As the ISA100.11a draft standard nears approval, the chorus of vendors committed to WirelessHART, at least for now, continues to swell. Last month, at Interkama, ELPRO Technologies, Emerson, Endress+Hauser, Pepperl+Fuchs and MACTek all launched WirelessHART products. ABB launched its own WirelessHART product line at its ABB Automation and Power World last month, and now, at Achema (the world's largest chemical exposition) Dust and Phoenix Contact have made a long-awaited announcement that Phoenix Contact will be making a Dust-enabled WirelessHART Gateway.
So, now the end user has a choice of three interoperable gateways (Emerson, Elpro and Phoenix Contact) and multiple vendors for field instruments and WirelessHART adaptors.
All of these products must still undergo Hart Communications Foundation testing, as well as testing by classification labs like Factory Mutual or Underwriters' Labs. Expect to see product shipping to end users by October, just in time for the ISA Expo.
Here's the press release from Dust:
PHOENIX CONTACT LAUNCHES NEW PRODUCTS UTILIZING DUST NETWORKS’ EMBEDDED WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKING TECHNOLOGY
WirelessHART™ Gateway and Adapters Address Market Demand For Greater Process Efficiency and Multi-Vendor Interoperability
Frankfurt, Germany, (May 11, 2009)─Dust Networks®, the leading supplier of standards-based wireless sensor networking products, has announced that their SmartMesh IA-510™ WirelessHART sensor networking technology is being used in two new products launched today by Phoenix Contact at ACHEMA, the leading worldwide event for the chemical engineering and process industries.
The new products will provide Phoenix Contact customers with a highly reliable WirelessHART gateway solution, as well as cost-effective device adapters, to monitor and validate critical processes in a range of industries, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, automotive, petrochemical and power generation.
“We believe Dust Networks is the only company that can provide self-organizing WirelessHART solutions with the high reliability and low power consumption critical to our customers’ success,” said David Skelton, Vice President of Americas Business Unit, Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co.
“We are excited to have partnered with Phoenix Contact to develop new WirelessHART products,” said Steve Toteda, Vice President of Marketing, Dust Networks. “WirelessHART provides the reliability of wires with the cost advantages of wire-free
installation and operation, which is increasingly important to cost- and efficiency-conscious end users.”
Phoenix Contact joins a growing list of leading industrial vendors to add interoperable WirelessHART gateways, field devices, and adapters to their product lines. Last month, ELPRO Technologies, Emerson, Endress+Hauser, Pepperl+Fuchs and MACTek launched Dust Networks-enabled products at the Interkama trade show in Germany.
Dust Networks will be participating in the ACHEMA Instrumentation, Control and Automation Techniques exhibition group in collaboration with HART Communication Foundation (HCF) in Hall 10.2, Stand F3-J6.
