Internet-based factory monitoring

Monitoring a factory remotely over the Internet introduces a variety of issues: how to capture the factory's data in a Web-accessible database, locate the data from anywhere in the world, display it locally using a Web browser, protect private data during transmission, and shield it from unauthorized viewing. Solving those problems from scratch would be difficult, but fortunately that is not necessary. Using techniques developed for electronic commerce-including universal data access, a ubiquitous programming environment, data security and user authentication-all of these requirements can be met. The authors discuss these techniques, then show how they are used in combination to create a data monitoring system for a simulated petrochemical plant.