The market is calling for open technologies!

The market is calling for open technologies, and rightly so! No business can be dependent on a sole supplier: An open letter about 'Open-ness' from Mark Bates of Hayes Control Systems

The market is calling for open technologies, and rightly so! No business can be dependent on a sole supplier.

However, with 'open' technology, it can be hard to know who to trust.

'Openness' can be assessed by a number of common criteria - free access to specifications, standardisation and interoperability, for example.

But the best question to ask is whether a company has a tradition of innovation and a reputation for open-ness? Currently, many companies are portraying themselves as open.

Many didn't support any open fieldbus systems at all, yet they now see themselves as champions of open solutions, as if they had had a "Road to Damascus experience".

But customers should be wary, since often the key configuration tool in these 'open' solutions is only supported by proprietary devices and has undocumented features.

The alternative is to choose systems from companies with a long heritage in open technology.

For example, EtherCAT, which was first developed by Beckhoff, yet made truly open, is now the most popular industrial Ethernet system in the world.

As such, it is vital that companies make technology freely available and maintain a constant dialogue with customers and competitors.

Only then will a truly open attitude permeate the industry.

Mark Bates, Sales and Marketing Manager.

Hayes Control Systems.

Henley-On-Thames, Oxfordshire, UK.

mark.bates@hayescontrols.co.uk.

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