Corporate meets Embedded through Web Services
Tue, 06/14/2005 - 09:27
Industrial Control
Like it or not, the Enterprise is extending into embedded systems.
That is one of the major impacts of Web Services, the technology that can open up embedded systems and allow them to participate in corporate networks. This is particularly evident on factory floors, where inventory tracking and process control systems are being integrated into the planning IT infrastructure. Check out this article in Automation World for the background.
Like many apparent breakthroughs, Web Services is really nothing new. Embedded programmers have been doing Machine-to-Machine (M2M) programming for a long time. In fact, many embedded programmers will sneer at the inefficiency of the text-based XML protocols that are exceedingly wasteful of bandwidth. The tradeoff is that the protocols are well-supported on the IT side of the communication, making integration much easier.
Is this a step forward in the integration of embedded systems or a step backwards into wasteful computing?
Larry Mittag
That is one of the major impacts of Web Services, the technology that can open up embedded systems and allow them to participate in corporate networks. This is particularly evident on factory floors, where inventory tracking and process control systems are being integrated into the planning IT infrastructure. Check out this article in Automation World for the background.
Like many apparent breakthroughs, Web Services is really nothing new. Embedded programmers have been doing Machine-to-Machine (M2M) programming for a long time. In fact, many embedded programmers will sneer at the inefficiency of the text-based XML protocols that are exceedingly wasteful of bandwidth. The tradeoff is that the protocols are well-supported on the IT side of the communication, making integration much easier.
Is this a step forward in the integration of embedded systems or a step backwards into wasteful computing?
Larry Mittag
