Walt Boyes' Blog

This press release from Profibus' organization (PTO-- whatever that means now that they've decided to abandon the German) executive director Mike Bryant continues the obfuscatory trend begun by the Foundation Fieldbus at their user group last month. Look, folks, "there can be only one." (If you don't get the reference, google "Highlander.") Any marginally competent definition … [Read more...] about Do fieldbuses have burning pants?

ISA has decided to offer a reprint of the book that Eddie Habibi and Bill Hollifield of PAS self-published last year. ISA's version is paperback, with a rather nice cover, and will sell for $79, while PAS' version will remain in print, and sell for $69 in hardback. There's something wrong with this picture... PAS competitors have noted that the book, while well written and … [Read more...] about Alarm management book reprinted…

The Karlsruhe meeting was a big success for SP100. Congratulations to the people who put the end users ahead of vendor advantage. ISA-SP100.11a Unanimously Approves Scope and Systems Architecture for Release of Draft Standard Research Triangle Park, NC (30 March 2007) -- At a recent ISA-SP100.11a working group meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany, 60 attendees unanimously approved … [Read more...] about SP100- Playing well with others

We forget that Honeywell HPS is bigger than its process automation business... NEW HONEYWELL MACHINE INTERFACE ENHANCES DATA-COLLECTION CAPABILITIES LETS Machine Interface Collects Production Data from Any Machine ACTON, Massachusetts, March 26, 2007 – Honeywell Wintriss today introduced the LETS Machine Interface (LMI), an operator terminal that enables information to be … [Read more...] about Honeywell Can TOO Do Discrete Automation…

Many of you know Linda VandeVrede. Here's an email from one of the finest PR practitioners in the automation industry. Linda was originally scheduled to teach the class I taught at the 2006 ISA Marketing and Sales Summit. Linda had to bow out for personal reasons. So, from Linda: Hi, just a quick note to my friends to let you know that the 2nd edition of my book is now … [Read more...] about How to do PR the right way…