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MatrikonOPC Offers BA Access for Wonderware

ControlGlobal.com
03/09/2011

By Nick Denbow, Industrial Automation Insider

The MatrikonOPC business has indeed maintained its own identity and apparent independence while operating under its new Honeywell master, as was promised last year by Sean Leonard, vp of MatrikonOPC. Indeed the emailed newsletters from MatrikonOPC seem to come faster than ever. The latest press release asserts this independence in a new way. It is entitled "MatrikonOPC unveils the Wonderware ArchestrA Universal Building Automation Server."

This product enables any users of (Invensys) Wonderware applications, such as InTouch and InFusion, to communicate natively with a wide range of building automation (BA) components, providing users with easy access to their building automation and facility system data. It provides direct access to data from the most common BA protocols within the “familiar” Wonderware System Platform. Matrikons see this as a growing requirement to enable users of Wonderware systems to achieve visibility into BA systems, regardless of the BA vendor.

Just What IOM Wanted
It seems that Invensys Operations Management (IOM) had no prior involvement with this Matrikon development, although John Bishop, who is in charge of global hybrid industry solutions and oversees the facilities management and transportation infrastructure markets for IOM, reminds us that ArchestrA is an enabling technology embedded within the InFusion ECS, and the ArchestrA API is freely available to third-party companies, who are encouraged to use the technology in order to provide additional connectivity options.

What has happened is what IOM envisioned. Matrikon has created a type of Device Integration Server using the ArchestrA API, and IOM is delighted that Matrikon has taken this step. IOM also has an endorsed partnership arrangement with ConneXSoft of Germany, who has created a series of ArchestrA-based packages to provide connectivity with building automation systems. The ConneXSoft components provide native integration of the major building automation system protocol - BACnet - and include advanced features for native alarms and events, native calendars and schedules. It also includes an advanced application generator, enabling efficient design, development, deployment and maintenance of supervisory systems for the building automation market.