Real-Time Data Integration

That takes intelligent data from devices and sends it toany point within an enterprise where the
information is needed,says John Keever, executive vice president and chief technology officer. This communication is enabled by native drivers,message-queuing systems, mail and maintenance systems, andgeneric database interfaces, he adds.

A pure Java or Microsoft Windows .Net workbench runningon a personal computer (PC) or desktop system comprises theplatform’s main software components. And at the software’s coreare a run-time component, which handles real-time data, and anenterprise-transaction component, which handles moving information from the enterprise.

Those core elements permit bi-directional data flow. “Once adevice becomes initiated, it can literally go into a database, pullinformation and store it in memory,” Keever explains. At theappropriate time, data go out to a message queue, then into a programmable logic controller (PLC). From the enterprise, requestsmay also originate through a series of Web-oriented application
programming interfaces, or APIs.

Having a component-based flexible architecture, the technologyuses native interface protocols that vendors provide. “If an Oracledatabase is being used, deviceWise utilizes the official Oracle-released connection link to that database. Likewise for IBM, andthe like,” Keever says. What allows interoperability with thoseinformation technology paths is deviseWise’s Common Operations Run-time Environment, or CORE, Keever observes. “Itenables us to transport data simultaneously to Microsoft SQL(structured query language) Server, IBM DB2, Oracle or othersystems,” he says. “It also allows us to transport data downstreamto a Mitsubishi controller, a Rockwell controller, a Siemens controller or some other type of device.” Keever notes that the platform also supports legacy interfaces for non-Web-based systems.

Failsafe

The platform is designed to offer end-users constant, reliabledata access. To establish primary and failover channels, the technology can operate on at least two channels over Ethernet connections, Keever indicates. “If there is a [main channel] failure,the user would still have a secondary link active to access information and data.” There’s also a “store-and-forward” subsystemthat activates if a link is lost. The technology automatically goesinto failover mode then, and stores all data—even several days’worth—in a controller until the link recovers, he says.

因为安全始终是一个问题,数据流是encrypted fromthe workbench to the deviceWise-enabled product. “We also havesome ports for Secure Socket Layer that allow encrypted linksup into the enterprise,” Keever adds. The platform’s rules-basedpolicy-management system allows end-users “to exercise verygranular control over access to the data or processes,” he says.

What he calls the platform’s “split-brain behavior” facilitates itsdrag-and-drop functionality. That allows end-users to create a logical name for either the physical device or enterprise domain. “I couldcall a database ‘production data,’ for example,” he suggests. Using thetechnology’s workbench, a user could configure the drag-and-droptool to take data from the device domain and drop it into a databaseelement. “That is a very easy, connect-the-dots behavior between the
two domains,” he explains.

A video display terminal anywhere on the network could show thatconnectivity. “It can be created on a laptop that a factory engineercarries,” Keever says. “Or it can be running on a desktop back at thecorporate technology center.”

It appears deviceWISE 2.0’s first commercial deployment willbe through vendor Mitsubishi Electric Automation Inc. (www.meau.com), Vernon Hills, Ill. “We anticipate limited availabilityin January ’08 and general availability in May ’08,” forecastsTrayton Jay, director of special projects, about its Q Series PLCsembedded with this ILS technology.