Remote - Summer 2013 - (Page 28)

Industry News Numerex Expands its Capabilities in Remote Monitoring Numerex Corp. has announced the acquisition of certain assets, technology and intellectual property, including a portfolio of patents, that will support and widen its M2M platform capabilities in real-time monitoring of critical assets and events. This acquisition consists of certain revenue-generating assets including technology in IP and satellite communications, video services and customer portal services that enhance interactive platform capabilities. It is expected that these added capabilities will rapidly expand Numerex’s range of critical monitoring services, addressing the needs of several vertical sectors including remote monitoring and access control, alarm security and emergency services. Although the acquisition of assets includes an active base of customers that currently generate recurring revenue, its financial impact will be modest during 2013. Total consideration for the purchase, as previously disclosed, was $3.9 million that was allocated about evenly between goodwill and intangible assets. As a result, amortization charges will approximate $90,000 in the fourth quarter 2012 and $400,000 for the full year 2013. Fourth quarter 2012 general and administration expense will include an estimated $50,000 of acquisition-related costs. In addition, there will be $15,000 in interest charges included in the fourth quarter of last year and it is expected that $60,000 in annual interest charges will be incurred in 2013, as a result of the transaction structure that included approximately $2 million in seller-financing. With the newly acquired patented technology, Numerex’s customers will gain access to a complementary set of options and technical support in broadband-based M2M application management, which leverages the pervasiveness of the Internet and Numerex’s efficient solution development and deployment capabilities. The technology enhancements, as they are incorporated into Numerex’s M2M Service Delivery Platform, are designed to be sold by broadband service providers and others that plan to offer next generation M2M solutions to their customers. Users of Numerex M2M platforms will be able to remotely control their applications, view live video or event-driven video clips, and more from their iPhone, iPad, Android device, PC or Mac. How Sustainable is an Industrial Fieldbus Infrastructure? A study by IMS Research estimates that fieldbus protocols accounted for 75 percent of new industrial automation component network connections in 2011. This is projected to fall to 69 percent in 2016. New network connections using fieldbus protocols are still some way ahead that of Ethernet, yet growth of Ethernet connections is expected to be considerably higher to 2016. “More industrial automation component vendors are offering Ethernet provision as standard on their devices, said Tom Moore, Analyst, Industrial Ethernet, Fieldbus, and Wireless Research, IMS Research. “A number of vendors released new products in 2012 which put the emphasis squarely on connectivity via Ethernet technology. As these vendors push the adoption of Ethernet protocols it requires machine builders and end users to switch from older fieldbus technologies.” While fieldbus solutions offer connection speeds that may be fast enough for certain applications, they do not offer a unified networking approach, such as with Ethernet technologies. It’s not just unification that is an issue. Simplifying the network can reduce company overheads through an integrated system. This is difficult to achieve with fieldbus technologies. Instead end users will usually have separate office IT divisions and a factory IT divisions. Ethernet adoption across a plant or factory provides a better environment for sharing information and a single division with responsibility for the overall network. The benefits of which are likely to be less downtime and lower overall cost. The future still is strong for fieldbus, with new connections still increasing year-on-year. However, it is undeniable that industrial Ethernet growth will remain higher than that of fieldbus. IHS believes that within 10 to 15 years industrial Ethernet will be the dominant networking technology in industrial environments and almost all components will offer Ethernet connectivity as standard. 28 www.RemoteMagazine.com DNP Users Group Releases New Application Note AN2013-001 DNP3 Advanced Photovoltaic Profile The DNP Users Group has released a new Application Note, “AN2013001 DNP3 Advanced Photovoltaic Profile,” which describes a standard data point configuration, set of protocol services and settings for communicating with photovoltaic (PV) generation and storage systems using the DNP3 standard (IEEE Std 1815-2012). The Application Note provides inverter manufacturers, utilities and system integrators with standard-based methods for integration of inverter-based photovoltaic and battery storage systems with utility communication and control systems. It enables the use of DNP3 to implement the full slate of common smart inverter functions identified by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in IEC/TR 6185090-7. The Advanced Photovoltaic Profile supersedes a Basic Photovoltaic Profile which was released by the group in 2011. Inverter-based photovoltaic and battery storage systems are believed to have the potential to provide a broad range of grid-support functions, but these capabilities cannot be effectively utilized by grid operators unless they are implemented and exposed in standardized ways. Common communication methods such as the DNP3 AN2013-001 make it possible for many different types, brands and sizes of distributed energy resources (DER) to be integrated and utilized in a uniform, consistent way. Such cooperative integration could enable higher levels of DER usage in utility distribution systems and create higher value for the distributed resources. This advancement was made possible through research led by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) funded in part by the US Department of Energy’s Sunshot Initiative under the Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems – Advance Concepts (SEGIS-AC) program. The SunShot Initiative’s goal is to reduce the total costs of photovoltaic solar energy systems so they are cost competitive at large scale with other forms of energy, without subsidies, before the end of the decade. EPRI and the DOE are presently conducting field demonstrations with several major utilities to test and validate the advanced PV inverter capabilities and utilize the new DNP3 standard to enable remote monitoring and management of solar plants. ISA Publishes Book that Reveals Ways to Protect National Infrastructure from Cyber Attack The International Society of Automation (ISA) has published a book that outlines clear and proven security principles, practices and standards that, when properly applied, can safeguard nations’ critical infrastructure, defense establishment and production capabilities from the risks of cyber attack. Industrial Automation and Control System Security Principles by Ronald L. Krutz, Ph.D., P.E., CISSP, ISSEP, a scientist and consultant specializing in cyber security services, illustrates that while cyber warfare presents considerable challenges to essential national assets (such as refineries, chemical plants, manufacturing operations, power plants and pipelines) there are highly effective, structured defenses against such aggression. Dr. Krutz’s book reveals a practical, implementable cyber security formula that incorporates the fundamentals of information system security while addressing the unique requirements of industrial automation and control systems. “While there are numerous and worthy publications that discuss the protection of computer-based systems in a wide variety of implementations, these documents focus more on general terms, mostly in the area of risk analysis, and apply to disparate areas of applications,” said Dr. Krutz. “In this book, I focus on in-depth treatment of proven, clearly identified cyber security principles, practices and standards, and how they can be tailored and applied to the special environments of industrial automation and control systems.” In separate chapters of the book, Dr. Krutz also highlights the importance of staying up to date on technological trends affecting future industrial automation and controls systems, and providing the necessary training to cyber security-related personnel. At the end of all chapters are review questions. Answers are provided in the appendix. http://www.RemoteMagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Remote - Summer 2013

Editor's Choice
Grid Modernization and Cyber Security Trends
Navigating the Big Data Jungle - How Utilities Can Rise To the Challenge with Analytics
Remote Monitoring: Is it a Global Trend?
Critical Infrastructure, Crital Need
Solutions for Transformer Monitoring
Securing Remote Networks Against Cyber Security – NetFlow to the Rescue
ZigBee Resource Guide
SCADA
Networking
Remote Conference Update
Security
Onsite Power
Industry News
Application Feature

Remote - Summer 2013