SCADA Recommendation

OZEE,
Ignition looks to be a very capable product and I too plan to take a hard look at it soon.
- How does its support compare to WW or Rockwell? Do they come out with fixes quickly?
-Is the company growing? Meaning are they taking market share so it will be around in 10years.
-Is the programming environment as user friendly as RSView32 or Intouch? Most vendors have all the toys but a few (I don’t want to name names) are very annoying to develop.

Thanks

jac said:

OZEE,
Ignition looks to be a very capable product and I too plan to take a hard look at it soon.
- How does its support compare to WW or Rockwell? Do they come out with fixes quickly?
-Is the company growing? Meaning are they taking market share so it will be around in 10years.
-Is the programming environment as user friendly as RSView32 or Intouch? Most vendors have all the toys but a few (I don’t want to name names) are very annoying to develop.

Thanks

Click to expand...

We have worked with the Ignition guys quite closely the past 6 months are they are great to work with. They are not a large company but are expanding.

If you have any technical issues with the product, support has been great via GotoMeeting and fixes and patches are quick.

For the most part, as far as I'm concerned, I'm done with WW and Rockwell unless there's a real good reason. InductiveAutomation is doing things the right way - Their business model appears to be very solid. They're growing quite rapidly. They're built on technology that won't lock them into specific platforms/OS's. If you have any questions, just call them - they're easy to talk to and are quite willing to demo their products in whatever way is personally needed for your needs.

We are also beginning to explore Ignition. I haven't touched it yet, but my counterpart has already done quite a bit. I don't think the graphic editor is nearly as nice as RSView32, but he was still able to develop quickly and easily with it. We're now waiting on IT to help set us up with a database to test with.

I really like this video:

http://www.inductiveautomation.com/videos/video/55

especially Alan Bamly.

Ive been working with ignition for a little bit now and the support is top notch compared to wonderware.

on the software side I found that it was a little more difficult than wonderware. the scripting language is a little harder to get down than wonderware, and of course doing the database stuff adds another dimension. wonderware has like 20 years on them though, and they seem to be heading in the right direction as far as implementing some of the features that made wonderware easy to deploy on top of a really great pricing model and an overall very promising product full of features.

curlyandshemp said:

To truly maximimize the power of Ignition you would need two types of programmers.

First , the typical IT geek, who can handle all the background SQL database logging stuff.

Second, the typical PLC Rung Head, who can develop screens and controls that are logically laid out according to a plant floor environment and are operator friendly.

Click to expand...

You're absolutely right, I can do basic SQL setup, querries and stuff, but luckily I have a PC progammer sitting right next to me.

I'm guessing that Nathan is going to be pleased when he reads this thread

@AfroJoe11

And what controller type(s) do you (intend to) use?


Kalle

To answer your questions:
1. I don't think you'll find a person that will argue that Inductive Automation's support isn't as good or better than anyone else in the industry. Check out their forum, where users post issues that regularly get fixed for the next build. I've attached a recent changelog to illustrate that.

2. The company is quickly gaining market share. It was founded in 2003 and has been growning rapidly since. They have case studies on their web site of projects. You'll see a lot of PLCS.net users that are members of their Integrator Program or end users.

3. I'd say the development environment is user friendly. Inductive Automation took a different approach to HMI/SCADA development from the start. The early programmers worked for a system integrator, but had more experience in IT and software development than existing HMI products. Many users, myself included, find the paradigm refreshing. The model is not identical to most HMI products, by design. Some users report a learning curve - others swear by the approach.

edit - Ignition evolved from FactorySQL and FactoryPMI. Those product changelogs are also attached.

jac said:

OZEE,
Ignition looks to be a very capable product and I too plan to take a hard look at it soon.
- How does its support compare to WW or Rockwell? Do they come out with fixes quickly?
-Is the company growing? Meaning are they taking market share so it will be around in 10years.
-Is the programming environment as user friendly as RSView32 or Intouch? Most vendors have all the toys but a few (I don’t want to name names) are very annoying to develop.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Oh yeah! It put a smile on my face - a little ray of sunshine for me here in Afghanistan . My buddies at Inductive work hard.

Believe it or not, I refrained from jumping in this topic early off. You guys provided great answers.

nettogrisen said:

You're absolutely right, I can do basic SQL setup, querries and stuff, but luckily I have a PC progammer sitting right next to me.

I'm guessing that Nathan is going to be pleased when he reads this thread

Click to expand...

OkiePC said:

We are also beginning to explore Ignition. I haven't touched it yet, but my counterpart has already done quite a bit. I don't think the graphic editor is nearly as nice as RSView32, but he was still able to develop quickly and easily with it. We're now waiting on IT to help set us up with a database to test with.

I really like this video:

http://www.inductiveautomation.com/videos/video/55

especially Alan Bamly.

Click to expand...

The funny video shows a scada which has drivers to several plc types. What is so special with that?

@AfroJoe11
You should also take a look at www.siemens.com/PCS7
Precondition is S7-400 controllers.
This is an integrated system, allows you to construct both the program, interlocks, routs and group control in CFC. The tags, messages and alarms are generated automatically from the CFCs into the hierarcy section on the HMI. Tags and alarms are allways consistent. If you delete a motor-FB in CFC, the corresponting tags are deleted from the system automatically. Redundancy: configure and forget. The S7-400 controllers allows configuration in run - you can expand the HW with the PLC running. We use PCS7 whenever we can (on bigger systems) - we've found it very engineering- and maintenance efficient.


Kalle

KalleOlsen said:

The funny video shows a scada which has drivers to several plc types. What is so special with that?

Kalle

Click to expand...

To me, the special part is the licence structure, the platform (O.S.) independence, and the database connectivity.

OkiePC said:

To me, the special part is the licence structure, the platform (O.S.) independence, and the database connectivity.

Click to expand...

Yes, this is a huge benefit. Just the fact that I can have as many clients as I want (without installing anything) and as many tags as I want under a single license was enough in itself.

And beyond that, there are so many other advantages that I would never even consider any other offerings. I have yet to find anything I couldn't do.

If I had any complaints, it would be with the development interface. I really would like (and need) the ability to compare code differences between projects and a code cross reference would be extremely helpful as well, but I have manual work-arounds for now.

Wow
Talk about a thread hijack
See post 6

Intouch v10.0 is suitable. though the information given by you is not complete. Intouch (wonderware ) is more flexible and can be used for any combination of plcs or computers. it can generate automatic reports and can be clubbed with your other departments like management, purchase marketing etcc. for their use.