Swiss ABB Launches First Web Extension Package for Distributed Control Systems

en.Wedoany.com Reported - ABB has launched its first extension package, providing internet browser-based operation capabilities for its Distributed Control System (DCS). This solution enables automation teams in the process industry to access, monitor, and control mission-critical infrastructure via HTML5 web technology.

This extension package adopts a modular software delivery approach, allowing new functions to be added independently while maintaining the main platform. The architecture minimizes reliance on large-scale update cycles, limits costs associated with lifecycle management, and protects underlying control engineering. By avoiding control system downtime, continuous process plants can maintain operational automation stability during the deployment of new panels.

Web access requires no local client installation on control station terminals. The extension package includes native integration with legacy operation graphics and supports multi-panel display topologies. Industrial process variables, event databases, alarm logic, and historical trend data are consolidated into a unified client, designed to centralize plant control parameters and optimize real-time process analysis.

A new infrastructure server node hosts the Master Control Operating System (SO CC), establishing technical guidelines for the company's extended application orchestration plan. This topology is designed based on the NAMUR Open Architecture (NOA) principles. The system achieves separation between the main control layer (for continuous and deterministic logic processing) and parallel digital ecosystems, allowing machine learning and data analysis containers to run concurrently without introducing latency or instability risks to the core control loop.

In the DCS field, web-based interface development has become a market trend. Siemens SIMATIC PCS neo natively adopts a fully web-based infrastructure for system management; Honeywell Experion PKS uses a web-based mobile system and Enterprise Browser for parallel access and reporting. The differentiation of the ABB extension package lies in its backward compatibility—enabling web visualization without a full architecture replacement, instead leveraging the NOA separation model to isolate the user interface from legacy controller logic, thereby supporting digital integration within running industrial architectures while maintaining high operational continuity.

"With the first extension package of our latest System 800xA, ABB is introducing a new way to deliver functionality to running systems," said Stefan Basenach, Senior Vice President of ABB Process Automation Technology. "New and existing automation customers can introduce modern web-based operations and digital functions without disrupting the existing control environment or affecting operational reliability."