Problem Solving in PROFINET Class

I started this on the plane back from Jacksonville and I’m finishing it on the plane to Newark for the Process one-day training class.  (It’s tomorrow, May 14, at the Newark airport.  We have arranged for free parking at the hotel.)  In between I had to put the finishing touches on PROFInews North American Edition issue 26.

Jacksonville was one of our most interactive classes with more questions than ever.  It was good to see some IT folks in attendance.  In fact, one of them was having a firewall problem that Hunter was able to pinpoint for him.

The course evaluations were interesting, as usual.

Apparently we did not do a great job with the CBA Demo.  Maybe we tried to show too much, but the significance of CBA (Component Based Automation) is high.  CBA is the peer-to-peer integration technique for connecting even disparate controllers using a graphical configuration tool.  We will fine tune the demo for our next class.

You may recall that I occasionally get “called out” for beating up the competition.  I’ve been good lately.  But apparently the competition is creating even more outrageous FUD, at least according to the tales told in this class.  I stick to the facts.  That led to this comment on a course evaluation: “Great class. I gained a lot of information, especially in regard to dispelling myths.”  I was even admonished to “Compare to Ethernet/IP in greater detail since it is the primary competitor in the US.”

We always encourage viewing the archived webinars on Industrial Ethernet Basics, especially for those unfamiliar with Ethernet.  This is obviously the right thing for us to encourage, as this comment reveals: “Great class and introduction to the technology.  I did benefit from watching the webinars prior to attending – would have been rough without.”

There were no negative comments, other than about the CBA demo, and some very positive ones, like these:

“For a one-day course I thought it was perfect.”

“Superb course.  Questions were taken and handled well.”

I hope to see you in one of our free one-day training classes soon.  If you can’t make it to one of our venues, check out the webinars.