A lot of chatter about the Honeywell HUG in the industrial automation blogs this week.  Most of the talk is about their wireless offerings, the UOP simulation stuff, and the Safety and Batch integration in the newest release of Experion PKS.  Surprisingly there is no mention of their OPC offerings in the Experion system.  I wonder which release will incorporate the OPC UA specifications?  Of course there are plenty of systems out there using the tried and true OPC DA server, or going direct to the DCS with other OPC Servers for TPS.

An upcoming user group conference that definitely WILL be talking about OPC is the MatrikonOPC User Group Asia-Pacific and Australia 2008, being held in Singapore on July 29^th.  This free, one-day event will host several speakers, including Tom Burke.  If you’re in the area, don’t miss the opportunity to share your OPC experience with other users.  Learn what works, what doesn’t and learn the best practices others have implemented.

In today’s world of web-conferencing, virtual meetings, and soaring travel costs, I wonder how they affect user groups.  What do you prefer?  The week long extravaganza?  One-day of focused and intimate attention? Or maybe the traveling exiderdome? What’s your company’s preference?