Ken Ball

Having about half the attendees and floor space of that in the 1980s and '90s, the ISA show still drew close to 600 exhibitors. The obvious show difference was the lack of major players such as Emerson-Rosemont, Invensys, Group Schneider, Rockwell Automation, and Yokagawa and their elaborate booths. Further, only a few of the larger applications software suppliers participated.

However, the exhibitors seemed to be a friendly lot and were generally happy with the show traffic. Big among the trend products were wireless devices for remote data links ranging from a few feet to a few miles. The move of manufacturing offshore was also apparent by the ever increasing presence of foreign manufacturers looking to serve OEMs.

For example, Howe Precision located in Vancouver BC sells a line of temperature gages and controllers from China. A small gas-filled digital thermometer can be had for under $7 a unit in moderate quantities.

Also interesting were a number of multi-company consortiums. For process operations, the Fieldbus Foundation offers the products and guidance for control loops using Fieldbus, Profibus or Hart protocols--basically open systems which can directly connect to plant or enterprise information systems. The Foundation introduced a Field Device Tool (FDT) which allows any field device to be integrated into a Fieldbus network and incorporates such devices into a common operations, maintenance, and life cycle management system. For more information, visit the Foundation's website: www.fieldbus.org.

Along the loop control path, another exhibiting group was the new Modbus Organization promoting Modbus as an open standard and offering conformance testing for the Modbus TCP/IP. Membership is open to suppliers, users and persons interested in assurance of interoperability of equipment from various sources. Founded by Control Technology CEO Ken Crater, the Modbus Organization contact is Lenore Tracey at 508-435-7170 or visit the website: www.modbus.org.

The Control Systems Integrator Association was well represented by many of their 140 plus members. They announced a name change to The Control and Information System Integrators Association but still maintain the same acronym, CSFA. Collectively, their members' revenues total over $1 billion in automation revenues. The organization offers industry assured professional performance in the design and installation of automation systems and the association provides the integrators with any special needs or global logistics support. For more information visit the CSFA website at www.controlsys.org