More than 180,000 visitors from over 100 nations came to Hannover Messe 2014 to explore the future of industry at the world's leading industrial tradeshow—and to see groov, Opto 22's tool for easily building and viewing your automation system on your mobile device.

With the theme of Integrated Industry – Next Steps, this year's trade fair focused on methods and products for intelligent, self-organizing factories—often called Industry 4.0.

If you see someone using an Apple iPad or a Samsung Galaxy at an industrial site, what's your reaction?

Whether you think it's "Russian roulette" or the "new normal," you'll want to read our new white paper. It takes a good look at the pros and cons of using commercial, off-the-shelf smartphones and tablets to monitor and control automation systems and equipment.

You've heard a lot from us about groov, But you may be wondering which groov is right for you.

Let's compare a few choices.

groov Box or groov Server?

groov software and the operator interfaces you build are served in one of two ways: from a hardware appliance (the groov Box) or from a Microsoft Windows computer (groov Server for Windows). Here's how to decide which one you need.

Choose the groov Box (GROOV-AT1) if:

Opto 22's free SNAP PAC System training classes at company headquarters in Temecula, California, are always popular, and it's easy to see why.

For three days you get hands-on training on SNAP PAC controllers, SNAP I/O, and PAC Project automation software. Not to mention lunches, a factory tour, and a bag of gifts.

And now you'll also get hands-on training with groov.

Want to run your groov mobile interface in an app instead of a browser? Our new groov app technical note gives you quick-start steps for setting up your groov View mobile app.

You see, you can use a groov mobile operator interface in two ways: through your web browser, or through the groov View app for Android or iOS.

• The browser advantage: your interface runs on any brand mobile device with a modern web browser.
• The app advantage: your groov interface appears full screen to keep you focused on what you're monitoring or controlling.

We've seen a lot of interest in one particular new feature in the new groov version 2.1: the IP video proxy.

The proxy makes it a lot simpler to include live video from remote IP cameras in your groov mobile interface. You can track physical access to remote installations, monitor hard-to-reach equipment, see how much it's snowed (or how little it's rained), and so much more using live video over the Internet.

The Video gadget's new reverse proxy service option automatically handles all the work of connection to IP cameras over the Internet, so it's just as easy to include live video from outside your facility as from inside.

The latest version of groov adds vertical graphics abilities, IP camera improvements for realtime video, and faster OPC tag handling and data exchange.

Want to see something cool you can do with Google Glass?

Need to access your groov mobile interface over the web, but not quite sure how to set it up?

Either way you'll want to check out our new groovHeads YouTube channel. A couple of videos are there now and we'll be adding lots more.