ABB's Industrial IT System 800xA Sales Exceed 1,000 in First 18 Months of Release; Enthusiastic Market Reception for Extended Automation System.

WICKLIFFE, Ohio -- Since its introduction in January 2004, ABB has sold Industrial IT System 800xA to more than 1,000 customers in a wide variety of process industries all over the globe.

"System 800xA has had tremendous acceptance worldwide since its introduction last year," said Bob Hausler, vice president Industrial IT Systems marketing, ABB Inc. "Customers in a diverse range of industries have used System 800xA to extend their automation system reach and capability to make their operations more efficient and profitable. It helps customers solve their most important productivity challenges by providing them with system scope and functionality that is unprecedented in this industry."

System 800xA provides new and existing ABB customers with a better way to achieve measurable productivity and profitability improvements. It extends the scope of traditional control systems to include all automation functions in a single operations and engineering environment so that plants/mills can run smarter and better at substantial cost savings.

Customers such as Georgia Pacific, Bechtel National Inc., PEMEX, Boise Paper, LKAB Group, Glaxo SmithKline, Olin Corp., Tussa Hydro Power, RNS-NIS Oil Refinery (Serbia), Collahuasi (Chile), Stora Enso (Portugal), and many others are among those adopting System 800xA to achieve productivity improvements.

"System 800xA continues to gain traction in the marketplace, both with new customers and with ABB's installed base," said Larry O'Brien, Research Director for Process Industries, ARC. "It delivers advanced functionality and a high level of integration that address the primary drivers behind today's automation implementations: increased productivity and yield, reduced lifecycle costs, safeguarding investments, and environmental and safety management."

Many ABB customers have added System 800xA functionality to their existing ABB systems. With System 800xA, customers have the ability to extend the automation reach of their present system to enjoy new levels of productivity. It provides the flexibility to implement the functions these customers require today and the agility to add others as needs evolve, while utilizing their existing automation system as a foundation for continuous productivity improvement. Customers from a wide variety of industries have extended their current ABB system to include System 800xA core functional areas such as Asset Optimization, Production Management, Safety, Information Management, Control, Operations, Engineering and others to get the productivity results they need now, with the ability to continue to evolve their systems at a pace that suits their long-term needs.

Here are a few examples of recent System 800xA projects:

Earlier this year, ABB won a $27 million order from LKAB Group of Sweden to supply automation and electrical equipment for the expansion of its iron ore pellet production facilities.

ABB will supply complete electrification systems and Industrial IT Extended Automation System 800xA to the new production facilities, as well as the switchgear expansion. In addition, ABB will modernize process control systems for the existing concentrator, where ore is separated into valuable iron concentrates and rejected material, or tailings.

LKAB, the only iron ore exporter within the European Union, decided in late 2004 to invest in a new pelletizing plant, concentrator expansion and rail loading and unloading station near its mine at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company selected ABB to equip the new plant and to expand the site's existing 145kV switchgear capabilities.

System 800xA with AC 800M HI High Integrity controllers was chosen for integrated process control and safety for the Shah Deniz field, a major gas project that is part of the massive Caspian Sea pipeline development. The field includes an offshore platform, onshore terminal and pipeline. The Shah Deniz condensate field lies in the Caspian Sea, about 100km south of Baku in water depths ranging from 50m to 500m; from there a pipeline is being constructed to supply gas to Turkey.

ABB is supplying, installing and commissioning an integrated process control and safety system for the new onshore gas terminal and offshore platform and the associated South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP). The integrated safety system consists of a fire and gas sub-system covering process and non-process areas and a separate emergency shutdown sub-system for the process area. This will provide process control, emergency shutdown and fire and gas protection across all platforms.

A key advantage of the overall system design is that the operator in the common control room can see any information relating to either the offshore platform or onshore terminal. For this to be successful, every part of the installation needs to be consistent. This has been achieved by writing common functional design specifications for process control, fire and gas, shutdown, graphics, operator interfaces and type circuits with a standard hardware build. System 800xA High Integrity, with its unique "same but separate" architecture, makes this consistency and integration possible.

ABB was recently awarded a project to provide the automation and instrumentation suite for RNS-NIS Refinery in Novi Sad, Serbia. This is the first automation system in Serbia to use Profibus and the first System 800xA Extended Automation implementation in the country. ABB worked closely with the client to understand all the project requirements and won the contract in a competitive bid. ABB was chosen because of it comprehensive scope of supply and ability to deliver the solutions, support and services needed for this project.

The composite solution for the refinery includes System 800xA Extended Automation with AC 800M controllers; Profibus for process control communication and HART for other control and I/O communications; as well as field instrumentation including pressure and temperature transmitters, mass flow meters, level transmitters, control valves and process analyzers.

System 800xA extends the scope of traditional control systems to include all automation functions in a single operations and engineering environment so that plants/mills can run smarter and better at substantial cost savings. Its reach extends well beyond the realm of essential process control to production management, safety, smart instrumentation, smart drives and motor control, information management, asset optimization, simulation and documentation. System 800xA's unique engineering environment manages one set of consistent data, for single-point entry, single-point change, and re-use across the plant. System 800xA Extended Automation has been chosen by Control Engineering magazine to receive an Editors' Choice Award as one of the best products introduced in 2004.

Industrial IT System 800xA is part of ABB's award winning suite of integrated Industrial IT solutions; these solutions address the challenges that automation customers face in today's global marketplace. ABB's comprehensive Industrial IT portfolio of products is focused on delivering productivity and profits to automation customers. ABB's product strategy is for evolution through enhancement to protect customer investment.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 102,000 people.