Distributed Control Systems

Several trends have helped companies halt the steep price declines seen in previous years and restart healthy growth. One key trend is in hardware pricing. Hardware now makes up a smaller percentage of a total DCS system, comprising about 30 percent of content. Commercial-off-the-shelf components are now fully utilized for systems once constructed mainly with proprietary gear.

By Don Dingee

April 1st, 2006

(Spring 2006) — Reversing the slump after Y2K and driven by improvements in hardware pricing and new growth in China and India, the worldwide market for Distributed Control Systems (DCS) is now projected to grow at 6 percent annually through 2009 according to a recent study released by ARC Advisory Group (ARC), titled DCS Worldwide Outlook (November 2005).