Drove up to Kimberly, WI (yes, that Kimberly...the front half of Kimberly-Clark, neh?) yesterday to give a talk about wireless to about thirty end users from the paper industry at the Fox River Valley ISA Section.
Talk went well. I explained what the situation was, with respect to the status of HART Wireless and SP100, as best I understand it. I noted that two things aside, everybody is in pretty much violent agreement. Those two things are: what lens you look at industrial wireless through, and whether it is better to use COTS chipsets or grow our own.
Most of the end users, when polled, opted for a single SP100 standard, that interoperates with the HART wireless standard (unless that standard can be a part of SP100). Keep it simple, suppliers! was the message I was tasked to bring back from the meeting.
I suspect I will be a regular annual speaker on their docket, and I don't mind it at all...it is a nice three and a half hour drive, I don't have to fly, and they can amass a decent group of end users.
I also saw a very old friend. Keith Otto, of Neenah Engineering, with whom I worked for many years on the ISA Publications Department board, and other ISA committees. Keith looks well, and asked after his many friends at ISA. It was a nice surprise to see him, and Jim Lawrence, a former Emerson person.
I hope to be posting something from my talk soon.
