Thelaunch of ABB's Symphony Plus distributed control system (DCS) is acontinuation of its tradition of power generation software, and a significantstep in the evolution of this technology. Key customer benefits of the new systemare focusing on improving plant productivity and energy efficiency, as well asenhanced operational security, plant safety and lower total cost of ownership.

"One thing that comes with power of integration is theabsolutely essential topic of preserving the value of intellectual assets, thecontrol algorithms and engineering that has gone into a system," says PeterTerwiesch, chief technology officer for ABB. "Continuing the Harmony tradition for powergeneration software, we are using the flexibility that comes with the power ofintegration to continue a path where it can evolve."

At the recent ABB Power & Automation Conference inOrlando, Terwiesch said that in 2006, ABB made a lifecycle commitment for theHarmony platform until 2015. "But now inthe middle of that time period and with good inputs, we are extending thedevelopment life of Harmony and launch it now as the newest Symphony platformto continue that line," Terwiesch says.

Symphony Plus is thelatest generation of ABB's Symphony family of control systems and representsone of the largest installed bases of distributed control systems (DCS) in theworld. Many are operating in the power generation and water sectors.

"With the launch of Symphony Plus,we take the Symphony success story to the next level, ushering in a new era oftotal plant automation that is simple, scalable, seamless and secure," saysFranz-Josef Mengede, head of ABB's power generation business. "It helps balanceperformance objectives like asset availability, operational reliability andproduction efficiency with business goals like asset life extension, carbon reductionand regulatory compliance, thereby providing plant owners with an essentialtool for achieving sustainable and profitable growth."

Symphony Plus meets a broad spectrumof plant configurations and applications, especially in the power and water industries.It is flexible and scalable, designed to serve the needs of small andserver-less applications as well as large multi-system, multi-serverarchitectures. It supports the seamless integration of field devices, processand turbine automation systems, electrical and SCADA (Supervisory Control andData Acquisition) solutions as well as business and maintenance systems.Symphony Plus provides users with a secure, reliable control environment andbuilt-in security features that prevent unauthorized system access.

The extension of its life cyclecommitment to the Symphony Harmony and Symphony Melody range of control systemsis part of the company's "evolution without obsolescence" approach. This isbased on introducing new technology while protecting the long-term investmentof customers by ensuring that each new generation not only offers enhancedbenefits, but is also fully compatible with its predecessor. ABB's commitmentto continue investing in the development of the Symphony product range enablescustomers to effectively manage life cycle requirements and at the same time,lower their total cost of ownership.

Symphony is specifically designed to meet the needs of powergeneration applications and complete automation of power generation units. Its scalablearchitecture that can be server-less for small applications, but scale up tomeet a broad range of application and process requirements for control and I/O,electrical and device integration. By adopting IEC 61850, ABB enables easyinterface of electrical equipment for substation automation and process plants.Symphony includes IEC 61850 and Modbus TCP control modules that integrateelectrical equipment with the automation system and its applications.