Our most recent Board meeting was at the end of October in Karlsruhe, Germany. My thanks goes to Siemens for sponsoring the in-person meetings at their facilities. Our fall Board meetings traditionally focuses on the plans and budgets for the new year. The Board approved the 2014 program and budgets presented by the Executive Committee that will ultimately be approved by the General Assembly in Spring. We also took time to reflect on the untimely death of one of our Board members - Dr. Ronald Schoop of Schneider Electric. I highly valued his rich technical knowledge married with a strong business sense that he could so eloquently deliver to a diverse audience. He will be deeply missed.
Our Board of Directors welcomed General Monitors, based in California, as our newest FDT Member. General Monitors, a division of MSA, is a leading manufacturer of gas and flame detection devices. You can learn more about General Monitors at www.generalmonitors.com.
The Board also took great pleasure in the finalization of the FDT standard as an official China National Standard, GB/T 29618. My thanks to Klaus-Peter Lindner, our Vice President of Associations and Standards, along with his China team members for reaching this major milestone. Our China FDT Association will continue to assist with the promotion and adoption of the standard within the region. You can learn more about the FDT China standard at http://www.sac.gov.cn/SACSearch/outlinetemplet/gjbzcx.jsp.
The broad adoption of the FDT standard is also reflected in the DTM certification trends for 2013. Mid way through the year, there were already more than 900 devices supported by newly certified DTMs. To certify a DTM, the device manufacturer must submit the DTM to an FDT approved certification lab that tests the DTM for conformance to the certification specifications. Once approved, the DTM is listed in the DTM catalog on the FDT web site http://www.fdtgroup.org/product-catalog/certified-dtms.
Our Test and Certification Committee that oversees the certification process, recently approved Utthunga Technologies Pvt Ltd of Bangalore, India as an authorized FDT testing lab. The Utthunga location will benefit the many companies that do FDT DTM software development in India. In addition to the test center capabilities, Utthunga is in the process of installing an FDT interoperability lab for the region. You can learn more about Utthunga at www.utthunga.com.
If you are new to FDT Technology, I hope you have had or will take the opportunity to learn more at one of our many FDT End User seminars in North America, Europe, the Middle East, or Asia. Our regional committees regularly host these hands-on seminars to introduce you to FDT Technology. You can also visit us at the SPS IPC Drives show in Nuremberg, Germany on the 26th to the 28th of November or the Industrial Automation-India exhibition in Delhi, India on the 17th to 20th of December.
- Hartmut Wallraf
