The positioning game

IT HASN'T BEEN A GOOD SUMMER IN THE AUTOMATION INDUSTRY. I don't even need to name names: deals have been falling apart; apparently done deals have been coming undone; major global operators have been turning in less than impressive figures, which has led to a spot of right-sizing. Reputations are bruised, jobs have been lost. There is anger in the air.

But does this signal the end of the industrial networking world? Absolutely not. Industrial life goes on, and there remains a desire to have more systems networked together, doing more things. Different things even. Suppliers of networking equipment are seeing innovation in the way their products are used and in who is using them. It's not all about the state of traditional industries (although that's important), but more about moving to the markets where there is demand. In one word: Positioning. There's no point in being very good at doing something nobody needs any longer. There are always new pastures and new opportunities, and often the old pastures taste okay once they've had a bit of a clean-up.

The availability of Ethernet as an industrial networking standard is going to make a big difference, but this neither downgrades the usefulness of other standards nor completely replaces them. Just as in the business IT world, where Ethernet was the catalyst which led eventually to the internet and the world wide web, so it could well be the catalyst for expansion in the industrial arena. The important thing to remember is that, contrary to some opinion, there is no single product that solves all problems. Vendors sometimes like to think there is, and of course it's their product, but the wise ones play the positioning game. They see the value of co-operation and understand that customers don't care what label is on the product, as long as it works and it turns up on time. And quite often these days, "works" really means "interworks". Systems and protocols have to work together with different systems and different protocols, so that field and device level networks can talk to business IT. We've had the developments, but now we're seeing businesses wanting to use the technology for real.

As businesses go through corrective phases (for whatever reason) companies will use automation and networking to ramp up their efficiency. An area we're particularly interested in is building control, where many simple tasks can be monitored remotely - from the other side of the world even - using technically quite straightforward networking. All the skills for this type of system come from industrial automation, from the sensors all the way through dual-redundant fibre optic Ethernet to the control software. Similarly, companies need to get more from their assets, so asset management is now driving more integration of SCADA and maintenance systems (see ARC's comments). This can only be achieved using open industrial networking techniques and some of the winners are going to be the companies with products and skills to put this all in place. Problems like those in the industry today will always be there to a greater or lesser extent. But opportunities are always going to be there too. Companies that chase problems don't face a rosy future, but those chasing opportunities are the ones that will come through and win. I hope all our readers are going to be winners.

Use feedback to let us know your views: It couldn't be easier.

Geoff Lock
Editor