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by Stephanie Neil, MA Editorial Staff Posted on Sunday, February 24, 2008 5:00:00 AM Sign Up to receive Daily News Alerts in your E-mail Inbox    | Abstract: | Mitsubishi, ILS, and IBM join forces to provide a reference architecture for plant floor to enterprise integration that combines control logic with connectivity software delivered via a services-oriented architecture. |
| Keywords: | plant floor enterprise integration, device-to-IT connectivity, SOA automation appliance |
It's a common assumption that integration between a plant floor and an enterprise system must happen within the application layer called MES. While integrating automation and IT systems via MES has been the chosen path for many manufacturers, there is another way that bypasses what can become a confusing array of application programming interfaces. The alternative solution, called device-to-IT connectivity, relies on an automation appliance to bring data from controllers directly into the enterprise. Of course, data must be managed and directed toward the right applications, and that's where a service-oriented architecture (SOA) comes in. This approach may appear simple, but it is actually a bit complicated. For example, where does one buy an SOA-based automation appliance that will meet industry-specific needs? Well, if you are in the automotive industry, take a look at what IBM, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., and ILS Technology LLC are doing. In January, the trio announced an automotive reference architecture that combines Mitsubishi's iQ Automation programmable automation controller embedded with ILS Technology's deviceWISE connectivity software with a connectivity interface called MX MES Interface IT and IBM's SOA. [Click to continue] |
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