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Industrial Interoperability Compliance Institute recruits members

03/25/2008

Research Triangle Park, N.C ., March 25 - The Industrial Interoperability Compliance Institute (IICI), an institute established as the official compliance-testing organization for standards, such as WBF's B2MML and BatchML schemas, has issued a call for membership. The Technical Advisory Board (TAB) recently completed its preliminary work and will announce today at the WBF North American Conference in Philadelphia that IICI membership enrollment may begin immediately.

The TAB was formed to establish the market needs and direction for the IICI and is comprised of more than 10 major global companies with interest in launching IICI. Companies represented on the TAB are a mix of international companies from food and beverage, automotive, oil and gas, pharmaceutical and other industries:

Michelin
Nestle
Arla Foods
Pfizer
Suncor
Citect
Kepware
Wonderware
ABB
GE Fanuc
Ordina
Atos Origin
OPC Foundation - Non-voting TAB Member

Based upon the group's input, IICI is founded on the concept that industrial interoperability standards allow manufacturers to build lean IT systems through common definitions of data and processes.

Key components of IICI include addressing standards issues and compliance services, such as the integration of business and manufacturing systems following ISA95 data exchange using WBF's Business to Manufacturing Markup Language (B2MML), certification services for software or applications to ensure they comply with specific criteria, testing of defined compliance levels and ensuring industrial schemas and associated standards are aligned.

Future compliance services may include the WBF BatchML Data Exchange Schema Standard, schemas related to ISA95 Part 4, and certificates of training for ISA95 and WBF Data Exchange implementation programs.

Members will be entitled to use the IICI-certified logo on products and systems that meet the IICI compliance specifications, and they will be recognized for their contributions to the IICI programs and objectives. In addition, voting members will have an opportunity to provide leadership and strategic direction to IICI by actively participating in the Governance Board and the Technical Steering Committee.

As an organization founded upon the collaboration of several companies, IICI will establish itself as an independent, third-party, non-profit industry association with experience in industrial interface development, an established global network of experts and a deep understanding of industrial interoperability standards.

IICI will be chartered under ASCI and will be recognized by WBF as the official compliance-testing organization for WBF's B2MML and BatchML schemas. IICI is working closely with WBF, the ISA95 committee, end users, vendors and other organizations to ensure that compliance testing addresses the real needs of end users and vendors for interoperable solutions.