Process engineering is a people and computer intensive task. For example, the design and operation of a chemical plant typically requires a team of engineers using a large variety of computer tools. These tools may range from automated synthesis packages through simulation systems to online real time optimization tools. Throughout the life of a project, a large range of computer programs are needed and vast amounts of data may be created. The data must be accessible by all members of the team and individual members should be able to manipulate the data whenever required.
This paper discusses the tools that are available, or will soon be available, to support team based engineering using computers. In particular, two different aspects are discussed:
The use of computers to support team based work, aiding interaction between members of the team and sharing of data.
Large projects will often involve the use of different software products, some of which may only be accessible on specific hardware. New software is capable of running on a wide range of hardware, no longer requiring users to adapt to the hardware.
These two categories are highly interrelated and many of the tools available for one aspect are useful in the other.
Support for collaborative or team based computing requires networked computers. Although there are many different methods for networking computers, the use of Internet based protocols is becoming increasingly popular. In particular, the TCP/IP, SNMP, NNTP, and HTTP protocols which provide the foundation for the Internet are supported by almost all computers currently on the market. With these protocols, all the standard Internet tools, such as e-mail, FTP, telnet, newsgroups, and the World Wide Web are available. This talk describes tools for use on a wide range of computers, all based on Internet technologies. All the tools presented will work on most computers an engineer is likely to have access to and are not limited to, for example, PCs running a specific variant of Microsoft Windows.
Many organizations are uneasy with the use of the Internet for reasons of security. However, it is possible to use Internet technologies without connecting to the outside world. A system set up in this way is known as an intranet: a network of computers, local or otherwise, connected together using the TCP/IP protocol with standard Internet tools. An Intranet has all the benefits of the Internet in regards to sharing of data and information without any of the security problems.
Setting up an intranet is straightforward. One of the most popular systems used is the Linux operating system which can run on a standard PC with an Intel 386 cpu or better. Linux, a Unix like system, is available from the Internet or from a variety of sources worldwide ( The Linux Organization, 1996). For example, the Red Hat distribution of Linux ( Red Hat, 1996) comes with all the necessary tools preconfigured, including
Linux is an efficient, secure and robust system capable of serving a large number of intranet users.
All software discussed in this paper has been used on the author's Linux system, Red Hat version 4.0 running on a Pentium Pro 200 MHz computer with 64 MB of RAM.