From November, PROFINEWS will be distributed every three weeks and the number of stories will be reduced to 5-6 per issue. This will better meet the expectations of newsletter readers who want to be informed more often about what is happening inside the PI organization.
Starting with the next issue, PROFINEWS will see some improvements to its design and usefulness. The changes are in response to calls from our target audience for more frequent news updates about PROFINET and PROFIBUS technologies, but with fewer stories to digest each time.
At the moment PROFINEWS is distributed every two months and contains up to 20 stories. From November, PROFINEWS will be distributed every three weeks and the number of stories will be reduced to 5-6 per issue.
The email that readers receive to tell them 
when a new issue is available is also being improved. It will be more attractive and will include short, easily-read summaries of stories, and images. A simple link will then take readers to a landing page where the full story can be read. The process is designed to suit the needs of cellphone, tablet and PC users alike.
The well-proven management and editorial team will not change. PROFINEWS will continue to deliver relevant and essential information, keeping readers fully informed about the best automation networking technology and community in the world.
(Pictured are the editorial team - clockwise from top left) Jörg Freitag, PI Chairman, Michael J Bryant, PI Deputy Chairman, Geoff Hodgkinson and Petra Mayer.
Paula Doyle, Chairman of PI Middle East has announced a fresh batch of certified PROFIBUS engineers in Dubai. A four-day course was attended by students attending from around the region (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon), plus Denmark! Dennis Van Booma of PROCENTEC conducted the course, with Ammar Atta from the Saudi Arabian PICC assisting. "We are delighted to see more engineers joining the ranks as Certified PROFIBUS Engineers. With every class we certify we strengthen the knowledge and performance of PROFIBUS in the region," said Doyle. "This time we certified six new engineers from two competence centers - PICC Lebanon (ITEC) and PICC Saudi Arabia (ASM). This is an excellent achievement and shows the commitment of these centers to furthering the regional knowledge of PROFIBUS." 
Industrial Ethernet solutions. More locations will follow later this year, including Surabaya, Indonesia and Bangkok, Thailand. The Philippine Instrumentation & Control Society is a non-profit, non-stock organization of professionals in the field of Instrumentation and Control. 
Japanese PROFIBUS Organization (JPO) had translated the latest version of the PROFINET System Description into Japanese. It's available on the JPO web page. JPO is holding a PROFINET Open Seminar on Oct 6th in Aichi (near Nagoya) and on Oct 11th in Tokyo, in conjunction with 11 JPO member companies. PROFINET Open Seminar is a one day seminar which, in the morning, focuses on product development and, in the afternoon, on end user applications. JPO expects more PROFINET products to arrive in the next 12 months from Japanese vendors. 
The PROFIBUS Association of Australia (PAA) elected a new Committee at its recent 2011 AGM. The new committee is comprised of: Chairman, Rafael Koenig (Tyco Flow Control Pacific); Treasurer, Chris Hoey (Burkert Fluid Control); Marketing, Darryl Kauffman (Siemens) and Jorg Lang (Pepperl+Fuchs); Secretary, Andrew Dummett (Adshop Marketing Communications). Koenig (pictured below) takes over from founding Chairman John Immelman (featured left) who held the post from the PAA’s inception in 2004. Koenig said: "Thanks to John's leadership and enthusiasm we are in the enviable position of taking over an association that is in the best possible shape. Knowledge development and availability of specialist resources are at the core of our approach to make PROFIBUS and its Ethernet proxy technology 
PROFINET the most reliable and accepted systems for automation networking.” Immelman added: "I am immensely proud of what the Association has achieved in a relatively short period of time," he said. "With the active support of my PAA colleagues we have raised the Association's visibility dramatically within the automation industry. I wish the new committee every success.” 
Members of PI North America will shortly be converging on Scottsdale, AZ, for the 2011 General Assembly Meeting (GAM) on October 4-6, 2011. The meeting will include reports, news, user applications, technical updates, PROFIenergy study results, strategies for the future and news of the latest development tools. Speakers from GE Intelligent Platforms and Phoenix Contact will talk about their use of PROFINET but 'automotive' will be the main theme. The keynote will be “PROFINET in Automotive” by Aldo Marcuzzi of Siemens and Chrysler and VW will talk about their choice of PROFINET for new plants. A video underlining the 
www.profibus.com
The PROFIsafe safety controller RFC 470 PN 3TX complies with safety categories SIL 3 (EN ISO 61508), SIL CL 3 (EN ISO 62061), PLe/Cat. 4 (EN ISO 13849), and Cat. 4 (EN 954). It's programmed using the Safetyprog tool, which can be integrated into a PC Worx engineering environment. A simulation mode permits comprehensive testing of an application before download. The controller has Ethernet and Interbus interfaces and can operate as a PROFIsafe PLC or as a PROFINET IO device. Up to 170 PROFIsafe devices can be coupled. 
The PROFIBUS DP-V1 Master Communication Module (PTQ-PDPMV1) enables Schneider Electric Quantum processors to access field data from up to 125 PROFIBUS DP slaves. For critical applications it supports Hot Standby processors for non-disruptive failover. It also supports a new Autoscan feature, which reduces start up times and simplifies troubleshooting. For users migrating from the Schneider Electric PROFIBUS Scanner the Autoscan feature reduces engineering and implementation costs. 
This PROFIBUS Extender allows networks to be extended over old copper wires at speeds of up to 1.5 MBit/s. Distances of several kilometers can be covered, in point-to-point, line and star structures. Mixed operation using copper and optical fiber is also possible. Two configurable digital outputs are available for alarm generation. The device has integrated diagnosis functions and a logbook. It's named PSI-MODEM-SHDSL/PB (2313656). 
COMbricks modular repeaters have been equipped with an advanced oscilloscope to measure the signal quality of PROFIBUS telegrams. With this advanced technology an engineer can sit behind his desk and remotely inspect the condition of PROFIBUS networks. The price is almost identical to that of a regular repeater and yet it has the capability to monitor 4 networks at once. Procentec claims this as a 'first'. 
Trebing + Himstedt on-site training and services provide users with the skills needed to ensure secure, reliable PROFIBUS operation. These are 'hands-on' classes, in a user's own environment, and tuned to individual requirements. The PROFIBUS Workshop enables the know-how for daily operations and teaches users how to react to network disruptions and prevent unexpected downtime. The PROFIBUS Service provides expert support in case of errors or with routine inspections, as well as comprehensive acceptance measurements. The PROFIBUS Diagnostics Training supports the introduction of plant-wide network monitoring concepts, including various diagnostic methods and systematic error analysis. 
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