Emerson releases subscription software to help transition legacy I/O

Emerson has released DeltaV IO.CONNECT, a new subscription software service designed to help plants simplify modernisation with an open architecture pathway that makes it possible to transition to more efficient control schemes without the need to completely overhaul existing infrastructure. In a traditional plant with tens of thousands of I/O points and many controllers, this can save hundreds or thousands of hours of labour and up to 40% of the capital required for a total rip-and-replace upgrade.

Many plants still using control systems from 20 or 30 years ago are unable to reap the benefits of modern, digital technologies that optimise operations and improve sustainability. Modernising those systems is complicated by the extensive time, labour and capital expense required to convert the old wiring, terminations and other infrastructure they are built upon, leaving plants ‘locked in’ to legacy control technologies and expensive service contracts.

Emerson says DeltaV IO.CONNECT provides a faster, easier, more cost-effective path to replacing a legacy system with a DeltaV distributed control system while leaving existing I/O infrastructure in place. The solution is provisioned as a subscription software component of Emerson’s Guardian Support offering, helping plants remain up to date. No legacy vendor software is required for configuration and maintenance of I/O.

By preserving existing I/O and leaving wiring intact, plants can reduce new system transition time by over 90%, keeping production on pace, reducing risks and minimising downtime. Once the interface is installed and the plant is running new control technologies, technicians can update I/O on their preferred schedule while the plant runs, shifting what used to be a capital expenditure to the operations budget.

“Many best practices for better visibility and improved performance are out of reach for the numerous plants still running legacy equipment today,” said Claudio Fayad, vice president of technology for Emerson’s process systems and solutions business. “Many of the oldest systems are reaching the end of their product support lifecycles, forcing some plants to modernise on a very tight schedule. DeltaV IO.CONNECT empowers industrial plants to choose a digital control system with all the advanced automation features they need, while still scaling at their own pace to better manage transition-related outages and capital expenditures.”

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