Maritime Industrial IT B. 5

In the automation industry a shift in technology related to integration of real time control and monitoring systems and transactional systems for operation management was initiated in the middle of 1990s. This shift of technology denoted as industrial information technology (Industrial IT) has been driven by the process automation industries such as pulp and paper, chemistry, oil and gas, utilities, etc. During the 1990s the use and availability of web technology as mean of communication has increased tremendously. This has enabled e- business and remote monitoring and control capabilities of equipment, systems and ships. The desire to achieve online interaction on all organisation levels from top management to operators involving both transactional business systems and real time control systems has emerged. In parallel to this several research programs related to ship operations and management have been carried out by the Norwegian maritime cluster. It is believed that the main results of these research efforts motivates further work on the development of maritime industrial IT solutions to the benefit of ship operators and vendors. This paper will give an overview of this field of research and development taking place both at research institutes and the industry.