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Automation Foundations Form Joint Company

ControlGlobal.com
11/07/2011

The five major automation foundations, FDT Group, Fieldbus Foundation, HART Communication Foundation, Profibus and Profinet Intenational, and OPC Foundation, have developed a single common solution for field device integration (FDI). These foundations have decided to combine their efforts and form FDI Cooperation LLC. This was made formal by all representatives signing the contract documents in Karlsruhe, Germany.

FDI Cooperation will be headed by a Board of Managers, which is composed of the representatives of the involved organizations, as well as managers of global automation suppliers, including ABB, Emerson Process Management, Endress+Hauser, Honeywell, Invensys, Siemens and Yokogawa.

Hans-Georg Kumpfmüller of Siemens will serve as chairman of the board. Achim Laubenstein of ABB has been nominated as executive director.

The purpose of the organization is to complete the standardization of FDI under the International Electrical Commission (IEC), manage the FDI specification, and finalize the FDI tool kits for system and device manufacturers.

FDI Cooperation originated from efforts at the EDDL Cooperation Team (ECT) to accelerate deployment of the FDI solution. FDI is a unified solution for simple, as well as the most advanced field devices, for the various tasks associated with all phases of their lifecycle, such as configuration, commissioning, diagnostics and calibration. The ECT broadened the scope of the FDI project to harmonize EDDL across communication protocols, and provide FDI design and test tools, including a common EDD Interpreter.

Signing on the dotted line

The heads of the five foundations, left to right, Glenn Schulz, FDT Group; Richard Timoney, Fieldbus Foundation; Ron Helson, HART Foundation; Thomas Burke, OPC Foundation; and Joerg Frietag, Profibus and Profinet International, sign on the dotted line to form the FDI Cooperation LLC.