Here's a press release from Honeywell.
What's important about this press release is bolded in the text below. Honeywell continues to be the only supplier to support HART 6.0 natively in its I/O. HART 6.0 would make the coming HART Wireless specification even more powerful, so why don't other vendors support it? End users have been asking for it for years now...they all say they'd buy it if somebody offered it. So what's up, vendors?HONEYWELL FIELD DEVICE MANAGER IS FIRST TO SUPPORT OPEN SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY WITHOUT CONVERSION TOOLS
Compatibility with EDDL and FDT Technology Offers Customers Broadest Choice of Instrumentation and Valve Vendors
PHOENIX, Feb. 26, 2007 - Honeywell (NYSE:HON) today released an enhanced version of its Field Device Manager, a key component of the company's plant asset management portfolio. Field Device Manager R301 is the first system to support both the latest Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) and Field Device Tool (FDT) with Device Type Manager (DTM) technologies without the use of conversion tools or add-on devices. This provides customers the broadest choice of instrumentation and valves to integrate with their distributed control systems (DCS) and asset management systems to improve plant uptime and reduce maintenance costs.
"The new version of Field Device Manager is designed to overcome interoperability issues within open system architectures today," said Peter Smith, marketing director at Honeywell. "EDDL and FDT are very important technologies in the process automation industry. By helping customers take advantage of both, Field Device Manager enables more efficient maintenance and reduces the risk of unplanned shutdowns."
Field Device Manager, which is fully integrated with Honeywell's Experion® Process Knowledge System (PKS) automation and control platform, helps process operators spot malfunctioning devices within their facilities more easily. It allows configurations to be managed, monitored and changed for a large number of HART devices. Additionally, Field Device Manager can support Profibus devices through FDT. Unlike other offerings, Field Device Manager does not require additional files, programming or integration support to add support for new devices or to access device-specific features.
By taking advantage of a wider range of technology, customers can implement better diagnostics to prevent downtime caused by sensor or actuator failures, and reduce maintenance costs through predictive maintenance diagnostics.
"Manufacturers are often faced with conflicting mandates: reduce your downtime, but decrease your maintenance costs," said Smith. "To achieve both of these goals, operators need to stay a step ahead of any potential problems within their plants. Tools like Field Device Manager can help them do that. This new version enhances that ability by allowing those customers to take advantage of a larger pool of innovative technology.
"Experion was the first system to support the HART 6.0 protocol without any add-on devices. Now, with this new support for EDDL and FDT, Honeywell has reaffirmed its commitment to delivering open-integration technologies."
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