Rick’s Picks of the Web: This month on ControlGlobal.com

By Rick Pedraza, Managing Editor, Digital MediaInto the Lions’ DenAfter all the articles and columns written in this magazine decrying offshoring, it would seem unlikely that the business manager for process automation consulting for the seventh largest IT consultancy in the world would drop in for a visit with the editors of CONTROL. But that’s exactly what Krishnakumar Nagarajan, head of plant automation solutions for the Engineering and Industrial Services practice of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) did. He wanted to explain his company’s interest in penetrating the process automation market in the United States. 

New Podcast

TCS is part of the vast Tata Group of companies, the third largest in India and one of the 50 largest in the world. The company has its fingers in many pies, including product development, product lifecycle management, manufacturing solutions and plant design, and plans on doing more of all of them here in the states. Nagarajan had some interesting things to say to us about consulting, integration, outsourcing and advanced control, including his belief that automation and software engineers in India will reach parity with their North American and Western European colleagues within this decade.  >> Read more

Can You Hear Me Now?
One of the most discussed topics in the past year has been the use of wireless communications in process automation. No other topic since the heyday of the Fieldbus Wars has generated so much interest, comment, information and disinformation.

In an effort to sort it all out, we’ve launched Industrial Wireless Knowledge Center, an online resource you’ll find invaluable when planning secure and reliable wireless applications at your plant. Included are articles, case studies, white papers and product information about industrial wireless communications, as well as a section on the latest developments from the various wireless standards committees working toward establishing standards for implementing wireless systems in the automation and control environment. While there, be sure to take our Wireless Sensor Network 2006 Management Survey and let us know what type of wireless data monitoring networks and sensor points you currently deploy.  >> Read more

Viva la Revolución!

Belá Lipták

Sorry we couldn’t say it in Hungarian. For that you have to ask our own Control columnist—and freedom fighter—Belá Lipták, the Grand Old Man of control systems engineering and editor of the Instrument Engineers’ Handbook, 4th Edition. He was there at the beginning of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and wrote a memoir about it while in an Austrian refugee camp, where he fled to escape reprisals for his role in the short-lived rebellion against Soviet oppression and occupation. With an engineer’s eye for detail, Lipták draws the reader hour-by-hour into events at Budapest’s Technical University that led to the uprising of university students, factory workers and Hungarian nationalists, relating verbatim dialogue still fresh in his mind. His account is considered by many to be the most illuminating and authoritative in the English language.  >> Read moreWHITE PAPERS

Turn Process Data into Profit
This paper introduces a real-time process performance auditing software solution that focuses on turning data into energy savings for your plant.  >> Download Now

Rapid Control System Development
Learn the basic method for rapidly developing a control system and as well as ways to create a reliable system model.  >> Download Now

An Introduction to Fieldbus
This paper provides an understandable explanation of Foundation fieldbus H1 and Profibus PA, along with the advantages of using a fieldbus network.  >> Download Now

SPECIAL TO THE WEB

Ensuring OPC Connectivity in Mission Critical Applications
OPC specialist Eric Murphy presents aspects to consider when addressing uninterrupted flow of data and communications, and how OPC plays a  more mission-critical role in the enterprise.  >> Read more

Highlights from Automation Fair
Last month’s event in Baltimore included hands-on labs, technical sessions and workshops on advanced automation, integrated control and information architecture.  >> Read more

RSS Feeds
Learn how to receive RSS feeds of the latest automation information. We offer unique feeds for News, Articles, Products and Job Opportunities.  >> Receive Feeds

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