Where Hardware & Software Intersect - Opportunity Areas for Innovation
Since every automation company has fielded display, configuration and operations management level software it seems clear that the closer to the process the more obvious the alignment between hardware and software. The further from the plant floor or the operational infrastructure, such as the grid in a utility, you get the more difficult it is to rationalize the relationship between software and automation. This is one reason vendors like SAP and Oracle have, so far, drawn the lower boundary for their software at the operations or execution level.