According to an ARC end user survey for safety systems, there is a pent-up
demand for FOUNDATION Fieldbus for process safety applications, which
was reflected in the survey results. Over a third of the respondents indicated
they were willing to use the present FOUNDATION Technology for
safety applications.
The difference between the demo of basic fieldbus functionality at Shell
many years ago and last week's safety system demo is the high level of end
user commitment that is already behind the technology. Most of the large
integrated oil companies have already begun large-scale adoption of
FOUNDATION Fieldbus technology, and the availability of FOUNDATION
Fieldbus-based safety systems has been widely anticipated. Shell has stated
that they plan to use FF-SIF on their new projects starting in 2011.