ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION The accelerated introduction of new technologies and new tools to apply these technologies provides opportunities for the creation of new enterprise solutions. It was not possible until recently to use the Internet/intranet on your desktop to view batch process, on-demand batch reports or trends, or even to control the plant in some cases. Other technologies that are playing a significant role in applied solutions are object-oriented databases for real-time distributed control systems, CORBA-ORB communication methods for platform and station independence, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 within a client/server architecture, and most recently, JAVA. We are rapidly moving away from costly point solutions and making a revolutionary leap toward integrated enterprise solutions. This technological revolution will enable users, vendors, and system integrators in this industry to design and implement complex batch applications easily and plug them into the right spot within the enterprise structure. This chapter will focus on the impact of new technologies on batch plant automation. It will also describe the increased role of batch control systems for integration of control with the enterprise.
