As Terri Clark sings, "Size isn't everything."

This is one of the smallest ISA shows ever, with 8000 non-vendor attendees, out of a total of about 10,000, so far anyway. But I've spoken to many exhibitors who have said that they were pleased with the results. It might be that we all lowered our expectations to the point where this is a win, and if that's the case, so what. What is true is that it is unlikely that the show itself will die. It is also highly unlikely that it will grow enormously, even in its alternate venue in Houston. And as long as we understand why, it shouldn't matter. The show is the size and has always been the size the industry will support. Right now, that's much smaller than in previous years. One of the things that is obvious here is that this is the "process sensors show." The big automation vendors of DCS systems aren't here and didn't bring the big iron, with one significant exception: Invensys. The big MES and ERP integration software folks the same. Those people are saving themselves for their own user groups, like Rockwell, Honeywell, and Emerson. Even big systems company Yokogawa brought basically their field instrumentation products, and not the DCS stuff. We also have seen a number of very interesting new exhibitors, like Flexim, and others. We've seen some new products, and a lot of oldies but goodies. On the whole, not a bad effort, ISA. Walt