It’s interesting how sometimes when you stop to think about things they become less clear before they crystallize in your thought process. That’s exactly the case with our new web site. Brian choose Joomla, and several other open source technologies for the infrastructure and content management. I really like what I am seeing and can’t wait to get it online!
As we get closer to a release candidate I’m reviewing content, organization, and navigation structure in more detail than I did earlier in the development process. One of the things that struck me this time was that we really could no longer clearly put the S4 Open products in a category of Building Automation products and the Obermeier Software SNMP-OPC Gateway in a category of Industrial Automation or Process Control products. In the last year we have seen too much crossover, i.e. convergence, of the technologies being applied to different vertical markets and disciplines.
Solution: We will let each product stand on its own, simply listed as a product, or within a product family, in the web site navigation structure. Then, we will show application examples in both the primary vertical markets and in crossover markets where convergence is happening.
For instance:
You’ll find the S4 Open: OPC-N2 Router primarily in the Building Automation space. But, it also is frequently applied in manufacturing and process control systems where environmental conditions may impact the yield or quality of computer chip fabrication processes or pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Conversely, you’ll find the Obermeier Software OPC-SNMP Enterprise Agent (eAgent) in industrial automation and process control systems. However, we frequently provide the eAgent to Siemens when they need to integrate their Apogee Building Automation System into SNMP enterprise managers in data center environments.