Citing a customer need to have the same operator interface experience throughout a broad range of hardware platforms, Invensys Vice President Mark Davidson told Automation World editors recently that the company’s Wonderware unit has released a new product line of Wonderware Industrial Tablets and Touch Panel Computers. Says Davidson, “Our customers want intelligence everywhere, but they also want a unified software experience and hardware value. This new line offers a single point of service.” According to Davidson, Wonderware software is already in use worldwide in over 30 percent of plants that have more than 20 employees.
The new line integrates hardware, software and services, including InTouch 8.0 human-machine interface (HMI) software, plant communications capabilities and support services for the bundled offering. Software is pre-loaded, so the products are ready to use “out of the box.”
The InTouch software resident in the tablet products has been enhanced to integrate Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system features, such as inking and annotation. Inking enables customers to write values into data links in their own handwriting. Annotation enables users to mark up a graphical display with pens and highlighters, allowing operators to quickly and precisely communicate areas of concern or interest. Another standard feature is wireless communication.
The touch panel computers offer support for both Microsoft Windows XP Professional and XP Embedded operating systems.
