Safety Under An Integrated Software Umbrella

Schneider Electric North America recently announced that it will integrate Citect, an industrial automation software provider, into its automation and control solutions lineup. The integration will also encompass Citect’s field operations (sales, professional services and training) team to round out the collective supervision control and data acquisition (SCADA), human-machine interface (HMI) and manufacturing execution system (MES) solution and service offering. Acquiring Citect in 2006, Schneider Electric intends to further accelerate the development of its Citect® software suite with this integration. According to the companies, since they have merged, they have collectively achieved an average annual growth of 20 percent in the SCADA business. Maintaining a dual-brand strategy, the companies are striving to offer continuity for existing Citect customers who are already familiar with CitectSCADA, while expanding the offer to include Vijeo™ Citect SCADA software for existent Schneider Electric customers. Vijeo Citect, Schneider Electric’s branded version of the CitectSCADA software, was developed by Citect and launched after the initial acquisition in 2006. The seamless interoperability between Vijeo Citect and CitectSCADA enables sales, support and service to be available from both Schneider Electric and Citect’s network of more than 500 partners located in Asia/Pacific, South Africa, Europe and the Americas. “The availability of Citect’s network of sales, support and service teams provides our customers [with] tremendous advantages and further positions Schneider Electric as a one-stop shop for complete automation and control solutions,” says Schneider Electric Automation and Control Vice President Andy Gravitt. “The dual-brand strategy has been a tremendous success globally, allowing Citect to be the top HMI/SCADA vendor in Asia and increase market share around the globe by providing both options for customers,” according to Citect CEO Christopher Crowe. The new organization will come into effect January 1, 2009.