Preface

When I wrote Chapter 7 on Operation for the “Fieldbuses for

Process Control” book, I realized that the next logical topic is
automation software because that’s where the data goes next.
Response from ISA tutorials I conducted on this topic indicated
that software and security are of interest and the feedback
received from students helped create this book.

Automation engineers do not want to be IT engineers. Automation

engineers want to focus on automation problems, not software and
corporate networking. However, software plays an important role
in the system so it is important to understand the issues. This book
is for automation professionals who want a broad-level overview
of IT as applied to automation. It will not give you programming
and OPC server development skills but is designed to help you
make sense of the technologies and products and show how those
technologies and products function together. This book is not
designed to “sell” you on the idea of OPC, but to provide you
information that can help you make decisions about the place of
automation software in your company’s business and future.

A modern automation system needs more than just configuration

and monitoring capability. Software infrastructure has therefore
become an increasingly important criterion for selection of an
automation system in recent years. Because the applications have
to work together, the software architecture is even more impor-
tant. The power of a system is not determined by the strength of
one particular application, but by how well different applications
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can work together. As software is playing an ever more important

role in all automation, many automation functions are now done
in software. Technologies such as OPC are like the “4–20 mA of
automation software.” Automation engineers must know ActiveX
components like they know sensors and actuators, and their data-
base engines like their power supplies. New truly open systems
that allow software to be selected freely to open new opportuni-
ties now also bring new responsibilities. Engineers now more than
ever need to understand the software technologies that are avail-
able to make correct choices. At project time, you must under-
stand OPC, VBA, SQL, and XML to understand the supplier’s
product offering. This book gives an overview of the technologies
and different categories of software applications—what they do
and when to apply them. OPC and VBA scripting has made it
possible for non-experts to work with software. Software is now
in the realm of instrument and automation engineers—not just
programmers.Whether you are integrating a system from hard-
ware and software components and subsystems, or if you are
trying to make older systems coexist with a new system, the soft-
ware architecture is one of the most important considerations.
Therefore, this book looks at the plant’s software architecture:
how to do it, and how to derive benefits from software. Some
plants already have OPC but are not using it, or are not using it
fully. There are more capabilities to be explored, and more bene-
fits. Until today only the DA flavor of OPC is well understood
and widely used. The other flavors of OPC hold great potential,
implementing them will allow manufacturers and others to reap
the benefits. One trend is that many computationally heavy and
less time-critical functions previously performed in centralized
controllers are now performed in workstation software (e.g.,
advanced control, simulation, and inferential measurements).
Another trend is to go electronic (e.g., using software databases
for record keeping, and so forth, instead of trend charts and clip-
boards). How to select the “software architecture” for the system
to integrate sub-systems and legacy systems, when to have dedi-
cated hardware servers, and when to use web technologies and
when to not, are the main topics of this book.

Disclaimer
Readers are cautioned that the technologies, processes, and
methods described in this book may be covered by patent, copy-
right, or other intellectual property rights. Neither ISA nor the
author has conducted a search or evaluation to determine the exis-
tence or validity of any intellectual property rights owned by any
 Preface xiii

person in the technologies, processes, and methods described

herein. ISA makes no warranty or representation regarding the
ownership of rights in any of the technologies, processes, or
methods described herein, or that such technologies, processes, or
methods are available or free for your adoption and use. You are
responsible to conduct your own investigation and due diligence
into the ownership of rights in the technologies, processes and
methods described herein, and you will be deemed to have
assumed any risk associated with your determination regarding
the licensing, adoption, or use of any such technologies, processes,
and methods.

Any trademarks or tradenames reference belong to the respective

owners of the mark or name. ActiveX®, BizTalk®, JScript®, Power-
Point®, SharePoint®, Visual Basic®, and Windows® are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corp.; BACnet® is a registered trademark
of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Condi-
tioning Engineers (ASHRAE); ControlNet™ is a trademark of
ControlNet International Ltd.; Delphi™ is a trademark of Borland
Software Corp.; DeviceNet™ and EtherNet/IP™ are trademarks of
ODVA; FOUNDATION™ Fieldbus is a trademark of the Fieldbus
Foundation; HART® is a registered trademark of the HART
Communication Foundation; InfoPlus.21® is a registered trade-
mark of Aspen Technology, Inc.; IPX/SPX™ is a trademark of
Novell, Inc.; Java™ is a trademark of Sun Microsystems;
NASDAQ® is a registered trademark of The NASDAQ Stock
Market, Inc.; and Unix® is a registered trademark of Unix System
Laboratories, Inc..