel Wixard, which greatly reduces the time spent defining signal types, connections, and transducer equations before beginning developement of a system. Users of the current system can upgrade for free by downloading the new version from http://www.natinst.com

• "Keep the baby!"- 'Throw out the bath but keep the baby (and the water)' is the motto of the Teradyne booth for Nepcon Ireland and will be focussing specifically on how users can upgrade to state of the art test platforms such as their Spectrum while at the same time preserving their investment in programs and fixtures.
  More details on other Exhibitions and Conferentions on our Exhibitions Page
• Telemetry receiver - SBS Berg Telemetry Systems announces the Model 4487 Series, a complete single-slot tunable PCM Telemetry Data Receiver for the ISA or VME bus.
• One PC board for many transducers - Biodata's new Microlink 552 package, comprising a PC board and Windmill data acquisition software for Windows, can interface thermocouples, strain gauges, pressure transducers, RTDs, thermistors, pH probes and other sensors extremely accurately, each board handling a mix of up to 32 transducers.
• Far eastern co-operation - Moore Process Automation Solutions (formerly Moore Products Co) and Far East Instrument Co of Beijing, have signed an agreement to develop a long-term business partnership, which will evolve from distribution through to joint development.
• New sales and marketing director - Peter Vincent has been appointed as Sales and Marketing Director with Peek Measurement Ltd.

• New family of power relays launched - A whole new 'family' of miniature power relays with identical pin-out configurations has just been launched by IMO Precision Controls.

• European position strengthened - Automation Research Corporation (ARC) has just announced the opening aof a new sales, support and research office in Britain. Headed by Alan Williams, formerly with Mitsubishu Electric Europe, "this move strengthens ARC's position as the leading market research and management consulting firm dedicated to the worldwide IT and automation market." Alan may be contacted at awilliams@arcweb.com

• Novell in Europe - US network software giant Novell plans to increase its workforce in Ireland following the announcement that the company has decided to establish its European operations base in that country.
• Plant VCR - Adroit Technologies (Pty) Limited have implemented on line Mimic replay for their Adroit SCADA/HMI package. Available for any existing or new picture in Adroit the new feature provides a more graphical alternative to historical trends. Requiring no configuration, any picture can be toggled between real-time and historical mode on event or operator action.
• New book on chemistry - Ionic equilibrium is the chemistry associated with salts, acids and bases. The main application lies in environmental science, especially in the field of water chemistry. This volume combines, updates and elaborates upon the author's classic earlier works.
  IONIC EQUILIBRIUM, Solubility and pH Calculations J.N. Butler Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA: Hbk 0-471-585262; Publisher John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Changes in the batch control market - Acquisition, consolidation, globalization, and the adoption and development of new technology, are important changes occuring in the batch control market. Major control suppliers in this market are busy acquiring niche suppliers to fill in the voids of their product lines or product lines or vertical markets. These and other findings are analysed in a report just published by ARC: Worldwide Batch Control System Outlook Market Analysis & Forecast Through 2002.

• Emergency shut down pioneer standardises - Drallim Industries, inventor of limited-movement-testing for ESD valves has standardised on Parker Hannifin's instrumentation valves and fittings following an industry wide appraisal.
• World Cup fieldbus coup - The Stade de France hosted France's historic victory of Brazil this year. The June issue of WorldFIP News from WorldFIP tells us that this the biggest modular and adjustable stadium in the world is itself "refereed" via WorldFIP networks.
  More news on WorldFIP on our Fieldbus Page
• High speed network - Mitsubishi has announced Control and Communications Link, (CC-Link), a new proprietary, high speed industrial automation network offering significant speed and performance advantages over current open standards.

• Flying without paper! - Boeing's Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power Group recently made the big transition to paperless plant with an expansion of its FACTORYnet software system. Initially the software's developer, Intercim, installed what Rocketdyne refers to as EWIP (Electronic Work Instructions Package) on 350 computers on the company's shop floor. An additional 600 have been added, bringing the total installation to 950. Capabilities include automated data collection via bar code scanners, a computer-aided process planning system, and a conformance management system to electronically track variations in the manufacturing and design process. Taken from the ICS News Magazine
  Industrial Compuiting Society Web Site is a very useful source of news and information.

• Minister announces New InterNet initiative at launch of Irish Control company - Mr Tom Kitt TD Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs launched a new Irish company, Millenium Controls Ltd., in the area of Control Systems, robotics, industrial automation and other software. He used the occasion to announce a new initiative in introducing a network of virtual Ireland Houses using the World Wide Web. Further details were reported fully in today's Irish Times. Millenium Controls may be contacted on millcon@clubi.ie.

• Chinese show pronounced success - MICONEX 98, International Fair for Measurement Instrumentation and Automation, proved to be China's most important trade fair for the measurement instrumentation and control industry: the show attracted 470 exhibitors from 14 countries and 53,5000 visitors when it was recently held at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing, China. It will be held again in year 2000.

• Takeover - SBS Technologies Inc has announced that thay have acquired a 50.1% interest in or Industrial Computers, GmbH a leading European designer of CPU boards utilized in a wide range of embedded computer applications.
• OSI Software selected - Intellution has announced a partnership with OSI Software Inc. where OSI's PI historian engine will be fully integrated and sold as the first major third-party comp[onent within their FIX Dynamics software.
• European market assessments - Rising sales of connecters in automotive, telecommunications and electronic data processing have driven growth in the European electromechanical components market to a revenue level of US$8.5b this year expecting to reach US$11.7b by the year 2004. This is detailed in a report entitled "A Competitive Benchmarking Analysis of the European Market for Electromechanical Components" from Frost & Sullivan. A further report (Report 3543) states that the demand for product reliability and automation will fuel the continued growth in the DCS market.
• Mini power relays - Large scale users of miniature power relays wil be pleased with IMO's latest range of ultra-small and ultra-slim miniatures.
• Non-contact level - Penny & Giles Instrumentation have introduced their new TankView US level monitor. This takes a mere two minutes to install and calibrate.

• Single-slot PC compatible VME board - Concurrent Technologies Plc. has announced its first Pentium II based single-slot PC compatible VME boardę - the VP PSE/P22. Based on the latest Intel Pentium II Mobile Module the board addresses the rapidly growing demand for high performance Intel¬ CPU architectures in the VME market while satisfying the market's need for low power consumption, high-performance, high reliability, low physical profile and extended product life.

• New European head - Gilles Marsigne has been appointed Sales Manager, Europe for EXAR Corporation and will now head up the European operation of the high performance mixed signal IC specialist.
• Cleanroom Technology Course - With the rapid expansion of cleanroom use in many areas of industry workers new to the industry find it hard to obtain concise information on the technology and management of cleanroom facilities. This day-long course in Dublin is by Bill Whyte of Glasgow. Details from ElectroMat Ireland Ltd.

• New mass flow tech literature published - Sierra Instruments has announced the publication of technical literature on their new Model 640-S Smart Insertion Mass Flow Meter.
• Compact linear positioning table - Parker Hannifin's Electromechanical Division (Digiplan) has launched a high performance linear positioning table that offers travel lengths of up to 600mm from a package measuring 95mm wide by 48mm high.
• AMPST'99 Paper call - for the 2nd International Symposium on Advanced Manufacturing Processes, systems and technologies has issued its first announcement and a call for papers. The dates are 30 and 31st March 1999 and the venue is Bradford in England. Abstracts should be adressed to Dr MK Khan at the University of Bradford. The symposium is being co-sponsored by InstMC.
• New starter kit - PEP Modular Computers has announced the availability of a new starter-kit for the SMART2 intelligent I/O micro-controller, which includes the latest version of ISaGRAF programming tool. See also our FieldComms'98 Review
• Multi-bus interface module - ControlStar from Calcam Ltd is a family of products providing new levels of system integration, particularly in remote operation. It supports a seamless integration with a number of SCADA packages and provides open system connectivity to other third party systems via a range of standard communication protocols. Call +44 1507 328861.
• New software for valve positioner - The Masoneilon Smart Valve Interface (SVI) is uniqely a smart positioner and PID loop controller in one instrument and may be used with any control valve. Depending on configuration it can eliminate the need for I/P transducers, conventional pneumatic or electro-pneumatic positioners and single-loop pneumatic and electronic controllers.
• US national lab breaks new ground - The high costs associated with hazardous and radioactive waste materials could be significantly reduced thanks to the research being carried out by staff at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Solartron's 1260 impedance analyser is in the forefront of this research.

• Inside Intel! - While most multinationals operating in Ireland rely on the parent company's website, Intel Ireland Ltd has launched its own site giving extensive information about its operations in this country. See http://www.intel.ie.
  From The IE Professional

• Servo tank gauge to give unprecedented accuracy - Whessoe Varec has released an upgraded servo gauge which is capable of measuring storage tank levels with an axccuracy of+/- 0.7mm, and which can eliminate the need for "hot working" permits due to an isolated touch-screen user interface.

The Instrumentation Signpost has interesting pointers for the I&C Professional.