The Industrial Age Meets Wi-Fi

Wireless communication within a corporation can be a security nightmare for CIOs, but it's considered the technology of the future in giant manufacturing or industrial plants. For many aging plants, the only thing that has really changed in decades is the internal communication system. It's now being relied upon to improve output, maintain the systems and optimize processes. Dan Sheflin, chief technology officer for automation and control solutions at Honeywell Process Solutions--a $14.4 billion-a-year slice of Honeywell International (nyse: )--to talk about the changes. Forbes.com: Why is wireless so important in industrial settings? Sheflin: If it's an oil refinery or a big iron ore mine, many of them are on SAP or Oracle, but those applications only reach down to a certain level. They don't manage the factory. Wireless... [read full story]