What do users want in software for industrial applications, and what will they want (and get) in the future? Experts from three companies in the field weighed in on what they thought about the present situation, and where they thought things would go in the future.
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| ArchestrA architecture, which runs under Microsoft .NET, is used to develop standardized and interoperable applications for management of continuous processes, discrete manufacturing, and batch processing. |
Hard to miss is the move toward connectivity, flexibility, and modularity. “There’s a big demand for software systems and connectivity and a demand for agility and extensibility,” says Nancy Venable, OEM services program manager at Wonderware. The result, she says, will be “a move away from huge releases and multi-product releases toward more lightweight features that can be implemented fairly quickly.”
“What we are seeing,” says Bob Merlo, vice president at Autodesk’s Manufacturing Solutions Division, “is an end-to-end process view of everything from engineering to order application all the way through product lifecycle management application.” Yet, users don’t want what they don’t need, which means software must be modular. “Rather than having the monolithic applications as the focus for the future you’re going to see more small functional pieces, where the customer can pick the pieces that they need,” Venable says.
There’s also a need for backward compatibility. “One of the challenges for software vendors,” says Kamran Shah, LabView group manager at National Instruments, “is to be able to leverage new technologies without negatively impacting customers.”
Just as the operations area needs modular software that can be mixed and matched, users of design software want to be able to re-use parts and assemblies, Merlo says. Part of the answer to this, he suggests, will be for design software to concentrate not so much on the shape of a part as on its function, and choose the appropriate structure from a library of material properties and shapes.
Bowing Toward Redmond
Despite
Time magazine’s selection of Bill Gates as one of its persons of the year, there are still those who resist — or resent — the Microsoft hegemony. Will things change as a result? “I think probably that connectivity with Microsoft is…stronger than ever,” says Venable. Part of the reason, she suggests, is that Microsoft is “moving away from the monolithic approach as well. And being able to abstract the user of a complex piece of software from actually having to be an expert in the code that it’s written in.”
This is important because operating system changes can lead to difficulty in supporting the installed base. “One of the challenges I think we all face,” says Shah, “is there are new technologies always cropping up that we can leverage. Let’s look at, say, software standards. You had COM, DCOM, CORBA, .NET, and ActiveX. As a developer of a test system, I'm looking at longevity of my factory floor and productivity along those lines. So you always have this balance of being able to leverage new technologies, but also to be able to leverage a stable platform without having to rewrite my code.”
Microsoft, says Venable, has realized that the needs of manufacturing are different from those of the front office. “So their .NET technology and the common framework in the communication and connectivity that goes along with it, along with a focus on standards, fits right in.” Wonderware, she goes on, has incorporated that into its ArchestrA technology.
Windows is, of course, not the only platform available. “Now as we’ve moved into conceptual design we have found that there is actually a predominant Apple environment, so the Macintosh is becoming a part of that particular front end conceptual design,” says Merlo. National Instruments makes sure that its LabVIEW products support Linux, Windows, and the Macintosh. In fact, the company recently announced that it has extended Linux support to more than 200 devices, releasing new virtual instrumentation tools for Linux operating systems.
Some people are attracted to the open-source software movement. One thing that can make open source software attractive is cost. “There are some facilities...that are interested in using them simply because they don’t have the cost associated with the Microsoft platform,” Venable says. But, she adds, a danger can come with it. “There’s a supportability element that you don’t have with something like Microsoft technology. Who do you call? If you have a problem, who do you call? How do you know that it’s going to work with all the other pieces and third party programs and software that you need to have to operate in conjunction with that platform?” And, she continues, there can be version control problems “You don’t necessarily know the revision version control and regression testing isn’t part of that environment, which can be critical.” Adds Merlo, “Generally when you look at the core mechanical design piece of the puzzle in our markets it’s still predominantly Windows and I don’t think that trend is going to change.”
Software as a Service
The idea of buying software as a service (aka on-demand software) is rapidly increasing in popularity, with companies such as Salesforce.com, RightNow, NetSuite, Taleo, Network Appliance Inc., and Arena Solutions providing CRM, ERP, enterprise storage, data management software, and other services; the last named sells product lifecycle management (PLM). “Software as Services,” according to IBM, “offers customers lower costs that are aligned with usage, minimal up front expense, rapid implementation, and time to value, plus reduced risk.” So will it be adopted in the factory? “I think there is certainly a desire to do that,” says Merlo. Yet the idea of having one’s data residing outside the facility and even outside the company worries many people, he continues. “How can I ensure that that data is secure and stays within the firewalls?” For that reason, he concludes, “I just don’t think the market is quite yet comfortable with [it].”
Merlo does think that the security issues can be addressed, and Venable suggests that hosted services will increase in popularity “I think there’s probably more opportunity for people to provide domain expertise there and to provide solution pieces commercially,” she predicts, but she also feels that manufacturing operations and control are less likely to go as hosted services. “When you’re looking at tight synchronization across multiple nodes,” agrees Shah, “you really need much tighter synchronization and timing between different hardware pieces” than is possible with a hosted service.
Software vendors must to pay ever-closer attention to users’ needs and take whatever steps necessary to meet them. This will include making their offerings fit better at all levels, eliminating unneeded elements, and still maintaining backward compatibility. As to whether industrial users will begin to rent, rather than buy their software, the jury remains out.
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