What "ASEM HMI" Refers To
ASEM is an Italian manufacturer of industrial automation hardware and software, and its Premium HMI product family covers two related things: the Premium HMI development and runtime software (now at version 5, with multitouch support for Win 32/64 and WEC 7 targets, multicore processor support, and native OPC UA communication), and the operator panel / panel IPC hardware that runs it. ASEM's own catalogue lists Premium HMI operator panels such as the HMI30 and HMI40, available in "PAC" versions (LP30 and LP40) that add integrated CODESYS runtime and retentive variable storage. ASEM also builds Panel IPCs, Ultra-compact IPCs, Compact IPCs, Box IPCs and arm/VESA-mount IPCs — the hardware layer that HMI projects actually execute on.
Because Premium HMI is designed as a single development environment that scales "from the simplest operator panels to the most complex Panel PCs," the hardware underneath it matters: the same project file may need to run on a small touch panel on the shop floor and on a more powerful box or panel IPC in a control cabinet.
Why Hardware Choice Matters for HMI Projects
An HMI runtime is not a heavy application, but it is an always-on one. It polls PLCs over Ethernet and serial links, renders graphics, logs alarms and trends, and increasingly talks OPC UA to MES/SCADA layers and to remote-assistance tools. ASEM's own toolchain reflects this: Premium HMI 5 supports OPC UA for "Industry 4.0"/IIoT connectivity
