ISA NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Jennifer Infantino
(919) 990-9287
jinfantino@isa.org
ISA's SP100 Committee Merges Working Groups
Houston, TX (19 October 2006) - Wireless Systems for Automation, ISA's SP100 standards committee, announced today the approval of a motion to merge two working groups. ISA SP100.11, which covers industrial process measurement and control, and ISA SP100.14, which focuses on optimized solutions for industrial monitoring, will be combined into ISA SP100.11a, a new working group.
The committee unanimously approved the merger and work is already underway within the group. The committee is holding meetings and working sessions all week at ISA EXPO 2006.
"This marks the first step in the convergence of a number of proposed solutions that were presented to the committee at the Call for Proposal conference held at ISA in early September," said ISA SP100 committee co-chair Wayne Manges of Oak Ridge National Labs.
"We are all very encouraged by the similarity and compatibility of the ideas submitted for enabling us to move forward so rapidly towards a converged architecture for the standard. There is a wealth of industry experience within the committee and a desire among users and vendors to work toward an optimal solution that will satisfy user needs worldwide," added ISA SP100 committee co-chair Richard Sanders of Exxon Mobil.
Co-chairs of the new working group will be Dan Sexton of GE Research and Pat Kinney of Kinney Consultants LLC. The scope of the consolidated effort will define the OSI layer specifications (e.g. PHY, DLL, etc), security specifications, and management (including network and device configuration) specifications for wireless devices serving the Class 1 through 5 industrial environment with some attention to Class 0 for fixed, portable and moving devices. It is the intent of this project to work toward a level of coexistence with other wireless devices anticipated in the industrial work space, such as 802.11x, 802.16x, cell phones, and more. The group also intends to work to a level of interoperability with communication networks anticipated in the industrial work space, such as 802.3, 802.11x, 802.16x, HART, and others.
Following a series of discussions this week, the committee plans to meet electronically and via teleconference over the next few weeks. The next major meeting will be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 12-14 December 2006. For additional details on the meeting or the SP100 activities contact ISA Standards Manager Lois Ferson at (919) 990-9227 or lferson@isa.org.
About ISA
Founded in 1945, ISA (www.isa.org) is a leading, global, nonprofit organization that is setting the standard for automation by helping over 30,000 worldwide members and other professionals solve difficult technical problems, while enhancing their leadership and personal career capabilities. Based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, ISA develops standards; certifies industry professionals; provides education and training; publishes books and technical articles; and hosts the largest conference and exhibition for automation professionals in the Western Hemisphere. ISA is the founding sponsor of The Automation Federation (www.automationfederation.org).
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