Jim Redman

The modern manufacturing facility or laboratory often appears as thousands of points of information, scattered in and among hundreds of pieces of machinery and other equipment. Good integration of these information sources provides for an ongoing challenge. The goal of systems integration is to get these machines networked and accessible in some uniform manner throughout the manufacturing facility, and to provide information in human-readable form by uniform, nonproprietary and platform-independent means. Java and Internet technologies can help to bring this goal within reach - leaving it as an implementation project and not as the research project it appears to be today. The first step in this process is to blend Java and embedded Web servers with traditional factory automation methods. This may mean replacing outdated equipment (or the controllers on older equipmen... (more)

Java: The Smarter Choice?

Information systems, meaning primarily software, are increasingly seen as a competitive weapon by which faster development and deployment equals a business advantage. This means more features on a shorter deadline. For developers this can be achieved by working harder or, perhaps the smarter choice, adopting Java. While some organizations reject Java because it doesn't have the right brand name or they view it as a risk, a recent International Data Corporation study reports significant cost and time savings by organizations who use it. Of course, I didn't really read the study b... (more)