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News Release from: IMS Research
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 04 November 2002
Web-enabled automation device market to
treble
A new study predicts that the market for web-enabled automation devices will treble over the next two years and will significantly change shopfloor communications.
A new study from IMS Research, the automation market research specialist, predicts strong growth for web-enabled automation devices Already suppliers in Europe and North America are estimated to generate in excess of $50 million from dedicated web-enabled automation products, and over the next two years this market is forecast to almost treble
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 31 Jan 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Web-enabled automation is a leading edge trend in the industrial sector that awill inspire significant changes in the way companies implement communication systems on the factory floor.
The increasing use of Ethernet in control systems is providing the long-term impetus for web-based functionality.
However, solutions such as intelligent gateways, which serve-up web connectivity to almost any existing automation product, provide immediate access to web-based automation and its associated benefits.
According to senior analyst Adrian Lloyd, "this market is no longer at an early innovator stage.
Admittedly, many of the initial players in this market were small sized companies, but recent product announcements from Rockwell, Honeywell and Siemens, who join Schneider Automation which has been promoting this technology for several years now, highlights the structure of the supplier base is starting to change.
At the end of 2000, only around 15 suppliers offered web-enabled functionality, by mid-2002 in excess of 40 vendors had introduced products with this type of functionality." Web-enabled functionality may appear another over-hyped technology, particularly given the current sentiment towards anything web or dot-com orientated.
However, unlike other web initiatives its potential in industrial applications is real, and the benefits of low cost and simple remote access to automation infrastructure are substantial.
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