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Distributed Computing: Serve It Up
 Servers are the workhorses of networked, distributed computing.
Servers are the workhorses of networked, distributed computing. In fact, the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia calls the Internet a “forest of servers.” As information technology (IT) professionals adopted client-server architecture during the last 20 years, servers became the key component. In a client-server architecture, clients—usually personal computers, or these days, mobile computing devices—connect when necessary to a remote server in order to perform some sort of work.
The term server can refer to a special-purpose computer that usually contains an array of hard-disk-drive storage. It can also refer to application and operating system software that enables performance. Or, the term can refer to both together, or to special purpose applications. Some of these applications include Web page servers, printer servers and e-mail servers. Most often for manufacturing, servers enable storage and retrieval of vast amounts of data...
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» INDUSTRIES: Can Metals Remain a “Cornerstone” Industry?
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The metals industry has a strong heritage of innovation, says Warren H. Hunt Jr., executive director of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (www.tms.org), Warrendale, Pa.
And through innovation, he adds the industry “is positioning itself to continue to be a cornerstone industry.”
Greater attention toward sustainability—that is, using resources to meet human needs while preserving the environment now and in the future—and increased utilization of computational modeling comprise what Hunt sees as positive current trends. Short-term benefits he notes include reduced energy consumption and reduced energy cost. Regarding modeling, Hunt says the technology has demonstrated the ability to reduce development cycle time by... Read more
» AUTOMATION TEAM: Alarm Management: Getting Alarms Right -
Presenting the appropriate alarms to the appropriate person in a timely manner is one of the toughest challenges facing the automation team—especially in process industries.
Instruments have become more sensitive and controllers faster, so technology now enables systems to present an alarm to an operator for any loop out of its specified range. Sounds like a good idea, right? But now, operators often have no way to discern which alarm is the one that can cause an incident and...
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» INFRASTRUCTURE: It’s Sensible to Use Sensors -
Sensors go where you can’t, wouldn’t and maybe shouldn’t.
Choose the right ones and you’ll protect, maybe enhance, your company’s bottom line. With today’s economy, that benefit matters”
General sensor categories include contact and non-contact. Contact sensors include mechanical devices such as limit switches, explains Rick Bondy, industrial sensors product manager with automation components supplier Sick Inc. (www.sickusa.com), Minneapolis. “Non-contacts—photoelectric, capacitive, ultrasonic, magnetic, inductive and vision—generally allow end-users to detect smaller targets at longer... Read more
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