IDC Technologies’ recent Industrial Automation Conference in Johannesburg was a well received success. With the themes of cyber security and convergence much in focus, presentations covered a wide range of topical automation issues. Here is a selection:
Scada communications consultant, Andrew West, gave a keynote presentation on the potential of Smart Grid to meet the challenges of managing energy flow. He used a conceptual model of how a smart grid can merge power networks with existing communications to illustrate the concept.
Doron Kowensky from H3iSquared covered the considerations for network auditing in both reactive and proactive contexts. The message was how to save time and money.
Tony Lange from Optin gave a fascinating account of how artificial intelligence can be used to leverage relationships for more powerful and correct decision making in process control. He showed how relationships can describe complex tacit knowledge, which can then be embedded in computers to complement explicit physical knowledge.
Greg Chantler from Exida Consulting covered the growing importance of control system security and gave a practical 7-step process to improve cyber security practices.
Arthur Bosman from GE Intelligent Platforms talked about new innovations in scada and PLCs. Having leading edge technology is only one element of a successful automation business, the real risk lies in the application programming and engineering. He described the benefits of a solution with PLC and scada applications integrated with embedded vertical domain expertise and cloud computing. This was followed by various case studies, which included a steam cycle solution on a power plant.
Robert Wright from RJ Programmable Techniques talked about a paradigm shift in industrial networking from legacy to converged systems and showed how it is possible to integrate a network from edge to core in a wide variety of industries and applications.
Jaco Hoogenboezem from SCE SA covered distributed network protocols and a toolbox on when to use them, and Noel Walker from Matrikon Moore discussed a case study outlining a robust solution for recording data from a remote site in a poor communication environment with limited bandwidth.
Another highlight was the presentation by Gary Friend from Extech Safety Systems on cyber security in a modern process network. He talked about the myths surrounding network security and how control system security differs from IT security. He also covered firewall technology and the dangers of relying on the Bastion model, followed by guidelines on how a network should be protected.
For more information contact Thuli Zulu, IDC Technologies, +27 (0)11 024 5520, [email protected], www.idc-online.com
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