Briefly ...

Staff -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 11/1/2005

• The Austin Company, Cleveland, announced that it and two affilates have voluntarily filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The expected result of the restructuring is that the majority of Austin's U.S. operations will become part of Austin AECOM, a division of global engineering company AECOM.
• Modbus-IDA and the Instrumentation Technology and Economy Institute (ITEI) have opened their conformance test labaratory in Beijing, China. The lab will test and certify devices as conforming to Modbus TCP/IP specification or Modbus over Serial Line.
• The Air Movement and Control Assn. International, Inc. announced that ANSI has approved its standard ANSI/AMCA 204-2005, Balance Quality and Vibration Levels for Fans, which defines appropriate fan balance quality and operating vibration levels for fan equipment.
• Schneider Electric's Industrial Automation and Controls Group has created an Applications and Solutions Department to develop customized solutions to meet the needs of OEMs and their customers.