Aspen Technology announced that aspenONE version 2006.5 uses the latest Microsoft technologies to simplify IT rollout and management. The integration of aspenONE with Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Office Excel, and SoftGrid Application Virtualization supports IT standards, speeds time to deployment, and extends the reach of aspenONE within operations for improved manufacturing performance.

“aspenONE makes it possible to solve the difficult challenge of optimizing manufacturing performance in complex process industries such as energy, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. By incorporating the latest Microsoft technologies into the integrated suite of aspenONE applications, AspenTech enables process manufacturers to take full advantage of our combined technology solutions across the enterprise,” said Chris Colyer, Microsoft Director of Worldwide Manufacturing Operations.

aspenONE version 2006.5, the software solution that integrates and optimizes engineering, manufacturing and supply chain operations, takes full advantage of Microsoft’s SOA platform, reinforcing AspenTech’s leadership among process manufacturing software suppliers. Building on AspenTech’s support of Microsoft’s .NET Framework, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and SQL Server, aspenONE version 2006.5 incorporates the following Microsoft technologies:

• Microsoft Application Virtualization
• Windows Vista
• Microsoft Office Excel

Operations teams in more than 200 AspenTech customers are using the aspenONE Engineering Suite integrated with Excel to optimize performance between engineering and operations. Using aspenONE, a $20+ billion international, integrated refining and marketing company created a plant performance monitoring application that links the plant’s real-time database with an aspenONE engineering model of the plant to support operating decisions. Critical plant values and model results are displayed in Excel via a table and a graphical representation of the plant. As a result of these types of integrated solutions, process manufacturers can shorten the time required to respond to performance issues, better ensure production schedules are met, and avoid customer delivery delays.

The process of monitoring plant performance has been a cumbersome, manual activity, and a struggle to do effectively. For process manufacturers to truly optimize manufacturing performance, they must be able to monitor the plant continuously and deliver frequent guidance to a larger operational staff that might not be familiar with modeling and simulation. The integration of aspenONE with Microsoft technologies helps to increase the effectiveness of both engineering and operations teams, while improving manufacturing performance.

AspenTech Senior Vice President of Marketing Blair Wheeler said, “Industry research shows that technology investments in manufacturing operations are exceeding spending in ERP applications. As the leader in process optimization software, we are continually looking for new ways to make it easier for customers to improve the return on their IT investments. Today’s news reinforces our commitment to support IT standards and best of breed technologies that address evolving customer needs.

“AspenTech and Microsoft have teamed up to bring the best of both worlds to the IT organizations in process manufacturing companies,” continued Wheeler. “Working closely with Microsoft, we deliver the most advanced optimization solutions on the most recognized IT platform. We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with Microsoft, united by the common goals of simplifying and streamlining manufacturing operations – helping our process manufacturing customers make better and faster decisions closer to the process, resulting in reduced costs and improving operational efficiency.”