by Kenneth McPherson, Beckhoff Automation

 
Today there are many buzz words around "Industry 4.0" and the "Industrial Internet of Things" (IIOT). If we look back in history, according to the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI 2011), we read that the first industrial revolution... ( more)

with Deon van Aardt, Wonderware

 

If you're in manufacturing or mining, a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system will be largely responsible for the smooth running of your central wealth-creating processes - the reason why your company was started in the first place. As such, any system selection or purchase decision... ( more)

In conversation with Peter Ruchatz, Veeam

by Hans van de Groenendaal, features editor, EngineerIT

The new IT world is out there! At the recently held VeeamON 2015 Expo in Las Vegas I had the opportunity of a conversation with Peter Ruchatz, chief marketing officer of Veeam. The company was founded in 2006, and has its global headquarters... ( more)

Data is the new oil - so how are we protecting it?

by Neil Cosser, Gemalto

What motivates the bad guys? Hackers are driven to our data for two, simultaneous reasons: they are after the "easy money". "Easy", in that right now there may be a hundred thousand potential ways of getting access to data, so why make it too hard?... ( more)

Virtual panel discussion: Drones

Compiled by Hans van de Groenenhaal, EE Publishers

   

Drones are a promising part how we manage our world. They will be the intelligent connection between people, process, data, and things to create new value and opportunities. We asked a number of experts to share their views about various aspects of the drone industry and the... ( more)

South Africa on the verge of a digital business revolution

Information from Software AG

   

Buzz phrases such as "enterprise digitisation" are discussed among ICT and business industries alike with increasing frequency, but often hold little meaning to business decision makers who have historically left ICT initiatives to ICT-focussed departments. The global shift... ( more)

Robots automate swab manufacture 

                            

Near real-time stockpile volume calculations 

by Ian du Toit, Optron

What's new in thermal imaging

Information from Flir

 

There have been several technological milestones in the development of thermal imaging that have prompted its transition from being a specialist detection tool to one that has been optimised for mainstream use. Indeed these advances have resulted in the technology becoming the... ( more )

New advances in energy harvesting power conversion

Five ways to build flexibility into industrial applications with FPGAs

by Jason Chiang and Stefano Zammattio, Altera Corporation

 

This article describes using an industrial-grade field-programmable gate array (FPGA) as a coprocessor or system on a chip (SoC) to bring flexibility to industrial applications. Providing a single, highly integrated platform for multiple industrial products, FPGAs can substantially reduce... ( more )  

Voice will become data

by Hans van de Groenendaal, features editor, EngineerIT

 

The adoption of long term evolution (LTE) is following the example of 3G but at a much faster rate. However for telcos who are evolving to LTE it is not an option to operate separate networks for voice and data. Voice is set to become data and an integral part of LTE. LTE and voice... ( more )

IDIoT: ID for the internet of things

Information from Molex

    

What is the internet of things? The term internet of things (IoT) was coined in 1999 by Kevin Ashton, a British pioneer in RFID networks. That was the origin of the idea of assigning attributes and operating states to things. We see this in the automobile industry, where integrated... ( more)

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Telecoms in Africa

Compiled by Aimée Clarke, EE Publishers