In December of 2011, the Fieldbus Foundation announced the release of an extension to its technology we are calling FOUNDATION™ for Remote Operations Management. The event, which was held at Lee College (FOUNDATION Certified Training Partner), had all of the major automation publications in attendance to cover this major new initiative. 

Remote Operations Management-- the management of automation assets and resources that are geographically dispersed – is one of the fastest growing segments of the process automation business today. Today, the ROM segment is plagued with a high degree of customization, solutions that are expensive and not easily configurable, and a break and fix mentality when it comes to asset management.

FOUNDATION for ROM allows users to implement a true predictive and proactive maintenance strategy for remote assets that could not previously support one. Data from devices on multiple networks, both wired (H1 & HART) and wireless (ISA 100.11a & WirelessHART), can be brought into the FOUNDATION fieldbus infrastructure, which provides a single environment for management of diagnostic data, alarms and alerts, data quality, control in the field capability, and object oriented block structure. 

FOUNDATION for Remote Operations Management promises to change the world of remote operations management for pipeline supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), tank farms and terminals, SAG-D farms, offshore platforms, and water/wastewater facilities. Advanced knowledge of the process is required to operate sophisticated processes in an exclusively remote fashion, and the increased level of process and diagnostic information from fieldbus-compatible devices allows users to make intelligent decisions about the process and then act on them. This solution is key to improved integration of critical functional areas, including machinery health monitoring, safety interlocks, fire & gas detection systems, and video surveillance. Enabling the use of FOUNDATION fieldbus-based devices in remote applications marks a step change in the visibility industrial organizations have into their operations. Remote diagnostics via FOUNDATION fieldbus provides significant improvement in labor costs by avoiding the need to send maintenance personnel on unnecessary trips to the field to check or diagnose problems with instrumentation without the benefit of remote diagnostic data. In the oil & gas industry, for example, the use of FOUNDATION fieldbus and the remote access to devices it affords can reduce the exposure and risk operations personnel face in the hazardous environment of an offshore platform.

Access to high-quality process and equipment health data ultimately increases a user's profitability by minimizing downtime and increasing production, which results from well informed operational, maintenance, and management decisions.

Check out the unveiling of FOUNDATION for Remote Operations Management 

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8USUSpM2e14

Pictures - http://www.flickr.com/photos/fieldbusfoundation/sets/72157628307980683/

Blog -  http://foundationfieldbus.blogspot.com/search/label/FOUNDATION%20for%20ROM

Discover the value behind this exciting new technology in these informative resources

ROM Whitepaper	ROM F.A.Q.	ROM Background	Global Demonstrations

The Fieldbus Foundation, along with it's ROM sponsoring companies, is planning/executing live demonstrations at prominent end user facilities all across the globe. The initiative will take place between 2012 through 2015. Keep reading on the next page to learn where we'll be, and how our member companies are taking active rolls in developing this exciting new technology!
>Global Demonstrations<

Continue reading...