Make supervisory control (SCADA) part of the pipeline business equation

Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) is the go-to system when it comes to the gathering and analysis of real-time data in industrial applications, including oil and gas transmission pipelines. SCADA emerged from engineering departments in response to the need for operator interfaces that monitored applications of PLC- and RTU-based industrial control.

Today, however, SCADA is no longer engineering-centric. It is increasingly seen as a full-fledged thoroughbred in an information technology (IT) infrastructure that must be capable of merging real-time, enterprise, and third-party information to support better operational, maintenance, and financial business decisions.

Unfortunately, attempts to merge SCADA into the reigning IT infrastructure have too often been plagued by fragile and complex interfaces, leading to integration failures that delay information delivery to those that most need it, as well as causing costly engineering hours to be expended on modifications and maintenance.

The oil and gas pipeline industry has discovered that one sound way to mitigate these challenges is through a model-driven integration approach and use of a messaging-based enterprise service bus that simplifies integration and flexible applications use.

What you will Learn:

• Growing demand and benefits following from integration of SCADA into business networks
• Advances in SCADA technology that increase the benefits of real-time information
• A cost-effective means for integration of SCADA into the business enterprise

About the Moderator:

Kevin Parker

Kevin Parker has more than 20 years experience writing for and editing technology magazines, including 15 years as chief editor of Manufacturing Systems, and as associate editor with Chemical Processing magazines. Parker also spent close to a decade as engineering services and quality control manager with Lindberg, a Unit of General Signal, a maker of heat-treat equipment. His bachelor's degree is in philosophy & religion is from MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois. His military service included more than three years in the US Army Infantry stationed with the Berlin Brigade in West Berlin, Germany.