ISA Expo Returns to Houston

After a one-year detour through Chicago, the 2003 ISA conference and exhibition returns to Houston and brings its focus to bear on IT in manufacturing, wireless technology and application, and sensors. The show, sensibly pared down to a three-day event, runs October 21-23 at the Reliant Center.

The conference schedule runs Tuesday-Thursday and offers more than 100 sessions presented in tutorial, panel, or paper presentation formats. Sessions start at 10 a.m. and run throughout the day with the final sessions of the day starting at 3:45 p.m.

In addition, the hall floor will contain about 600 exhibitors. Exhibit hall hours are 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.

Each day includes an 8:30 a.m. keynote address, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. continuing education courses, 10 a.m.-5:15 p.m. technical conferences, and 10 a.m.-5:15p.m. Emerging Technologies Conference sessions.

There also are a number of special forums and speakers. Janusz Bryek, an expert in the field of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) and silicon sensor technologies and CEO of Transparent Neyworks, is the plenary speaker at the Sensors for Measurement and Control Symposium. He'll speak at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

"Dick's Last Retort" returns this year at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, October 23, with Dick Morley and his hand-picked panel of well-known industry names debating the future of industrial automation.

"Real-Time Performance Management" is the theme of an executive panel moderated by William Moore of ARC Advisory Group. The panel will assemble 11:45 a.m. Wednesday to address business trends and the future of real-time performance management as the driver for operational excellence.

On Thursday at 11:45 a.m., Dick Caro, CEO of CMC Associates, moderates a panel discussion: "Fieldbus Wars--Encore?" The panel will explore the possible future for industrial network users as vendors battle for the control-level network space above the application and user layers.

Speakers Assemble

The three keynote speakers this year should interest automation professionals. David Kepler, VP and CIO of Dow Chemical, speaks Tuesday, October 21, at 8:30 a.m. His theme, "Plug, Play, and Protect," is that as IT becomes more of a pervasive commodity item, we become more dependent on it. As this scheme enters manufacturing, there are implications of stewardship security to address.

"Ethernet's Next Productivity Wave" is the theme for the Wednesday 9 a.m. keynote by Kathy Hill, vice president of Cisco's Desktop Switching Unit. She'll argue that as Ethernet brings fixed and mobile communications appliances and new uses into the Internet, this will initiate another wave of productivity from network-centric applications.

Charles Johnson, worldwide managing director of Microsoft's Manufacturing Industry Group, speaks on "The Promise of the Real-Time Enterprise, Today and Tomorrow," at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, October 23. He'll discuss the profit demands that push manufacturers to adopt real-time enterprise strategies. He asks if the real-time model is right for everyone, and do manufacturers know when the time is right for real time.

Visit the ISA Expo web site http://www.isa.org/isaexpo2003 for a full listing of conference sessions.

If you're planning to attend the shows, don't forget to make time for us when you're out and about on the exhibit hall floor. Stop by and share thoughts with us about the show, about our industry, or even critique the magazine. CONTROL will be at booth 2955.

ISA 2003 Sessions of Note

Tuesday, October 21:

Considerations for Working in Ex Zones

Project Management--Use of Common Methodologies

Safety Systems Analysis

Bluetooth Protocol

Performance Impacts of Security on Control Systems

Applied Advanced Control

Open Architectures

Technical Communication: How to Negotiate

Tools for Automated Control

Web-Based HMI