Fieldcomm Group

Industry education and awareness: the first activity in which the Fieldcomm Group will engage relates to education and awareness of standards within the industry. The goal is to educate and raise awareness of open standards within the industry. This will include, among other activities:- educating all interested parties regarding non-proprietary, internationally recognized, open standards for the industry via publications, tradeshows, and outreach events;- facilitating regular training of any interested party;- providing training seminars that are open to the public and arranging for space at demonstration and trade shows that include various uses of the open standards implemented by a variety of vendors;- documenting and promoting best practices for improvement of the industry;- hosting specialized events (such as traveling roadshows) to educate users and developers;- cooperating with educational institutions to create and promote curriculum for current and future industry workers;- facilitating the exchange of information among all interested parties to enhance the further elaboration of technical specifications for open standards that benefit the industry; and- publishing a periodic newsletter and hosting working Group meetings and seminars to keep the industry and public informed about the state of engineering, application and further developments concerning the open standards.

Ensure product conformance to standards: the third activity in which the Fieldcomm Group will engage relates to ensuring product conformance with the standards developed by the Fieldcomm Group. The Fieldcomm Group will provide independent vendor-neutral facilities to test and verify compliance to the standards developed by the Fieldcomm Group. Independent evaluation of products from all areas of the industrial process will benefit end users and the industry as a whole by providing products that can work together in a multi-vendor environment (interoperability). Compliance will be based on open standards and open test specifications. Compliance testing and assessment will give end users the freedom to choose products based on merits instead of specific vendors. The Fieldcomm Group and the testing laboratories will conduct testing and registration procedures impartially without regard to the commercial interests of any specific company. The Fieldcomm Group and the testing laboratories will conduct all testing and registration procedures objectively and in good faith. Testing and registration fees will be charged in a nondiscriminatory manner and will enable the Fieldcomm Group to cover its operating expenses. All payment arrangements between the Fieldcomm Group and third party testing organizations will be the result of arm's-length negotiations.

Develop and promulgate standards: the second activity in which the Fieldcomm Group will engage relates to developing and promulgating standards for the industry. The Fieldcomm Group will bring together industry experts from across multiple companies in a vendor-neutral, open forum to create open standards that benefit the industry without unfairly excluding or benefitting a single vendor. The Fieldcomm Group will coordinate, sponsor, and perform research and development to develop enhancements to current standards and create new standards. The Fieldcomm Group's activities will also include development and publication of protocol specifications, development of engineers and conformance test tools, specification conformance testing, and other services and tools that enable, verify, and assist in the implementation of the standards.the open communications that the Fieldcomm Group will provide will improve safety, efficiency, environmental protection, reduce waste, and increase quality of products within the industrial process. Open standards benefit the industry by reducing proprietary systems and allowing users to choose best in class products. Open standards allow for innovation and specialized products that help users run a more efficient process.