Iconics Genesis32

H

Thread Starter

Hemmy, Troy S.

I am evaluating the Iconics Genesis32 software suite. This is an HMI package that is based completely on the OPC standard. The package includes GraphWorX32, TrendWorX32, AlarmWorX32, and ScriptworX32.

I would like to know if anyone on the list has field experience with Iconics and how it compares to Intellution's iFix, AB's RSView, or WonderWare. Thanks in advance for your responses.

Troy Hemmy
Black & Veatch
[email protected]
 
B

Bill Bonner Hach Company

Troy,
The Software Systems Group at Hach Company has gone to official training classes for Intellution, WonderWare, LookOut, Genesis and Cimplicity. Our goal was to investigate each of the SCADA packages for ease of use and feature set. Our goal was to determine which of the packages to resell to our customers who had a requirement for such a package. After 15 months of training and evaluations we chose Genesis as the easiest to use with the most power. Our criteria weighed heavily on "ease of use" since most of our customers do not have a significant amount of computer savvy. Our evaluations determined that LookOut was the only package that was easier to use than Genesis, however, the major reason for this is that it is far less capable. We now have 3 field installs of Genesis and will soon have more. The most significant problems we have with the package are as follows:
1: Creating customized reports using Crystal Reports from the TrendWorx database. The easiest method to do this is to extract data to a .csv file first, then run Crystal Reports on the .csv.
2: Getting historical avg, min, max, std dev from the database onto process points on the GraphWorx display, you simply cannot do this which we consider a large whole in the package.
3: License manager is unstable and unreliable. We have had several problems using the CrypKey licensing as well as the free 30 day licensing. Once its going it seems to be ok but sometimes things just lock up during the registration process. Sometimes we can remove the licensing manager, sometimes we have to reformat the drive.
4: Configuring the AlarmWorx package is difficult in that it requires some specific tags to be part of the AlarmWorx database. If those tags are not present, AlarmWorx will not work correctly. These tags are not documented.

All things considered, we found as many or more problems with all the other packages. At this time we feel that Genesis is the best features and price.
 
A

Audun Alvestad

I have been working with Wonderware's Intouch and with Genesis both 3.5 and V32, in several applications. The biggest advantage of G32 is the drawing tools and the the programming. The programing is done in VB with G32 and Intouch uses a script lanuage. The script lanuage is easier but have more limitations.

The draback with G32 is the way it handles the licensing. If the computer crashes you are facing a lot of work. Because G32 is so Windows based a lot of the configuration you have done is in the windows os. This is also a problem (extra work) when you are going to copy a application from one PC to another.

Still it's a good package and I can recommend it.
 
J
I evaluated Gen32, Intouch and Fix Dynamics (i think it's now called iFix) back in June 99. We ended up chosing the Gen32 for a couple of reasons.
1- Ease of use. This is by far the easiest package I've seen. Very powerful too.
2- VBA Support- They use VBA6, Intouch has its own proprietary language. The in touch is actually easier to use, but I can't use the code elsewhere.
3- It worked. Genesis 32 was by far the most stable of the 3 products we tested.
4- WIN NT, 95 and 98 Support. We needed the 95 and 98 support for existing laptops. Everybody else was just NT.

There are a couple of pitfalls with this package I've seen as well.

1- Tech Support- The tech support lines are always busy. Either not enough people or some major bugs in the software.
2- Licensing- Once you get it running it works fine. Getting it setup is the problem. Almost all of my tech support calls were regarding licensing.
3- No batch support. We had to do quite a bit of VBA code to get what we wanted.

Overall it has been a good package. If you don't need the Batch capabilities (or you can use another package or write your own) I would recommend it.

Jen
 
M

Marty Schindehette

Troy,

I was wondering if there is a reason why you did not consider Siemens WinCC?

We are just starting our initial comparison between Siemens Win CC and Iconics Genesis and would appreciate any additional input.

Thanks
 
D

Daniel Henderson

The below stated observation,
"4: Configuring the AlarmWorx package is difficult in that it requires some specific tags to be part of the AlarmWorx database. If those tags are not present, AlarmWorx will not work correctly. These tags are not documented."
rings true with me. Did anyone document these? If so, where can I find them?
 
i am having a problem with genesis32 regarding their licensing... i backup my hard disk just in case of possible crash but when i tested the new hard disk, it says "License not found--demo will expire after 2 hours".

I ran the license utility and it says "Restriction file has been moved or overwritten". Unfortunately I can no longer use my old hard disk, it crashed... any help?
 
Top