ARC VIEW

NOVEMBER 14, 2013

Invensys Launches New Foxboro Evo System
at 2013 Client Conference

By Harry Forbes

Keywords

DCS, Foxboro Evo, Invensys, Networks, Process Automation, SIS, Triconex

Summary

Invensys hosted its 2013 Foxboro & Triconex Global Client Conference last
September in San Antonio, Texas. While the conference hosted a number of
interesting product and industry-focused sessions, the clear highlight and
the point that generated the most excitement was
Invensys launched Foxboro Evo, a new
the launch of the new Foxboro Evo process auto-
process automation system, at its recent
mation system.
annual client conference. The most
revolutionary promise claimed for the
The pending acquisition of Invensys by Schneider
new system is to make DCS upgrades
far less disruptive, enabling process
Electric did not complicate the conference proceed-
manufacturers to more easily keep their ings. Wisely, the launch program began with a
automation systems up to date. short video by Schneider Electric CEO Jean Pascal
Tricoire. Emphasizing that (as required by law) the
companies operate as separate entities while the deal is pending, Tricoire
nevertheless acknowledged and endorsed the new system by saying that
the innovation and forward thinking of the new DCS is typical of what we
saw while looking at Invensys [during our due diligence]. With that stat-
ed, the focus of the meeting turned to the new system itself.

Gary Freburger, president of the Invensys systems business, outlined the

objectives for the new system. The three most important ways a process
automation vendor can help its customers secure their future is to protect
the operational integrity of their plants, enhance the operational insight of
its people, and enable them to adapt easily and affordably to change. This
is the clearest and most on-target mission statement for process automation
that ARC has heard. Its worth memorizing. However, since the proof is
in the pudding, the next step was for Invensys to lay out the rationale and
the roadmap for its new system.

VISION, EXPERIENCE, ANSWERS FOR INDUSTRY

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Whats in a Name?
The name of the system Foxboro Evo represents a play on the words
everyone and evolution. Evo emphases two key elements of the DCS
mission statement. First is that enhance the operational insight of its peo-
ple applies not just to control room operators, process engineers, and
technicians; but to every role in the enterprise. Second is the ability of the
new system to evolve easily over its lifecycle. A beta instal-
lation at a BP site in Brisbane testified to the claim, stating
that the system allowed for a much easier upgrade of all
components and will ensure that we can keep our system
well away from obsolescence, so that were not required to
perform any additional large-scale upgrades.

Easy future system updates might seem like a questionable

value proposition for a brand new automation system, but
ARCs latest DCS Worldwide Market Outlook Report
notes: The upgrade path is still seen as difficult and disruptive
Invensys Designed Its New by many end users. The key to unlocking this potential market is
Foxboro System to Address to design upgrade processes with the same and perhaps even
Lifecycle Concerns
greater care than is spent on new products. Most readers will
be aware of past ARC research that highlights the large installed base of
outdated automation systems. This is largely due to the high perceived
risks and relatively low perceived benefits of a DCS upgrade. ARC believes
that Invensys is exactly on target in trying to break this vicious cycle, which
today impacts every end user and every supplier in the DCS market.

Foxboro Evo Components

Invensys will begin delivering the new system at the end of 2013, with two
additional sets of deliverables becoming available in 2014. Deliverables will
include a new controller, a new I/O family, new and much more complete
integration for the Triconex SIS, a new HMI, new network and device inte-
gration capability, a new historian, and new engineering tools and
capabilities. Of course, existing Invensys systems can be upgraded to inte-
grate with Foxboro Evo, and the new Foxboro Universal I/O module will
work with both the old and new controllers. Invensys can now offer a car-
rot that ARC believes will finally motivate users to upgrade their systems
the promise of getting off the disruptive two-year DCS update cycle onto
a less painful and more incremental upgrade path.

2013 ARC 3 Allied Drive Dedham, MA 02026 USA 781-471-1000 ARCweb.com

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In terms of the Foxboro Evo deliverables, ARC notes these highlights:

Controller The new controller, designated the CP280, roughly doubles the
capacity of the existing controller. It employs a dual-core ARM processor,
with one core left to be used in the future for different applications. These
future uses will be interesting to watch, and ARC expects there may be dif-
ferent uses for different applications. Options might include higher
controller capacity, an embedded model predictive controller, or other em-
bedded control en-
gines. Another
change is an LCD
interface on the front
of the physical unit
that technicians can
interrogate at the
controller cabinet.

HMI The company

designed the new
HMI software to
enhance situational
Foxboro Evo Incorporates New Process Controllers awareness. The ob-
and Triconex Safety Controllers
jective is to provide
a broad cockpit-like view that uses elements of shape, color, and analog
indication objects on a consistent basis to enable rapid evaluation by hu-
mans.

High-Density I/O This I/O will be in addition to, rather than replace ex-
isting I/O families. The improved form factor is designed to reduce the
overall system footprint.

Network Enhancement A Control Network Interface (CNI) will enable

plants to segment large control networks into multiple sections. These sec-
tions can fully interoperate at the control level, but be updated and
managed separately. The station will also enable the control network to be
extended over third-party networks (remote operations support for off-
shore complexes is one use case for this capability).

SIS Integration The Triconex SIS will become a fully integrated station on
the DCS control network. Engineering and management for the Triconex

2013 ARC 3 Allied Drive Dedham, MA 02026 USA 781-471-1000 ARCweb.com

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system will be fully integrated with the DCS. Triconex systems will contin-
ue to support dedicated safety networks for peer-to-peer SIS services.

Software A new integrated maintenance dashboard provides a true

maintenance HMI and is designed to replace a number of existing software
tools. A new high-capacity historian is also part of the release.

Virtualization and Mobility News

While there were more sessions to attend than time to do so, ARC took
away a couple of new insights. First, virtualization continues to be a tech-
nology with more applications in process automation than a Swiss Army
knife. Invensys has productized its DCS virtualization capabilities. What is
new to ARC is that some Invensys support centers now spin up virtual
systems to support specific customers. That sure beats spending hours ar-
ranging duplicate hardware in a lab!

Just before the conference, Invensys announced a software alliance with

Ericom for universal remote access to Invensys software applications. The
majority of new Wonderware client licenses already run on servers and
support RDP clients. This model will be followed throughout all of Inven-
sys and elsewhere in process automation, ARC believes.

Summary

Invensys has made crystal clear to analysts its focus on three areas: opera-
tional integrity, operational insight, and system future-proofing (and in
more than todays sense of the term). All three areas are top-of-mind for
most end users. The challenge here is not proving that simplified and non-
disruptive system updates have value. Rather, the challenge is to prove
that Foxboro Evo can deliver that experience over the system lifecycle. End
users can test this property of the new system on a pilot scale, and should
do so, ARC believes. If Foxboro Evo succeeds in significantly improving
customers DCS lifecycle experience, it will represent as important a work
of technological progress as any in the companys long history.

For further information or to provide feedback on this article, please contact your
ARC account manager or the author at hforbes@arcweb.com. ARC Views are pub-
lished and copyrighted by ARC Advisory Group. The information is proprietary to
ARC and no part of it may be reproduced without prior permission from ARC.

2013 ARC 3 Allied Drive Dedham, MA 02026 USA 781-471-1000 ARCweb.com