News

infoteam Software AG brings a new generation of its Cause & Effect Charts to market — just in time for the SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2010 tradeshow in Nuremberg. The new .NET based editor can be simply integrated into any IEC 61131 programming system, thereby offering the ability to develop safety functions as C&E charts.

In the NORSOK standard, use of Cause & Effect Charts is recommended. Particularly in processing industries, such as oil, gas, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, it is already an established specification method for representing emergency plans.

For safety-related systems, a safety lifecycle is defined on a normative basis. In so doing, the focus is on the documentation, build and test processes, which are significantly more expensive than in systems that are not related to safety. This also applies to development of application programs.

With Cause & Effect Charts, safety functions can be represented very clearly, which makes certification simpler. They are suitable for specifying safety functions up to SIL 3 and are automatically translated into “structured text” according to IEC 61131-3. This prevents semantic gaps between specification and programming.

The driving force behind improvement of programming systems is lowered engineering costs. Especially for building safety functions, there is considerable pent-up demand. Traditionally, programmers’ FMEA results are translated manually into function plans whose accuracy must be laboriously demonstrated during certification — which doesn’t always work! This is where Cause & Effect Charts help, because the risk analysis results and the safety function definitions can be documented immediately. That means that the audit is done from the same documentation that is created in the specification phase. This saves a lot of time, and it practically eliminates a previously complex phase of safety function engineering.

infoteam Software AG will display at the SPS/IPC/DRIVES show in Hall 7a, Booth 130 (eastern entrance).

About infoteam Software AG

infoteam Software AG develops system software for industrial automation, life sciences and healthcare. The company was founded in 1983 and now employs 120 people at three locations. infoteam Software is an employee-owned company with all shares currently held by 10 employees. It was converted to a joint stock company in 2010.

The main focus of its development activities is software tools for Windows and Linux, as well as embedded systems for industrial controllers, robotics, medical diagnostics and laboratory automation, and energy creation and distribution. In the medical technology field, infoteam develops editors for automated laboratory tests, among other items, and through professional quality work guarantees the greatest possible safety for this security-critical industry. In 2007, infoteam was selected as Supplier of the Year by Siemens Healthcare MR.

Its product portfolio is complemented by a wide array of services, support, training and workshops. Its customers include the leading producers of industrial controllers for medical technology, automation, and energy creation and supply in Europe, the US and the Far East. The company is headquartered in Bubenreuth bei Erlangen, in southern Germany. infoteam Software AG Stäfa is a wholly owned subsidiary in Switzerland. infoteam Software Beijing/China Co. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary for the Asia-Pacific region.

infoteam Software is ISO 9001:2008 certified. For further information, go to www.infoteam.de

Press contact:
Michaela Finnie
Communication Manager
E-mail: michaela.finnie@infoteam.de

infoteam Software GmbH
Am Bauhof 9
91088 Bubenreuth, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 9131-7800-829
Fax: +49 (0) 9131-7800-50
http://www.infoteam.de