Walt Boyes' Blog

I've told you before that Kevin Roach, Rick Dolezal, et al are really serious about making Rockwell Automation a player in Process Automation. Rockwell, I've noted, has finally realized that they already do about 20% of their automation revenue from process plants-- and not just the discrete and hybrid parts of those plants, either, but no-kidding process and batch process … [Read more...] about Rockwell Software– it's looking like they're for real…

ABB reports what they say are really good numbers for 2006 Q3 in process automation: Process Automation Division 2006 Q3 key figures Q3 06 Q3 05 Change $ millions unless otherwise indicated US$ Local Orders 1,828 1,227 49% 44% Revenues 1,322 1,183 12% 9% EBIT 139 88 58% EBIT margin (%) 10.5% 7.4% Cash flow from operating activities 171 45 Demand for … [Read more...] about From the more good news department…

A major automation supplier sent me a press release this morning, in PDF. When I tried to extract text from it so I could run it on ControlGlobal.com, I discovered that THE STUPID RELEASE WAS COPY PROTECTED! I guess they don't want me to print their press release. So I won't. And don't bother asking who it was, either...because I figure they know who they are, and nobody else … [Read more...] about The latest contribution to the PR Wall of Shame…

Control's December Preview • In December’s CONTROL Magazine: Editorial Control Is Truly Global The world of process automation is flat, and very small. Control's Walt Boyes comments. Cover Story The 16th Annual Top 50 While this is the 16th Top 50, it is also the first co-branded ARC/Control Top 50 report. CONTROL’s Walt Boyes and ARC's Larry O'Brien report on the top of the … [Read more...] about What December's Control will bring you…

Slashdot, the true home of all geeks in the known universe, is reporting this morning: An anonymous reader writes, "NewScientistTech has an interesting story about a river sensor network that not only measures water depth and flow, but also forms a wireless computing grid to calculate possible flooding scenarios." From the article: "If the river's behavior starts to change, the … [Read more...] about Wireless from Slashdot