Open Automation, Centralization, or Decentralization?
Channel: The Open Group
Date: 28/07/2020

In the move to implement more open and interoperable process automation systems, the industry is facing a major decision: highly centralized or highly distributed. In a highly centralized environment, vendors supply a single controller large enough to handle a process unit and all the I/O that the process unit would ever need. In a highly distributed environment, vendors could give all our field devices regulatory control capabilities, connect them with common IT technologies, and perform the regulatory control without a controller. This paper will discuss the pros, cons, and implications of each approach and how the IEC 61499 standard supports each environment.


Alex Johnson, System Architect, Next Generation Systems at Schneider Electric. Nearly 4 decades in the process control industry working in processes from making coffee to refining. The first half of the career spent implementing systems. The second half broadening his experience with time in Development, Marketing, Sales, and Service.



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