by Michiel Jonker, Grant Thornton South Africa

Cybercrime will become an increasingly common threat to South African companies and individuals. In the future, one alternative to offset potentially catastrophic consequences, although against conventional wisdom and hype... ( more)

Everyone knows the importance of the industrial control system (ICS) in any plant. The ICS is the brain and the nervous system of the plant. It performs automated controls and critical safety functions, executing recipes, and regulating production... ( more)

Much has been written and said about open building automation systems (BAS) without really clarifying for those in the industry - manufacturers, vendors, engineers and owners - what constitutes an "open system" and more importantly... ( more)

Information from Endress+Hauser

First came flint, followed by bronze, iron, gold, coal and during the last decades it was oil. The title of "most important" resource has been held by many different materials over the course of our history. And now, at the beginning of the 21st century... ( more)

Information from RET Automation Controls

IO-Link (IEC 61131-9) is an open standard serial communication protocol that allows for the bi-directional exchange of data from sensors and devices that support IO-Link and are connected to a master. The IO-Link master can transmit this data over various networks... ( more)

Information from the Technical University of Munich

Silicon nanosheets are thin, two-dimensional layers with exceptional optoelectronic properties very similar to those of graphene; although the nanosheets are less stable. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have, for the first time ever... ( more)

by Chris Matthee, National Metrology Institute of South Africa

For the typical person, time does not have to be accurate. Most people are happy to have their watch correct to within a minute or two, while others will want it to be correct to within a few seconds. Industrial and business users need much better accuracy... ( more)

Information from Westermo

Fibre optics (optical fibres) are long, thin strands of very pure glass about the diameter of a human hair. They carry much more information than conventional copper wire and are completely insensitive to electromagnetic interference... ( more ) 

by Bob Zollo, Keysight Technologies

During the design phase of a battery-powered product, engineers will need to qualify cells for suitability in the application. While often this testing will be done with dedicated cell test equipment, sometimes engineers will turn to standard off-the-shelf power... ( more ) 

by Hans van de Groenendaal, features editor, EngineerIT

Hosted and virtual private branch exchanges, better known as PBXs, share some of the same technologies but are operationally very different. South Africa has lagged in the development of hosted and virtual PBXs because the carrier, voice over IP... ( more)

Technology advancements have succeeded in lowering the power consumption in electronic components, which has enabled battery suppliers to offer increasingly dense and larger storage capacity lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery cells... ( more)

by Hans van de Groenendaal, features editor, EngineerIT

At one stage producers of television sets focussed their research and manufacturing capabilities on organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) to produce the perfect TV picture and images on hand-held devices, but with the announcement of quantum dot technology... ( more)

by Paul Colmer, Greencom

The telephone, from its inception and final patent in 1876 from Alexander Graham Bell, was surely a milestone in telecommunications even though Bell himself thought of it as an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study... ( more)

by Hans van de Groenendaal, features editor, EngineerIT

Business practices are in a constant state of digital transformation. The paper process for deliveries is one such development in digitisation. Technology is continually on the march with many developments focussing on digital transformation... ( more)