使用WiFi连接的平板电脑，智能手机和移动设备的使用开始在工业自动化和过程控制中产生爆炸性的增长。移动技术的集成正在迅速改变景观，因为它可以降低成本，提高运营效率，提高生产率并使用现有人员和资源来增加吞吐量。
任何涉及使用纸质文件和集中数据输入数据的过程都是移动解决方案的候选者。从纸质过程转换为输入和移动设备上的显示大大提高了工人的生产率。错误大大减少了，报告过程加速了。在已经连接的制造世界中，这引入了更多功能。
扩大销售或现场支持人员和经理可以访问的数据的数量和类型可以避免维护重复的手动系统，并提供更好，更快的客户支持。从购买到履行到商店的地板，现场测量和报告，移动设备正在集成以产生可观的生产率提高。
我的建议：而不是试图在移动设备上复制传统软件，而是专注于寻找优化基于移动设备的系统的方法。在很大程度上，这涉及通过确保在移动设备上可用内容来确定对工厂或现场用户的数据和至关重要的数据。
移动设备作为薄客户
For decades, the personal computer (PC) and “industrial” variations have been used almost everywhere in the factory and plant environment. But, with all the failure-prone components like fans and hard drives, plus all the time it takes to keep the operating system up-to-date, the PC-centric period is winding down.
这种转变已经开始用“薄客户端”产品替换传统的PC硬件 - 无烟，无扇形，没有硬盘，没有存储空间，没有上传或更新的程序，有时甚至没有居民操作系统。
Tethered-hardware thin-clients and mobile equivalents—tablets, smartphones and other portable devices, deliver vastly improved productivity and yield drastically reduced total cost of ownership.
To manage widely distributed thin-clients requires a software platform that allows applications to be easily distributed to the right person, at the right location, at the right time. That is what ThinManager does. This groundbreaking and rapidly evolving software is offered by Automation Control Products, based in Alpharetta, Ga.
Using ThinManager, plant operators and management personnel can see what any system is doing, not just near the machine or equipment, or from the control room, but from any location. Information and displays can be accessed from anywhere with tethered thin-clients and mobile tablets or smart-phones. Internet access allows management of systems from locations many miles or time zones away.
Security issues
Securely deploying mobile devices is a major challenge, especially as integration with business applications means more sensitive information is accessible if a device is lost or stolen.
移动设备管理（MDM）软件使组织能够跟踪智能手机和平板电脑，确定网络上的用户并从安全基础中部署应用程序。随着复杂的恶意软件在工业和控制环境中变得越来越普遍，MDM是确保可以使用移动设备而不会使系统处于巨大风险的情况下的重要工具。
Stuxnet和类似的工业系统安全问题使每个人都意识到，通过USB端口，SD卡插槽和CD/DVD驱动器等非安全接口的多个访问点可能是严重的问题。典型的瘦客户没有驱动器，尽管某些系带产品可能具有USB插槽。默认情况下，ThinManager会在其管理的薄客户端上禁用所有USB端口。只有通过附加的IP-Cameras可查看的授权用户才能访问敏感的应用程序。确实，这是针对未经授权的系统访问的最终防御。
Tablets and smartphones don’t have outside access points except through secure WiFi. However, their very portability introduces serious security issues: They may be lost, stolen or “borrowed,” allowing unauthorized access to sensitive data. The “freebie” is the camera, which can be used to view the user, with image recognition to authorize or disable the device.
>>吉姆·平托（Jim Pinto）是技术未来主义者，国际发言人和自动化行业评论员。您可以通过电子邮件发送给他jim@jimpinto.comor review his prognostications and predictions on his website:www.jimpinto.com.
