- May 02, 2023
- FDT Group
FDT Group, an international, non-profit industry association supporting the evolution of FDT technology for industrial device management, today announced that FDT Service Provider M&M Software released fdtCONTAINER version 4.8, a point-to-point device configuration tool supporting the latest FDT 3.0 specification to meet user demands for modern intelligent device management and monitoring initiatives. This release also includes updated developer tools which simplify the migration to FDT 3 systems and smart device DTMs for the vendor community.
Smart manufacturing initiatives drive end users and suppliers of industrial automation systems and devices to seek modern and comprehensive device management solutions that use interoperable, efficient, and sustainable plug and play engineering tools. FDT, an IEC 62453 embedded software standard, normalizes device data and communication between any host and device. The standard rooted in the host and device environment provides users a single tool for intelligent device management, operation, diagnosis, and maintenance. The latest FDT 3.0 specification enables a FDT Unified Environment (FDT UE) for IT/OT data-driven operations via authenticated OPC UA, FDT UE and mobile clients.
The FDT Group AISBL is an international non-profit corporation consisting of leading worldwide member companies active in industrial automation and manufacturing. The major purpose of the FDT Group is to provide an open standard for enterprise-wide network and asset integration, innovating the way automation architectures connect and communicate sensor to cloud for the process, hybrid and factory automation markets. The FDT standard is globally adopted by IEC 62453, ISA 103, and GB-T 29618-2017 with millions of Device Type Managers (DTMs) in use.
FDT Group partners with leading service providers worldwide that assist companies interested in FDT-enabled product development. These organizations provide training and resources to educate customers about FDT (FDT 1.x and 2.x) and FDT UE (3.0), offer technical guidance on system and device integration, and help suppliers future-proof their system and device management strategy. Providers are updating their product offerings and development tools to assist next-generation architectures based on the FDT 3.0 standard designed to meet industry demands for modern intelligent device management and monitoring initiatives for the process and factory markets.
“Working closely with our service providers, such as M&M Software, reduces barriers for FDT product development for market entry, said Steve Biegacki, FDT Group managing director. “The global industrial automation community has widely adopted the FDT standard, and M&M Software has been a key player for its acceptance by enabling multi-vendor support over multiple communication protocols while leveraging a common information model and user interface.”
M&M Software’s FDT UE-ready product line includes:
- OEM fdtCONTAINER application 4.8 – Free point-to-point device management and configuration tool supporting all DTM generations for users.
- fdtCONTAINER component 4.0 (aka. FDT UE - Desktop Common Component) – The official component for integrating the FDT 3.0 interface and DTM runtime into an engineering application for system vendors with branded customizations and other value-add features.
- dtmMANAGER development suite 4.0 – The comprehensive FDT 3.0 DTM development suite provides a simplified environment for device vendors to develop DTM’s allowing vendors to focus on the value-add device model features.
“M&M Software is proud to be an FDT Service Provider offering invaluable advice and support to system and device suppliers interested in innovative system and device management strategies based on the FDT standard,” said Pingsheng Xu, development manager for M&M Software. “We are thrilled that our product offerings now support the latest FDT (3.0) UE standard allowing users and vendors a seamless migration path for industrial device management modernization, providing new features supporting smart manufacturing projects.”
Download fdtCONTAINER application here. Inquire about M&M Software’s FDT3 Developer Tools here: