With the tentacles of the desktop environment encroaching across the factory floor, Foxboro Co is claiming that it is bringing industrial control software within the budgets of small to medium-sized manufacturers for the first time. The company is nearing completion of its Microsoft Corp Windows NT version of its I/A Series industrial automation system. Such systems currently run on Unix servers and workstations, pushing the cost out of the reach of many smaller factory owners, which have had to rely on analogue instrumentation or simple programmable controls. But the new system could, said the company, be run from a high-end personal computer under NT. Foxboro, based in the eponymous Massachusetts town and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Siebe Plc of Windsor, Berkshire claims around 13% of the worldwide industrial controls markets. The other main players are Honeywell Inc and Emerson Electric Co, with 20% and 18% respectively. Foxboro reckoned that the market addressed by its I/A Series is currently worth more than $4,000m. For Microsoft, industrial control systems represents an entirely new applications area. Currently, Unix-based I/A Series systems cost from around $20,000, but the NT version, including Windows NT Server, an Intel Corp Pentium-based personal computer and the I/A Series software will start from around $10,000, or ú6,000, according to the company. It is being aimed predominantly at the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Larger-scale industries, such as petrochemicals, oil and cement will still need the Unix variant, the company said. I/A Series for NT is currently in beta testing, due for release at the beginning of October. Honeywell Inc’s industrial control division accounts for roughly 30% of total revenues for the Minneapolis, Minnesota company. It says it has no plans for an NT version of any of its systems. Roger Goodall, systems support specialist for Honeywell in the UK said the company’s Unix-based Scan 3000 system, which starts at around ú50,000 for a complete package, was capable of competing with Foxboro’s new system in the markets that it will be addressing.
