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Emerson first to offer WirelessHART automation products

03/14/2008

Austin, Texas, March 14 -- Emerson Process Management is the first process automation supplier to begin taking orders for WirelessHART-enabled products, based on the recently approved open standard for in-plant wireless communications. These measurement and communications products are available as a core part of Emerson’s Smart Wireless plant automation solutions portfolio.
 
The WirelessHART standard specifies use of open wireless communications for process measurement and control applications. Emerson estimates the demand for wireless technology will exceed $1 billion by 2012.
 
“In my 39 years in Process Automation, I have never seen a technology with such compelling, immediate benefits,” commented John Berra, president of Emerson Process Management. “Emerson customers proved these benefits with installations of our pre-standard products. The WirelessHART standard opens the door to confident and broad implementation of wireless throughout the industry.”
 
“We are pleased to be the first and invite all suppliers and end users to join us as we enter into this new era of process automation,” continued Berra. “Wireless simply means a better way to put more eyes and ears in the plant, to enable the plant to run better, safer, and greener. This is a truly wonderful day.”
 
Emerson’s Smart Wireless range of pressure, flow, level, temperature, and vibration transmitters and gateways are available with WirelessHART standard communications, as is AMS® Suite predictive maintenance software and 375 field communicator. The continuous stream of future new products from Emerson will also use the standard, including the pH transmitter, discrete transmitter, valve position transmitter, the Smart Wireless THUM™ Communicator to unleash stranded diagnostics in legacy devices, and the DeltaV™ native wireless interface.
 
“With official release of the HART 7 Specifications in September 2007, the WirelessHART standard became publicly available for manufacturers to begin implementing this new capability into their products and process solutions,” commented HART Communications Foundation executive director Ron Helson. “I am delighted to see Emerson moving quickly to release WirelessHART-enabled products to the industry.”

“The WirelessHART technology addresses the critical needs of the process industry for simple, reliable and secure wireless communication in the real world industrial plant environment,” continued Helson. “It is easy to use, easy to deploy, and fully backward compatible with existing instrumentation and host systems, preserving the investment in HART-enabled devices, tools, training, applications and work procedures used today.”

Extending PlantWeb digital plant architecture, and through collaboration with Cisco, Emerson offers open-standard Smart Wireless process and plant management applications for measurement and control, asset optimization, mobile workers, asset and people location tracking, voice and video, and IT integration and security. These customized solutions will provide end users with a competitive edge through open-standards wireless technology and a complete network platform that ensures they can start with any application and easily expand as the technology evolve.