Iconics supports OPC, whether Matrikon, SoftwareToolbox, or Kepware, as far as I know. You might ask Iconics what MES or middleware they have that has the same functionality as Active Factory. Remember, Iconics is a direct competitor with Wonderware, so it is highly likely that anything WW produces won't be compatible with Iconics, and vice versa. Iconics has some very interesting middleware so take a look.

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In what way do you want to run Active Factory with ICONCIS? If you are looking to grab data from ICONICS historical Databases then you can use OPC-AE (for Alarms) and OPC-HDA (for historical data). If you are trying to get real time data you would just go right to the OPC Server.

If you want ICONICS GENESIS graphics/displays/trends in your Active Factory /etc... I do not think this would be possible since each uses a different proprietary format. The ICONICS BizViz products do offer the same types of functionality as Active Factory so you may look into those products as well.

Good luck and let us know what you find.

J

 

CJ,

I want to inform you a little more on ICONICS products and capabilities. Iconics is a pure OPC client software package. Iconics LEGACY 32 bit products which have been around since 1997 pure 32bit and OPC to the core and certified on Vista and 2008 Server since the release of those operating systems is modular. The graphical package is an ActiveX control and an ActiveX container. The Alarming package is an Active X control and the Trending package is an Active X control. You could use Iconics Trending inside of RSView or Intouch to log your data directly to SQL as it does this out of the Box for example.

Iconics not only logs alarms and Trend data directly to SQL or Oracle for example. It will connect to any ODBC data source.

Runs on Win2000,XP,2000 server, 2003 server, Vista and 2008 server(By the way Kepware OPC servers will run on Vista as well.) I am not saying you have to use Vista. I am saying your SCADA investment is safe (You don't have to worry about it.) By the way this is the legacy stuff!!

Iconics has a complete BizViz offering as well as SCADA. Enterprise wide reporting on any OPC/ODBC/Web Service point with a browser delivered interface all built on .Net

Portal solution which is based entirely on SharePoint services.

OEE out of the Box for people who want to visualize real time machine information such as uptime/downtime/machine availability.

Bridging product that is also built with .Net can move, manage, and manipulate data from any OPC/ODBC/Web Service data point to any of the same. I know one manufacturing facility that uses ICONICS to move data between a LEGACY Oracle v7.1, SQL, and OSI PI server and contextualize them in a SQL table to provide it to an existing third party application that gets its data from SQL.

These business solutions also run on the same OS offerings as the SCADA products from ICONICS which is really everything 32 bit and above including Vista and 2008 Server

Not to mention GEN64 which I believe may be the first 64 bit SCADA offering for Vista and 2008 Server as well as a Hyper Historian which can log over 50,000 changes per second. Heck their 32 bit product will log 10,000 changes per second directly to SQL on a 2008 Server machine and their 64 bit product will log 25,000 changes per second directly to SQL on a 2008 Server machine out of the box. All of their products will run in a VM environment as well, which I am pretty sure Rockwell and WW will not. ICONICS can provide 100% uptime solutions for all of these products also.

They also have the first OPC-UA implementation in conjunction with Kepware.

I think I have covered the entire spectrum. It’s the best and most reliable Microsoft based solution on the market hands down for SCADA and SCADA connectivity to the Enterprise(Which may be why ICONICS was awarded Partner of the year by Microsoft in the ISV Software category this year.), and ICONICS is not locked in to the whole terminal services solution either which is a pretty stupid way to provide think client SCADA in my opinion. I mean if you want to do terminal services with ICONICS you can, but you don’t have to they have much better thin client solutions to offer such as WPF and Silverlight is right around the corner as well.

Oh also ICONICS does have connectivity for SAP just so everyone knows. Of course according to SAP their standard for connectivity from ERP to the automation network is going to be OPC-UA and according to ISA OPC-UA is going to be the standard for S88 and S95. Of course ICONICS already supports OPC-UA... ICONICS also integrates directly to Active Directory.

Good Day.

 

Still now, Wonderware supports only OPC DA. It cannot support OPC AE and HDA. They use their own proprietary alarm and historical. If you use other SCADA software to act as OPC AE or HDA, you can use other AE & HDA clients connect to it. You have to choose proprietary or global standard. That means if you choose proprietary, you have only one choice. But if you choose global, there are many choices to satisfy to your requirements.

 

> Crappy software, stupid tech support and bizarre programming has always been a high priority with Iconics. <

It's always easy to confict a supplier of SCADA software if you are playing in the garden of the neighbours. Wonderware, WinCC and ... are also good products we use it our selves and we use a lot of Iconics. But remember the resons selecting a product are also Viability, TCO, Exit Costs, Guaranty and Fit for Use.
So what I would like to say, there is no best or worst product if you do not know the selection criteria.

With Regards Ronald

 

> I have to select an HMI package. Which should I select? Iconics, Wonderware, Citect, Intellution? <

CiTect -> Wonderware -> Intellution. But don't touch Iconics unless you have a huge job and lots of time