This years B&R User Meeting took place on the 12th and 13th of June, 2007 in Salzburg. The theme was once again exchanging information and finding solutions by technicians for technicians. During the two day meeting, 160 participants from the field of machine and system manufacturing in Austria and southern Germany exchanged information about the newest developments in the world of automation. The most important goal was to provide practical information instead of giving long-winded product presentations.

B&R experts and external speakers were available for an intensive exchange of ideas. Rüdiger Eikmeier from the EPSG gave an exciting overview of the latest developments in real-time Ethernet systems. In his opinion, POWERLINK – so far the only industrial Ethernet system based on standard Ethernet physics in series production – will remain at the very top of the list of top competitors due to its benefits such as safety, redundancy, and gigabits. Renowned safety expert Dr. Peter Wratil presented both fundamental concepts as well as their applications in machine manufacturing. He provided some valuable information about the issues that need to be addressed during development and construction in order to make machines even safer for the future. The main focus of the event, "Simulation", was presented by Franz Enhuber, Key Project Agent for B&R. Enhuber highlighted the cost and resource savings made possible when a simulation is created once, and then transferred via interfaces to the automation software and thereby onto the hardware. One of the only software tools to offer this capability is B&R's Automation Studio. Last but not least, a number of B&R system integrators demonstrated their expertise in the areas of safety and engineering consulting.

The participants in this event included technicians interested in innovative automation solutions for optimizing hardware, engineering and commissioning costs. In 2008, the B&R User Meeting will again be an important opportunity for cooperation between partners.