FactoryTalk Optix?

[CSKA]

Has anyone used FT Optix? I'm curious how it is, and if there is any good or bad that come alone with it?

Our company has been talking about using it but I haven't seen any reviews online of how it is so far.

Thank you

 

[Prosumer55]

Maybe too little too late, but my 2 cents is that it is an immature product that is unnecessarily complicated and difficult to use. I think it has potential and can easily be better than FT View, but it has a long way to go before I would ever recommend this product. After going through their starter course I'm still having trouble getting basic things to work. Feedback on why things don't work is poor. Things won't work, then all of a sudden work when I delete a component and do the same thing over again which to me is alarming. Personally I'd recommend against it at this time until they develop further and get the project to a more mature status.

Disclaimer: I am an Ignition vet so I would consider my opinion biased.

 

[cardosocea]

I was at a Rockwell event a month ago in the UK. Obviously, I doubt that the people doing lectures are sitting in Milwaukee making decisions, so this is worth what is worth.
What they said was that the main driver for the purchase of ASEM was their industrial PC line and then they realised that Optix, or whatever was called, existed and in true Rockwell fashion decided to sell it as the next great thing.

Personally, I'm not convinced it'll be kept for long.

 

[Tmm2112]

I'm learning how to use this software now and I'm having a lot of difficulty finding features that I highly rely upon in ME and SE. It does have some nice features, but just doing the basic things you would do in ME or SE are now completely different. It's like learning how to walk all over again. Also, it relies on C# for any customized scripting. I've never needed VB scripts in FTView, but Optix relies on this more heavily and I believe you will need to use it at some point. I could see a new installation utilizing this product, but there's no reason anyone would pay to rebuild all of their HMI's on this platform at a mature site where everything is already developed. Perhaps if the site were using a very old version of an HMI that couldn't easily be migrated to FTView. One of the highly promoted features of Optix is developing from the cloud, which just means the software isn't installed on your PC. That's not much of a selling point.

 

[JTCat]

One of the highly promoted features of Optix is developing from the cloud, which just means the software isn't installed on your PC. That's not much of a selling point.

Actually, I think any Rockwell product that you dont have to install on your own PC is a huge upgrade. Their software installation is chaotic.

 

[Operaghost]

Actually, I think any Rockwell product that you dont have to install on your own PC is a huge upgrade. Their software installation is chaotic.

Let's extend that to all vendors.

OG

 

[Tmm2112]

Optix isn't nearly as bad as FactoryTalk View. However, I've seen some companies install FactoryTalk on a server and everyone just RDPs into it for development. This basically solves the same problem. The same can be done with the runtime. I think the cloud based installation is intended to appeal to companies where engineers are expected to support multiple sites remotely. But again, running FT on servers does the same thing, so I'm still having a hard time understanding how its better. Also, Optix is a subscription based license, so you'll be paying for it for eternity.

 

[TheWaterboy]

I'm learning how to use this software now and I'm having a lot of difficulty finding features that I highly rely upon in ME and SE. It does have some nice features, but just doing the basic things you would do in ME or SE are now completely different. It's like learning how to walk all over again. Also, it relies on C# for any customized scripting. I've never needed VB scripts in FTView, but Optix relies on this more heavily and I believe you will need to use it at some point. I could see a new installation utilizing this product, but there's no reason anyone would pay to rebuild all of their HMI's on this platform at a mature site where everything is already developed. Perhaps if the site were using a very old version of an HMI that couldn't easily be migrated to FTView. One of the highly promoted features of Optix is developing from the cloud, which just means the software isn't installed on your PC. That's not much of a selling point.

I'm going to use it for a single purpose. To provide a web based view into the plants working for folks across campus that need to see a live overview. Its built-in WebServer is ideal for this simple purpose. Its cheap too.