Adapt IT announces upgrade to OpSUITE 6 for operations environment

IT services and solutions company Adapt IT has released OpSUITE 6, the latest version of its suite of software solutions for safety and operations management. OpSUITE enables companies to improve operations performance, enhance worker safety and drive organisational excellence. It can be implemented as a fully integrated suite, or as individual modules to address specific challenges faced by operations managers in process plants, mines and power stations, and oil and gas companies.

This latest version, which includes a number of new features requested by customers, as well as productivity improvements for end users, offers several enhancements over previous releases, in line with Adapt IT’s ongoing development of the suite.

“OpSUITE 6 makes operations managers’ lives easier than ever,” says Scott Bredin, executive manager at Adapt IT. “In today’s economy, people who run complex plants and are responsible for meeting production targets, have to do more with less, while maintaining stringent quality standards. OpSUITE enables exactly that, by ensuring compliance, worker health and safety, optimal use of assets and minimal downtime. The benefits of this latest version include greater efficiency in handling complex shutdown isolation scenarios, as well as improved compliance with enterprise IT standards and a standardised integration layer.”

Improvements include support for the latest Microsoft platforms, and integration with Microsoft SharePoint. The business rule framework has been extended to FlexiLOG, Adapt IT’s powerful plant communication tool, which enables better operations control processes. FlexiLOG manages shift-handover logs, and other essential operating information, turning operators’ day-to-day interaction with the plant and systems into vital plant intelligence that is available to everyone. OpSUITE 6 likewise includes improved alerts for non-conformances and notifications for action.

The suite is available on Windows Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform, which enables users to run highly available applications without focusing on the infrastructure. It provides automatic OS and service patching, built in network load balancing and resiliency to hardware failure. “This means that customers can cut server hardware costs and easily scale up or down as system usage changes,” adds Bredin.

The OpSUITE remote service model has been refined over more than a decade, allowing Adapt IT to cost-effectively support operations in far-flung locations. In addition, the software is currently being used in a wide range of operations, from nuclear power generation to gold mining, proving that OpSUITE’s set of solutions are highly flexible and can be implemented in any operations environment.

Adapt IT provides a comprehensive upgrade path for existing OpSUITE customers, and a number of these have already migrated to the upgraded product. “New and existing customers can be assured that Adapt IT will continue to invest in the development of OpSUITE to ensure that the entire product line remains current,” says Bredin. “We have a strong vision for this system into the future and work on version 6.1 is already in progress. Some of the exciting new features across the suite include mobile processing of permits, improved work order planning, new deployment options, and a slew of user interface refinements. Version 6.1 is due for release in the first quarter of 2014.”