Although major control equipment vendors always try to keep their operator interface hardware and software as proprietary as they can, the rush to use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment is forcing nearly all suppliers into the same technology corner. See "Mmmm, Mmmm, COTS" [CONTROL--July '03, p36] for more on the COTS trend.
With COTS systems, the basic hardware and software come with the same Intel and Microsoft logos.
In fact, looking at the HMIs and OIs listed in this month's roundup, you can see that few vendors bother to list details about the COTS systems that form the base of their products. They may list details about the HMI screens, or the number of I/O you can connect, but few bother to tell you that the hardware is a PC of some kind, the Windows software supports .Net and XML, and the system has Ethernet ports. All that is assumed, because HMI systems are becoming commodities, and they must have those attributes to compete.
Any HMI that is not COTS today probably will be next year. The market is demanding the functionality provided by COTS.
Following is the first of what will be three installments on OIs and HMIs. The next two will be web-published late in the weeks of October 27 and November 3.
