Industrial PC solutions score in industrial IT environments
At CeBIT in Hanover between 15 and 21 March 2007, Beckhoff will present products and solutions for Industrial PCs as well as PC- and Ethernet-based control applications for the second time. True to the trade fair motto "Join the vision", IPC technology from Beckhoff is now also conquering the production-related IT domain and the building automation sector.
In factory automation applications Beckhoff components are primarily used for machine control.
At CeBIT, Beckhoff as a PC and Panel supplier will demonstrate that these components can also be used for a wide range of applications outside the world of automation.
Examples are production data acquisition (PDC), operation & monitoring (HMI), or information panels in industrial IT environments close to the production line. Beckhoff Industrial PCs and Control Panels offer optimum solutions wherever industrial customers use consistent IPC standards and require identical configurations.
At the CeBIT booth Beckhoff will provide information about PC-based control solutions and products from the comprehensive Industrial PC range, including Control Panels and Panel PCs, Ethernet Panels as thin clients for MES or ERP systems, and Embedded PCs. In addition, Beckhoff will present new water- and dust-proof "Economy" Control Panels as innovative control elements for production-related IT applications.
In-house technology know-how:
Beckhoff IPC technology is ideally suited for industrial IT applications. Based on years of experience with PC-based automation, Beckhoff understands the challenges of the industrial PC world.
Compared with standard PC components, Industrial PCs from Beckhoff are characterised by long-term availability, rugged design, variety, and a high degree of flexibility.
Long-term availability is one of the essential benefits of Beckhoff Industrial PCs. The products are available in the same configuration for many years. One of the reasons for this degree of continuity is the use of Intel processors from the Embedded line.
For chipsets and BIOS, Beckhoff is co-operating with long-standing partners and relies on in-house technology know-how: Beckhoff has its own motherboard and BIOS development section and is therefore able to respond quickly to new developments and customer requirements.
On the software side Beckhoff also offers an interface between the automation world and the higher-level IT world, in the form of the TwinCAT automation software, which enables interfacing with the ERP level via the standardised OPC interface.