Taking Care of Users Tops Triconex Priority List

Sept. 21, 2009

Invensys Broadens Its Triconex Safety System Offering with Management Software

"Triconex still acts like the little company that could, even though we've long been part of our larger Invensys organization," said Joseph Scalia, control system architect, Invensys Operations Management. "And while Triconex isn't going anywhere, we are retooling because the needs of our users are being retooled. We've reinvested to deliver the technologies that our users say they need. We've also continued to honor our users' commitment to Triconex by keeping our form factor the same and by providing a migration path for application software. This ensures an attractive path forward for our users' current SIS (safety instrumented system) technology.”

Scalia and Alejandro Fung, Triconex's safety systems marketing manager, presented and presided over the "Triconex Update and Roadmap" brand session this week at the 2009 Invensys North America Client Conference.

"You make a lot of pieces, but what about some software to tie it to together?" Invensys' Joseph Scalia on the company's intention to broaden its Triconex safety system offering with management software.Scalia first traced Triconex's first 25 years of innovation, such as the introduction of its first Tricon v5 TMR controller in 1986, its first TÜV Functional Safety certification for ESD in 1991 and the launch of its Trident TMR controller in 2000. More recent milestones include the release of Tricon v10.3 and TCM with embedded OPC server and Achilles' Cybersecurity certification in 2007, and the launch of Trident HART v2.0 in 2008. Upcoming releases include Trident's integration with Invensys' InFusion enterprise control system in 2010.

Meanwhile, this coming December, Triconex plans to release its Trident v2.1.1 high-resolution, digital input and enhanced pulse input. In April 2010, it will launch its Triconex Soft Suite with Windows 7 and Server 2000 support, as well as its TriStation 1131 v4.7, EnDM v2.4, SOE Recorder v4.2, DDE Server v2.3 and Emulator v1.0. And, in July 2010, Triconex will debut its Safety View v1.0, which is a safety, health and environment video display unit (SHE VDU) with bypass management.

"People have been saying, 'You make a lot of pieces, but what about some software to tie it to together?' Well, Safety View v1.0 is our first whack at safety software," said Scalia. Though he acknowledges that software is a relatively new area for Triconex, Scalia encourages users to evaluate and consider using Safety View because it comes from the company that has protected their critical investments and plant operations running, with virtually no spurious trips, for more than 20 years.

Looking further down to road, Scalia reports that Triconex plans to pursue intelligent communications from TÜV-certified Foundation fieldbus safety instrumented functions (FF-SIF) devices, FF-SIF compliant logic solvers, and NERC-CIP compliance.

"We're going to continue to honor our design premises, while we keep delivering on your expectations," said Scalia to the user group's members. "You made us your safety and critical control choice for 25 years. Let us prove to you that you made the right choice for the next 25 years.”