Ignition SCADA User Group Event strikes a chord with county councils
Over 30 engineers and senior technicians from county councils around the country gathered in Dunboyne, Co Meath today for the first in a series of Ignition SCADA User Group meetings.
The event was designed to encourage information and knowledge sharing in SCADA networking technology and to discuss some of the key challenges facing the water industry in the months ahead.
Delegates heard from Mark Quinn, managing director of EMR Integrated Solutions who in his ‘SCADA 101’ presentation outlined the evolution of SCADA technology and focused on some of the key elements that are growing in importance in light of the new regulatory regime.
This was followed by a series of interactive roundtable discussions, facilitated by senior EMR staff which focused on five technology streams. Delegates were given their choice of three such streams from alarm monitoring, network management, energy, water auditing and compliance reporting. The alarm monitoring and water auditing streams proved particularly popular with attendees.
Travis Cox from Inductive Automation then exclusively revealed the Ignition technology roadmap to users, highlighting some of the key software releases and features coming down the tracks, all designed to deliver powerful analytics and simplified usability.
The afternoon session was kicked off by Mark Quinn with a look to the future of SCADA in Ireland. This was followed by Steve Grainger of Halma Water/Radcom who gave delegates an overview of the use of GPRS loggers in the water industry. Several case studies were also showcased, which helped to bring the technology to life.
Padraig Farrell from Longford County Council also shared his knowledge and experience of using the Ignition solution and this really struck a chord with delegates as fellow users.
The session ended with an open forum discussion on some of the challenges in the months and years ahead.
According to Mark Quinn:
“The event was a huge success. Delegates really enjoyed the interactive, roundtable discussions in particular as it gave them an opportunity to ask questions and share experiences with each other. Many attendees have already approached us to run another event and given our commitment to the SCADA industry and the critical juncture we all face, it’s something EMR will continue to do on a regular basis”.
