Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition

At its recent Security Summit, the SANS Institute presented Invensys Process Systems ( www.invensys.com/ps) the 2006 Process Control Security Leadership Award. The award recognizes organizations that are difference-makers in cyber-security for critical enterprise infrastructures.

The SANS citation declared that Invensys has demonstrated that vendors can take much of the pain, cost, and uncertainty out of securing process and SCADA systems. The award identified some Invensys practices, including rigorous pre-testing of operating system updates and software security patches, and additional enhancements such as providing anti-virus within its core distributed control system (DCS) product, that make security better, easier and less expensive for asset owners. These factors, according to SANS, can make the difference between asset owners “betting their system reliability” on security issues, and being able to operate with confidence that security measures have been built in to their control systems.

According to Ernest Rakaczky, program director of process control network security at Invensys Process Systems, vendors need to work closely with enterprise and process asset owners to secure the infrastructure. “We as vendors are controlling major plants,” he said. “That becomes a lifetime arrangement. This means that our security procedures and practices are intertwined with the business operations of our customers.”

Source and more info: automation

OPCWorx is an easy to use software tool that allows you to create and configure an OPC server to communicate with the G3 series HMI, the Data Station Plus or the Enhanced Master, as well as any device that supports Modbus. OPC (OLE for Process Control) is an industry standard that allows software components to exchange data. Most popular SCADA systems can act as OPC clients, and thereby use OPC ’servers’ to perform the actual communications with the field devices.

Any such SCADA package can now communicate with Red Lion products, directly accessing the tags that they contain.

Also, since many of Red Lion products can communicate to an unlimited number of devices via several protocols simultaneously, you now have the option to use such a product to concentrate communications data for transfer to a SCADA package via a single OPC connection.

This can dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of applications that would traditionally require multiple OPC servers.

Source and more info: processingtalk

METROMATICS has released the Dash 8XPM, which provides the capabilities of a high end data acquisition recorder and a dedicated power monitoring system in one useful tool.

With AstroPower’s Dash 8XPM, it is possible to record power trends, events and transients for days, weeks or months at a time.

AstroPower’s device offers a versatile, real-time display of data. In addition to seeing raw power signals, users can also view power displays, phase diagrams, phase displays, harmonics, RMS displays and sequential components in real-time.

AstroPower allows users to monitor and log power anomalies, including power interrupts, power sags, power swells, frequency deviations, harmonics and unbalances in real-time. An unlimited number of power events can be logged to file for later review.

Source and more info: ferret

Honeywell has been honored for its cyber security expertise with a 2006 Control System/SCADA Security Leadership Award from the SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security (SANS) Institute. One of the industry’s largest process control and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) vendors, Honeywell was specifically recognized for rapidly qualifying Microsoft security updates, as well as for using built-in control firewalls. These measures have helped industrial facilities protect their SCADA systems from the growing threat of cyber terrorism.

“Cyber security is one of the fastest-growing concerns in the process industry because a disruption to a process can trigger a disaster that could affect every plant worker and even the surrounding communities,” said Alan Paller, director of the SANS Institute. “Buyers of process control equipment need help from the vendors to protect their systems from attack. Honeywell is leading the industry in making security easier and less expensive for their customers.”

The award was presented by Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Cybersecurity. Honeywell was among 15 recipients of this year’s award.

“The most effective method for controlling process operations is to have an open system that allows devices within a plant to communicate with each other, but an open system can be vulnerable to cyber threats,” said Jack Bolick, president of Honeywell Process Solutions. “Vendors can help ensure that manufacturers can do their jobs without having to worry about their system’s security.”

SCADA is a common process control application that collects data from sensors on the plant floor or in remote locations and sends them to a central computer for management and control. The SANS Institute recognized Honeywell for demonstrating that vendors can eliminate a significant amount of the cost and uncertainty involved in securing SCADA systems.

Source and more info: businesswire

Wonderware, a business unit of Invensys plc, today announced that it has received Frost & Sullivan’s coveted Company of the Year Award for its pioneering work in the human-machine interface (HMI) and manufacturing software technology market segments. The ArchestrA software architecture was recognized as a key industry innovation which has contributed to Wonderware’s marketplace success in combining leading-edge technology with successful business initiatives.

Frost & Sullivan recognized ArchestrA technology as an important industry achievement that fulfills customer requirements for the re-use of engineering from project to project, to reduce development costs and time. The ArchestrA architecture and related Wonderware products built on this technology enable customers to easily adopt new software solutions without abandoning prior investments in automation, production and IT systems.

Source and more info: tmcnet

he Process Control Systems Forum (PCSF), established to improve efficiencies and accelerate the development of best practices crucial to securing control systems worldwide, today released the full conference agenda for its 2nd Annual 2006 Spring Meeting to be held in La Jolla, Ca. on June 6-7. This two-day event builds upon the past year’s efforts by the PCSF to raise awareness for control system security issues, and will feature several keynote sessions, workshops and panel discussions to engage attendees and accelerate the critical work that is being done currently to address these threats.

“Over the past few years, myriad organizations have been established and conferences have been planned that work toward improving control systems security,” said Michael Torppey, PCSF Technical Manager. “While these activities have done a good job of identifying the problems, action to make progress in this area has been slow. Our Spring Meeting is truly a one-of-a- kind event that will provide the venue for our participants to become engaged with others who face similar challenges while cross-connecting them with solution providers. Together, these parties will actively collaborate to not only identify best practices in control systems security, but also collectively work towards providing the tools necessary to put these ideas into practice.”

Source and more info: yahoo

Connecting SCADA systems to Red Lion devices has become even easier with the release of OPCWorx. This easy to use software tool allows you to create and configure an OPC server to communicate with the G3 series HMI, the Data Station Plus or the Enhanced Master, as well as any device that supports Modbus. OPC (OLE for Process Control) is an industry standard that allows software components to exchange data.

Most popular SCADA systems can act as OPC clients, and thereby use OPC ’servers’ to perform the actual communications with the field devices.

Any such SCADA package can now communicate with Red Lion products, directly accessing the tags that they contain.

Also, since many of Red Lion’s products can communicate to an unlimited number of devices via several protocols simultaneously, you now have the option to use such a product to concentrate communications data for transfer to a SCADA package via a single OPC connection.

Source and more info: manufacturingtalk

Expanding its recently acquired Bristol® ControlWave® remote automation technology, Emerson Process Management introduces the ControlWave ExpressPAC, a highly integrated pre-engineered package solution that combines the new ControlWave Express RTU with a variety of options commonly required in SCADA applications.

ControlWave is a flexible remote automation system based on worldwide industry standards for programming and communications. ControlWave combines the best technologies provided by PLC, RTU and automation architectures into a Hybrid system well suited to remote applications in the energy, water, and wastewater industries.

Adding significant scalability to the ControlWave family, the pre-engineered ExpressPAC breaks the price/performance barrier for small integrated RTU products, offering proven ControlWave technology in a value-priced, space efficient package required in small I/O point applications such as water pump, tank, well and reservoir control, wastewater lift station and storm water monitoring, and natural gas well, storage and plunger lift control.

Source and more info: automation

Digit International has announced the Digi Connect WAN IA, a wireless WAN cellular router tailored for industrial automation applications. The router is part of the Digi Connect WAN family of wireless WAN routers, and provides secure cellular GSM or CDMA connections for primary and backup network connectivity. IT is ideal for industrial automation devices like SCADA devices, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and remote terminal units.

The unit acts as a wireless WAN cellular router/gateway, creating secure WAN connections via an Ethernet-to-cellular or serial-to-cellular interface for remote mission-critical data operations. The Digi Connect WAN IA offers industrial hardware and software components, which include a terminal block for power, DIN rail mounting, Class 1, Division 2 certification and Modbus support.

Source and more info: tmcnet

Adlink Technology Inc has introduced a new 4-slot PCI-to-PCI extension system, the PCIS-8580-4S. The product can extend four additional 5V PCI slots to a computer through cable connection.

All PCI I/O cards, data acquisition cards, image capture cards, or motion control cards are located in an extension chassis up to 10m away from the host computer. The system is designed for users who need extra 5V PCI slots and need to utilize I/O devices in a hazardous environment, away from the host computer.

The system utilizes the “serialized bridge” technology to extend the PCI bus. PCI bus signals are serialized and transmit in 4 pairs of 622Mbps LVDS signals to provide a full 132MB/s PCI bandwidth. Automatic error detection and error correction are performed during the transmission to preserve data integrity. This new technology in system also offers a maximum of 10m of extension distance through a cable connection for keeping the host computer in a safe environment. The most important consideration is that the system works as standard PCI bridges and is transparent to the computer system. In other words, all applications and drivers can easily migrate to the PCI-to-PCI extension system without any modification.

Source and more info: nikkeibp