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Moeller turns to Siemens for its software

01 May, 2000

The Moeller group of companies will, in future, rely on Siemens for all of the software used to engineer, program, operate and monitor its automation products.

Under a partnership announced at the recent Hanover Fair, Moeller will adopt the Simatic family of software developed by Siemens` Automation and Drives division. This is the first time that Siemens has opened its software platform to a rival.

Siemens board member Dr Klaus Wucherer explained that his company was taking this step "to make an important contribution to the global standardisation of industrial software, thus fulfilling a frequently expressed wish on the part of users".

The two companies stress that they will continue to develop and market hardware independently. "We will continue to supply a wide range of differing products, and the step will not change the identity of our products and systems," said Wolfgang Blome, Moeller`s managing director.

Moeller is already using the Siemens software in a new automation system that it launched at Hanover. The modular system, called Xtra Combinations, allows complete systems to be assembled according to the application. As well as standardising on the Simatic software, Moeller is adopting "open" standards such as the Windows operating system, Ethernet, Profibus and AS-i.

In a separate software collaboration, Alstom has formed a partnership with the US automation software supplier USData to develop USData`s next generation products. Development teams in Texas and France will collaborate on automation products for Alstom`s various divisions including industry, transport and marine.

Alstom says the move will provide its customers with industry-standard software at a low cost. The industry division will start by using USData`s FactoryLink 7 package.