Connect with us

Technology

RS and Siemens are paving the way to Industry 5.0 with I/O

Published

on

RS offers Siemens IP6X distributed I/O systems engineered to satisfy organizations’ ever-increasing demand for actionable data, maximize uptime, boost performance, facilitate future-proof scalability, and enable hybrid I/O systems essential to the shift from automated to autonomous operation.

FORT WORTH, Texas, April 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — RS, a global product and service solutions provider for industrial customers, offers the complete line of IP6X distributed I/O systems from Siemens, a global leader in industrial automation technologies. Engineered for rugged reliability, broad application suitability, and superior scalability, Siemens IP6X distributed I/O systems help industrial organizations satisfy the ever-increasing demand for actionable sensor data, maximum uptime, and peak performance and — along with traditional in-cabinet I/O — enable hybrid I/O systems capable of paving the way to Industry 5.0.

Siemens IP6X distributed I/O systems maximize uptime, boost performance, and facilitate future-proof scalability.

I/O systems facilitate communication between computers, devices, users, and storage and are used in every industry and application that employs automation or uses signals for control, including manufacturing, infrastructure, water and wastewater, agriculture, oil and gas, and energy and utility industries. Global industries have relied on I/O systems for data exchange since their popularization in the 1960s and 70s, and these systems have continually matured to address evolving needs.

Today’s I/O systems are increasingly engineered to help organizations overcome challenges related to prevailing digitalization, globalization, and workforce challenges by enabling them to leverage advanced technologies, like digital simulation and artificial intelligence (AI), and laying the groundwork for the impending shift from automated to autonomous operations. This shift from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0 will require massive amounts of data and is already fueling tremendous demand for I/O and gradually increasing the size and complexity of I/O systems.

This complexity can be a burden to manage, slowing performance and leading to quality issues. Flexible, open-standard I/O systems, like the Siemens ET distributed I/O systems, are the solution. Engineered to maximize uptime, boost performance, and facilitate future-proof scalability, these machine-mounted I/O devices go right where your data is to reduce labor costs, shorten design time, and make it quicker and easier to access your data, run diagnostics, expand your systems, and add new functionality. Given their unique location, they’re also ruggedized with features like IP6X sealing to protect against the ingress of dust, dirt, and liquids.

Siemens offers a comprehensive range of IP6X distributed I/O systems designed to satisfy the needs of a wide variety of industrial application environments and standardized to provide engineering and diagnostic consistency, regardless of the I/O modules, PLC, controller, and network you’re using, which is a big benefit for machine builders. This unique-to-market capability — multi-fieldbus support — enables communication between the three primary industrial Ethernet fieldbuses that you’ll encounter: Ethernet IP, PROFINET, and Modbus TCP. It also eases integration, allowing you to buy machines from different suppliers with no concern for communication compatibility and even to communicate with several different controllers or PLCs with different fieldbuses at the same time over the same cable — and it’s available in every Siemens IP6X I/O product. Another advantage of the Siemens IP6X I/O line is that diagnostics are always handled exactly the same way and look the same way when they’re reported back.

Siemens IP6X distributed I/O solutions available at RS include:

The SIMATIC ET 200eco PN I/O system. This block I/O solution is ruggedized for on-machine deployment and outdoor environments, featuring a robust and relatively compact cast zinc housing that can be mounted horizontally or vertically for maximum flexibility and IP protection ratings spanning IP65 to IP69K. It’s also resistant to high levels of shock and vibration and rated for operating temperatures extending from -40°C to +60°C. Two-port Ethernet switches integrated into each block enable flexible configuration for digital and analog inputs and outputs, mixed-configuration devices, and easy integration into line topologies, and M12 L-coded power connectors provide high current-carrying capabilities, so you can switch higher loads and run significantly greater cable lengths in the field. To support open and flexible communication, it’s available with a variety of I/O-Link master devices designed to help you extract data from all the way down to your lowest field-level device, which makes it much easier to optimize overall system performance. Ideal applications extend from infrastructure and mining equipment to industrial manufacturing and material handling.

The SIMATIC ET 200pro distributed I/O system. Designed for near-universal use in harsh industrial automation environments, this modular, multifunctional, and machine-mounted IP65 or IP67 I/O system supports a wide variety of I/O modules with up to 16 channels each in a single I/O rack and reliably withstands high mechanical loads. It also supports digital, analog, fail-safe, and other inputs and outputs all in the same system and a corresponding IO-Link master that enables hot swapping to maximize availability, prevent expensive unplanned downtime, and simplify module configuration. It’s available with a CPU option for applications that require distributed intelligence, integrated drives and motor starters for automotive and conveyor applications, and integrated safety features for especially high-risk environments.

The SIMATIC ET 200AL distributed I/O system. Ideally suited for machine systems with a lot of metal infrastructure, moving equipment, and space constraints, like robotic arms and gantry systems, this extremely compact and lightweight modular block I/O system makes it easy to install individual modules in even the smallest spaces on your machine or assembly line. Its digital outputs can be safely shut down within a supply line, enabling the integration of safety applications, and it can be used as an expansion of the SIMATIC ET 200SP to facilitate seamless transitions between in-cabinet and machine-mounted I/O systems in increasingly popular and future-centric hybrid I/O system configurations.

Siemens is the world’s largest single-source leader for industrial automation technology products, a leading supplier of I/O solutions, and a world-class developer of technologies that drive innovation and transform industries. RS offers an extensive selection of Siemens products, including its full line of Siemens IP6X distributed I/O systems, along with a wide variety of circuit protection, motors and motor controls, industrial controls, switches, power products, relays, PLCs and HMIs, industrial data communications devices, and more.  

To learn more about Siemens IP6X distributed I/O systems engineered to satisfy organizations’ ever-increasing demand for actionable data, maximize uptime, boost performance, facilitate future-proof scalability, and pave the way to Industry 5.0, check out “Turbo-charge your industrial data collection with I/O system solutions,” an RS Expert Advice interview with Garett Williams, the Factory Automation Portfolio Development Specialist at Siemens, and visit the links embedded here.

For assistance identifying, procuring, deploying, and maintaining Siemens I/O solutions sure to satisfy your unique application demands, please contact your local RS representative at 1.866.433.5722 or reach out to the RS technical support team.

About Siemens
Siemens Corporation is a U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG, a leading technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers customers to accelerate their digitalization and sustainability transformations, making factories more agile and productive, buildings more efficient, power systems more intelligent and transportation more sustainable. Siemens also owns a majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, a leading global medical technology provider pioneering breakthroughs in healthcare. In addition, Siemens holds a minority stake in Siemens Energy, a global leader in the transmission and generation of electrical power. In fiscal year 2024, which ended on September 30, 2024, the Siemens Group USA generated revenue of $21.2 billion, with 24 manufacturing sites across the U.S. and more than 45,000 employees serving customers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

About RS 
RS is a global product and service solutions provider for industrial customers, enabling them to operate efficiently and sustainably. 

We operate in 36 markets, stock over 800,000 industrial and specialist products, and list an additional five million relevant for our industrial customers, sourced from over 2,500 suppliers. This extensive range supports our customers across the industrial lifecycle of designing, building, and maintaining equipment and operations. We enhance their experience through a tailored service model, leveraging our efficient physical, digital, and process infrastructure sustainably. We combine a technically led and digitally enabled approach with an exceptional team of experts; ultimately, it’s our people that make the difference.

Our purpose, making amazing happen for a better world, reflects our focus on delivering results for people, planet, and profit. 

RS Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange with stock ticker RS1 and in the year ended 31 March 2024 reported revenue of £2,942 million.

For more information, please visit https://www.rsgroup.com/ or connect with us on LinkedIn or X (Twitter).

About RS in the Americas 
In the Americas region, RS stocks more than 250,000 industrial and electronic products from more than 700 trusted suppliers. These solutions cover categories extending from automation and control equipment to interconnect, passive, active, and electromechanical components and include more than 80,000 high-quality, competitively priced RS PRO products. For more information, please visit https://us.rs-online.com or connect with us via social media on FacebookX (Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Image Download:
Siemens IP6X IO PR.jpg

Editorial Contact & Media Inquiries:
Erica Goode, RS Director of Marketing – U.S. and Canada
Erica.Goode@rsgroup.com  

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rs-and-siemens-are-paving-the-way-to-industry-5-0-with-io-302436999.html

SOURCE RS

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

Simply announces compatibility with AI glasses from Meta

Published

on

By

NEW YORK, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Simply, the creative hobbies leader behind the market leading apps Simply Piano, Simply Guitar, Simply Sing, and Simply Draw, today announced compatibility with AI glasses from Meta.

 

The launch signals Simply’s next leap – from mobile and augmented reality into AI glasses – as part of its long–term vision to build a fully multimodal AI platform that connects physical creativity, digital experiences, and wearable interfaces.

After pioneering music learning through augmented reality with Simply Piano for Apple Vision Pro and Simply Piano for Android XR, Simply is now expanding its creative hobbies ecosystem into AI–powered wearables. The new integration with Simply Draw and AI glasses from Meta lets learners capture their drawing process in real time, generating AI–enhanced timelapses and shareable creative assets that showcase their creation. 

“This is an exciting step toward a new era for creativity,” said Yuval Kaminka, CEO and Co–Founder of Simply. “We believe that the way we experience the arts, learning, playing and creative expression at home will become fully contextual. AI glasses allow us to move closer to a true AI creative companion – a multimodal AI, one that understands what you’re doing and supports you in the moment.”

“AI glasses are becoming a natural extension of how we learn and create,” added Eliran Douenias, Head of Product Innovation at Simply. “Our products already enable immersive and virtual experiences with XR and spatial computing, now we’re adding AI glasses from Meta as the next interface – and it’s just the first of an exciting roadmap ahead.”

“Simply’s early move into the AI glasses space puts us ahead of the curve and positions us to lead in how wearables – specifically AI glasses – become part of everyday creative life,” said Douenias.

With this launch, Simply is expanding its platform for the AI era. The new compatibility with AI glasses from Meta enhances how learners see, capture, and share their creative process, with many more experiences to follow.

About Simply

Simply is the world’s leading AI creativity platform redefining how people learn and express themselves through music, arts, crafts, and more. Its award–winning apps – Simply Piano, Simply Guitar, Simply Sing, and Simply Draw – have empowered millions globally to pick up and develop fulfilling creative hobbies that last.

Contact info: eliran@hellosimply.com

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VquEDFtY-40
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2940139/Simply.jpg

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/simply-announces-compatibility-with-ai-glasses-from-meta-302755903.html

SOURCE Simply

Continue Reading

Technology

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Hires James Smith as Managing Director

Published

on

By

LONDON, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (“LLCP”) announced today that James Smith has joined the Firm as a Managing Director in the Investment Management group. James will be based in LLCP’s London office.

Josh Kaufman, Head of Europe at LLCP, said, “We are thrilled to welcome James to LLCP. James adds valuable experience to the team within our core Business Services sector vertical. We look forward to the impact he will have as our European business and team continues to grow.”

James joins LLCP from Advent International where he was a senior member of the European Business & Financial Services team and participated in numerous successful transactions over his 12-year tenure. Prior to Advent, James worked at Bain & Company. James’ full biography can be found at https://www.llcp.com/team

About Levine Leichtman Capital Partners

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, LLC is a middle-market private equity firm with a 42-year track record of investing across various targeted sectors, including Business Services, Franchising & Multi-unit, Education & Training and Engineered Products & Manufacturing. LLCP utilizes a differentiated Structured Private Equity investment strategy, combining debt and equity capital investments in portfolio companies. LLCP believes that by investing in a combination of debt and equity securities, it offers management teams growth capital in a highly tailored, flexible investment structure that can be a more attractive alternative than traditional private equity.

LLCP’s global team of dedicated investment professionals is led by 9 partners who have worked at LLCP for an average of 20 years. Since inception, LLCP and its affiliates have managed approximately $18.5 billion of capital across nearly 20 investment funds and has invested in approximately 120 portfolio companies. LLCP currently manages $12.6 billion of assets and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, London, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

Media Contact: Isabel Moon, imoon@llcp.com

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2349427/5942845/LLCP_Logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/levine-leichtman-capital-partners-hires-james-smith-as-managing-director-302756349.html

Continue Reading

Technology

Appian Advances AI in Process to Deliver Enterprise Outcomes at Scale

Published

on

By

New capabilities in agentic automation and AI-assisted spec-driven development transform complex work.

ORLANDO, Fla., April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Appian [Nasdaq: APPN] today announced enhancements to the Appian Platform, including AI-assisted spec-driven development and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration for agents. By anchoring AI within processes, Appian eliminates the primary hurdles to AI value: fragmented data, and a lack of reliability and control. Process models provide the structure needed to deliver results safely, and at scale.

Advancements in AI agents enable more intelligent, coordinated work

AI agents in Appian are smarter, safer and more effective because they have better structure, context and guardrails. Appian is enhancing interoperability across its AI ecosystem. By adopting powerful standards like Model Context Protocol (MCP), Appian agents will be able to interface securely with external enterprise systems. Third party AI agents will have access to powerful Appian tools like data fabric which uniquely provides unified read-write access to enterprise data.

Appian is also advancing agent learning by providing users the ability to track agent performance, and then apply an agent’s memory across processes to improve decision making. Users will soon be able to expand on this by giving AI guidance on what objectives to optimize against and recommend improvements that can be applied safely.

Customer value

Global Excel Management, a worldwide healthcare risk management provider, uses Appian to transform claims processes with AI.

“As part of our digital transformation we are evolving our claims processes by transitioning from fragmented workflows to an enhanced level of operations using technological advancements enabled with AI features,” said Pascal Tanguay, SVP, Global Technology Services, Global Excel Management. “With Appian, our processes will be unified. From initial intake to adjudication, our advanced technology will reduce redundant tasks and lessen complexity for our team members. This ensures that our claims processes are consistent and completed more efficiently and accurately.”

Context gives agents a common vocabulary for business data

To support advanced agent capabilities, Appian is augmenting its industry-leading data fabric. Appian’s data fabric has been enhanced to provide a unified metadata model that gives agents clearer context about how information is structured and connected across systems.

Furthering its commitment to supporting industry-leading data platforms, Appian is launching a technology partnership with Snowflake. This unites Appian as the AI orchestration layer with Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud, combining data aggregation, model training, and process orchestration to enable immediate business value. Direct MCP-enabled integration between Appian data fabric and Snowflake equips agents with deep enterprise context, and allows them to interact directly with Snowflake Cortex AI to drive intelligent, data-backed decisions.

“Enterprises don’t need more AI experiments, they need AI that delivers real business outcomes on governed data,” said Baris Gultekin, Vice President of AI, Snowflake. “By combining Appian’s process orchestration and data fabric with the Snowflake AI Data Cloud, we’re bringing intelligence directly into the flow of work. Together, we enable secure, enterprise-grade AI where agents can access trusted data through Cortex AI, act with context, and drive measurable impact across the business.”

AI-assisted spec-driven development

AI-assisted development has revolutionized coding, but mission-critical work needs more than fast, cheap code. Appian puts structure around AI-assisted development. Without that structure, AI-generated code can introduce compliance issues and technical debt instead of business value.

Appian is introducing AI-assisted spec-driven development. AI extracts rich specifications from legacy applications to create a clear visual plan. This plan helps visualize the UI, data models and process flows for rapid and iterative operational improvements. AI developer agents, operating under human supervision, complete tasks according to specifications, accelerating delivery and reducing rework.

New developer MCP servers will allow organizations to use their choice of AI development tools, such as Claude Code or Kiro to build and update Appian applications. Appian will support a wide range of AI models, enabling teams to work in the environments they prefer.

Together, these enhancements will deliver the speed and developer productivity of AI-assisted development, with enterprise-grade control.

“Appian Composer, Agents and Appian MCP servers enable trusted agentic process orchestration and application modernization,” said Mike Beckley, Chief Technology Officer and Founder of Appian. “Composer complements Appian’s agentic orchestration and data fabric with new spec-driven development tools that are both conversational and iterative. Beneath the covers, Appian Composer is built on Appian’s new open MCP – a model-driven representation of your complete application estate—requirements, apps, data entities, logic, workflows, security/governance rules, integrations, and multi-object dependencies—now exposed as context for developers and agents to safely evolve and optimize.”

The advancements announced today were unveiled at Appian World 2026 and will be available in coming releases. Learn more at www.appian.com

About Appian

Appian provides process automation technology. We automate complex processes in large enterprises and governments. Our platform is known for its unique reliability and scale. We’ve been automating processes for 25 years and understand enterprise operations like no one else. For more information, visit appian.com. [Nasdaq: APPN]

Follow Appian: LinkedIn, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and X.

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488235/5943345/Appian_Caption_2700px_Logo.jpg

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/appian-advances-ai-in-process-to-deliver-enterprise-outcomes-at-scale-302756511.html

Continue Reading

Trending