As part of its VigilantPlant Services (VPS) initiative, Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that it has released an upgraded VPSRemote service solution. VPSRemote is a solution for the remote monitoring and general and preventive maintenance of systems. The upgraded VPSRemote now allows users to link their plants around the world and provide operational support and engineering services from specified locations on the network. The upgraded VPSRemote solution can now be used with information systems as well as control systems.
As plant control systems grow more complex and sophisticated, they are increasingly used together with safety instrumented systems, manufacturing execution systems, and the like. Manufacturers with global operations thus need the capability to provide remote operational support and engineering services for both the control and the information systems used at their plants.
Outline of upgrade
1. Support of the use of dedicated networks by customers for the remote operation support and engineering.
With this upgrade to VPSRemote, customers now can set up a dedicated network linking their plants and engineering departments. Via this network, company personnel can share access to system displays and, in real-time, perform operations, set parameters and change settings from any location on the network. Thus, for example, operators at a main factory can check the condition of a system at a new plant in another country. If required, they can provide remote support to an operator while viewing the target system’s display.
2. Information systems support.
Previously, VPSRemote could only be used with the Centum integrated production control system and the ProSafe-RS safety instrumented system. The upgraded service now covers information systems such as the Exaquantum plant information management system. Using VPSRemote, both Yokogawa’s Global Response Centres and its customers now have the ability to monitor and maintain the control and information systems at remote plants, 24 hours a day, all year round.
Outline of VPSRemote
VPSRemote is a remote service solution that has been used by Yokogawa’s Global Response Centres (GRCs) to link with the systems at customer plants. As it only allows connections from predetermined domains, remote monitoring and maintenance can be performed without endangering system security. This solution has enabled the GRCs to provide the support needed to troubleshoot problems and recover from failures and it also allows the collection and analysis of information needed for preventive maintenance and enables automatic notification of system failures. With the upgrade, customers now have the same ability to provide remote monitoring and maintenance services for their plant facilities.
Target markets include oil, petrochemical, iron and steel, pulp and paper, electric power, gas, and other industrial facilities, with the aim of ensuring safe and efficient operations over the lifecycle a plant.
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