A shot of the interior of the new Middle East office
ROCKWELL Automation, a global provider of industrial automation, power, process control and information solutions, recently opened is new Middle East office in Abu Dhabi, and highlighted at a media gathering the importance of information security in the design and operation of contemporary control systems. It said security was in line with the key tenets of integrity, safety, system availability and performance.
The event, attended by Hedwig Maes, Rockwell Automation president for EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), focused on transforming challenges into advantages through smart, safe, sustainable manufacturing and stressed Rockwell’s collaboration with key partners like Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking.
“Rockwell Automation recognises the importance of security for industrial control applications. It also embraces the employment of defence in-depth practices to mitigate risk through a layered, system-level security approach,” a company statement said.
“Rockwell Automation offer tools, products and services that can help the client build security into their control system,” it said. In addition, its network and security services capabilities help design and verify systems and offer trouble-shooting methods to meet the level of security that is right for the client, the statement added.
At the media event, Cisco Systems Middle East sales manager Osama Rasoul said: “An added firewall will not solve security issues. Part of our engineering includes data protection, defining the process and designing the integrated architecture.”
Sohar Aluminium, Oman, automation superintendent Othman Al Balushi said challenges from the engineering and maintenance standpoints included diagnostics, different software to configure, specialised tools to make connections and cable slabs for moving equipment.
Thomas Lenzen, IT manager of Sohar Aluminium, commented: “Industrial network security business challenges encompass protection of people, proprietary information (intellectual property) from unintended or malicious actions of an individual or group, downtime, lost data, physical incidents and loss time to market or loss of public confidence.”
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Maes (third from left) at the Media Day to |
NEW HEAD OFFICE
The brand new Rockwell Automation headquarters in Abu Dhabi will cater to the needs of not only the UAE but also several other countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Libya. With a number of specialists and professionals in its 9,000 sq ft office, the company is ready to provide services from technical support, sales and repairs to training and logistics, the company said.
“We’re expanding across the Middle East and we’ve seen a significant growth of 23 per cent revenue in the EMEA market. After North America, EMEA is the next high priority,” Maes pointed out.
Rockwell Automation has been listed among the top 100 innovative companies by Forbes and among the world’s most ethical companies by Ethisphere. It was presented with the International Torch Award by Better Business Bureau and classified among the most sustainable companies by Dow Jones Sustainability.
“The collaboration between Cisco and Rockwell Automation was built through a common technical view and that is to deliver integrated control, information and technology systems for businesses and to have convergence of the entire manufacturing lifecycle,” said Rockwell Automation. Both companies participated in the RSTechED a few weeks ago and in Cisco Live.
“Rockwell Automation, as a dedicated company in automation with its key partners in the IT sector, will continue to propagate solutions addressing the concerns of manufacturing companies to ensure safety, productivity and sustainability,” it said.
The world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information, Rockwell Automation is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (US), and employs 21,000 people serving customers in more than 80 countries.
