ECIL unveils new automation system

HYDERABAD: “India’s import bill for electronics is likely to surpass the import bill for oil. This is a serious issue not just in terms of balance of payments but also of security of India’s cyber space,” warned Anil Kakodkar, nuclear scientist and member of the Atomic Energy Commission, after unveiling the indigenously developed Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)- MPROGICON 5000 power series system at the Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) campus here on Friday.Describing the 18th of May as a significant day in his life and the country, he recalled that it was on this day in 1974 that India had conducted its first nuclear test at Pokhran in Rajsthan and stressed the need for the country to go on the path of self-reliance without isolating itself in the global environment. “We are not successful in converting all our research and development into commercially viable products. While we have benefited from the open door policy, we have become equally vulnerable,” he said, adding, “we should be able to export things of higher value than import.” He expressed confidence that there was wisdom and capability in the country to reach the goal of attaining total solutions for ICT needs.Admitting that the current Indian market was dominated by foreign brands,YS Mayya, chairman and managing director of ECIL, said that the high performance PLC developed by ECIL was a definitive solution to automation problems where safety, reliability and security were key concerns.‘‘The system promises to mitigate security concerns arising out of potential malware in these vital equipment which often form the nervous system of our industrial plants. Products that make up the ecosystem of a modern PLC are vulnerable to malware, either maliciously introduced or introduced subsequently through known vulnerabilities in hardware or software. These vulnerabilities are extremely difficult to detect,” he said.According to Mayya, the third-generation PLCs consume less power, run cool, meet international standards and are equally well-suited for automation applications.