Foxboro, a unit of Invensys Production Management, introduced I/A Series A²™ ("A Squared") systems at the 2002 Invensys Showcase Conference and EXPO in Orlando, FL, held on Sept. 9. I/A Series A² systems represent major extensions to the industry-leading I/A Series® open industrial automation system platform. Thousands of I/A Series systems are currently installed in plants around the world, controlling a broad range of industrial processes.
"The A² designation indicates that these new I/A Series systems feature Architecture by ArchestrA™," said Steve Young, vice president and general manager of the I/A Series system platform. "As a result, I/A Series A² system users will be able to take advantage of the latest ArchestrA software applications from across Invensys and from third parties to further improve plant business performance, while reducing application development, integration, and software maintenance costs."
Other significant elements of the initial I/A Series A² system release include new operating systems, new workstation and control software, new workstation platforms, plus new, high-speed communications. These allow I/A Series system users to leverage the latest high-performance commercial technologies within a highly secure, deterministic, and reliable industrial automation system architecture.
"The really good news is that, rather than obsolescing the large installed base of I/A Series systems, our customers can leverage these new I/A Series A² system features and ArchestrA applications to extend the performance and capabilities of their systems," added Young. "This demonstrates our ongoing commitment to keeping the I/A Series continuously current to protect our customers' application investment."
Initial I/A Series A² platform extensions include:
- New, high-performance Windows XP and Solaris 8 (Unix) workstations that can be mixed and matched without restrictions on the same control network. These workstations provide significantly increased capability over previous I/A Series workstations at the same, or lower, cost to further improve the price-to-performance ratio.
- A new Nodebus to Control Network Interface (NCNI) for extending existing 10 Megabit I/A Series fault-tolerant control networks ("Nodebus") with 1 Gigabit Switched Ethernet technology utilizing all-fiber-optic network media (copper options available). This provides a safe, reliable, and high-bandwidth network infrastructure.
I/A Series A² systems are designed to take advantage of current and future ArchestrA software applications. ArchestrA components demonstrated at the Invensys Showcase include:
- New I/A Series Field Device Management (FDM) software, which provides a universal solution for configuring, monitoring, and managing any FDT-compliant field device from the I/A Series system, regardless of device vendor or fieldbus protocol.
- The new Intelligent Automation Configuration Component (IACC), which combines all I/A Series configuration tools -- system configuration, control configuration, and operator display configuration -- into a common, well-integrated environment with advanced "drag-and-drop" configuration and "Intelligent Design Studio" functionality.
- The I/A Series DA Server, which provides an easy-to-configure, easy-to-deploy connection between Wonderware FactorySuite A² applications and an I/A Series control system, resulting in a more comprehensive and easily integrated plantwide solution.
- The SuiteVoyager® 2.0 manufacturing information portal application, which can be used to provide I/A Series system users with customized views of both real-time and historical information anywhere, anytime via Web-connected workstations, PCs and PDAs.
