ROCKWELL AUTOMATION SIGNS LICENSING AGREEMENT
WITH LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES' VISUAL INSIGHTS
Complete automation leader Rockwell Automation signed a software licensing agreement with Visual Insights, a wholly owned venture of Lucent Technologies, that enables Rockwell Software to dramatically enhance the query, analysis and reporting capabilities of a number of Rockwell Software products, including human-machine interface and database transaction manager products.
"The open architecture design of our solutions allows us to easily leverage unique value-add software components from other industries," said Rich Ryan, president of Rockwell Software. "Visual Insights has created truly revolutionary query and analysis solutions that will help our customers add a new dimension to their automation applications."
Visual Insights interactive data analysis solutions allow users to gain insights into their data beyond traditional text, tables and static business graphics. Until now, this technology was primarily used in telecommunications environments to recognize patterns and trends hidden in large data sets. Rockwell Automation plans to make Visual Insights interactive data visualization components available within the process automation environment by embedding them as Microsoft ActiveX controls within Rockwell Software RSView32 and other product offerings.
Most human-machine interface software products, including RSView32, have an alarm feature that notifies operators when factory conditions exceed normal operating parameters. Adding Visual Insights interactive data visualization components allows the operator to look immediately at the historical operation of the process, analyze complex relationships between different data sets and take more informed long-term corrective action. Other potential applications include trending, documentation and user interface for database queries and analysis.
"Rockwell Software is the first to apply our technology in a manufacturing environment," said Doug Cogswell, president and CEO of Visual Insights, describing the agreement as the first major OEM licensing deal under the new Visual Insights Embedded Components Program. "Rockwell Software shares our vision for making interactive data visualization an indispensable technology for simplifying decision making and improving productivity."
Rockwell Software expects to ship RSView32 with Visual Insights interactive data visualization components later this year. Terms of the licensing agreement were not disclosed.
Rockwell Software is the leading brand of software technology that helps automate factories and integrate them with the rest of the enterprise. This includes programming, human-machine interface, communications, information systems, process monitoring and control, and Internet technologies. Rockwell Software products are developed and supported in West Allis, Wis.
Rockwell Automation, a business of Rockwell International Corporation, brings together leading brands in industrial automation, including Allen-Bradley controls, Reliance Electric power transmission products, Dodge mechanical power transmission components, and Rockwell Software.
Rockwell Automation's unique Complete Automation strategy of helping customers achieve a competitive advantage is supported by thousands of authorized partners, distributors and system integrators around the world. For more information about Rockwell Automation, point your Web browser to http://www.rockwellautomation.com.
Rockwell is a $7 billion electronic controls and communications company with global leadership positions in industrial automation, avionics and communications, and electronic commerce. The company employs approximately 40,000 people at more than 450 locations serving customers in more than 80 countries.
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronic components.
Visual Insights, headquartered in Naperville, Ill., is a wholly owned business venture of Lucent Technologies. Founded in 1997, Visual Insights designs, develops and delivers software solutions that revolutionize business decision making through the application of interactive data visualization technology.