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Longwatch Video Software and IVC Join Forces

ControlGlobal.com
05/16/2011

By Nick Denbow, Industrial Automation Insider

In February this year, Industrial Video and Control (IVC), a supplier of cameras and video systems for industrial, military and commercial applications, announced the acquisition of Longwatch, a developer of video management software for industrial automation and remote monitoring applications. The Longwatch Video Historian automatically links video with various user databases (including data historians). Its most recent innovation is the Longwatch Console Recorder, which records industrial control console displays and enables easy playback for later troubleshooting, operator training and to demonstrate regulatory compliance. IVC plans to support the Longwatch systems by supplying its extensive camera offering: IVC industrial cameras are suitable for industrial and harsh environmental conditions; some models have been ATEX-certified for use in hazardous and potentially explosive environments.

Video has been reported as the "Next Big Thing"in process control and automation. It lets operators see what's going on in the plant, so they don't have to guess why the tank isn't filling. Video cameras can detect things that appear in their field of view, such as an intruder, a leak on the floor, escaping steam, and so on. Video can be synched with the plant historian so you can play back an event—maybe to find out why the reactor blew up, who was doing what at the time, and beforehand.

Interface with Emerson DeltaV

This would seem to tie in with the Emerson view, since one of their 2010 releases announced that video streams from the IVC Relay Server had been integrated with its DeltaV digital automation system to enable a live video feed embedded within the DeltaV Operate display. Emerson suggested at the time that video surveillance was becoming an indispensable part of process plant safety, security and operations, particularly by integrating such systems within the Emerson Smart Wireless offering, to augment the operator's control of volatile processes. The IVC software was reported to provide powerful and flexible features, enabling customers to view and control cameras from multiple locations, as well as providing sophisticated storage and automatic alarm functions.

Clarke Esler, Director of Engineering at IVC adds, "IVC software has since been certified for versions 10 and 11 of DeltaV. We have added further capability to the solution by integrating support of the DeltaV OPC Xi; our Alarm Server can now be a client of the DeltaV OPC Xi server. This provides a mechanism for DeltaV to send alarms to the video system and provide for video-related alarm response actions." IVC has supplied software and cameras for several Emerson projects and applications, including hazardous area approved cameras for petrochemical and chemical plant process monitoring and security/access control."