Need Advice in Choosing a New SCADA Package

Hello,

I work for a Utility that has a very powerful and proprietary SCADA System that needs to be upgraded. We have hundreds of sites that are Standard PLC, PLC with non-standard communications and old Z-80 RTUs that we need to communicate with over Radio Polling. We have over 1000 Graphics Pages and hundreds of symbols. We have the ability to Email Alarms, Search Alarm Archives, Take snapshots of pages and print or email them. We can communicate to various devices over the same radio channel using different protocols. That's just some of our abilities that will have to be reproduced with a new SCADA Package. We are looking at Ignition, iFix, Wonderware, Ovation, Factory Talk and onSITE.

Which one would be easier to configure to do all of the things that I need done?

Thank you.
 
J

James Ingraham

First, I think all of the majors will do what you need, with the possible exception of talking to the old stuff. You will probably need to buy additional software to support old protocols.

I've used Ignition, Wonderware, and FactoryTalk View. WW and FTView are comparatively more expensive than Ignition, particularly as you get larger. I also think Ignition is easier to set up and work with. From the standpoint of a developer, Ignition wins hands down. I can make my screens look so much better, and Python for scripting is light years better than FTView's scripting. I also don't think FTView scales up as well as WW or Ignition, although I've never actually tried to a really large-scale project with any of them.

Clearly, I'm biased towards Ignition. That's not to say it's perfect, or that the others won't serve. And again, my perspective is that of a developer.

Hope that helps.

-James Ingraham
Sage Automation, Inc.
 
Hi,

I think you should also think about WinCC OA (Open Architecture).
You can also opt for WinCC Explorer if VBA & C scripts are Okay for you.

Regarding Old protocols, you can check the driver compatibility. Because Siemens has good automation solutions over multiple protocols.

Regards
Jenish
Siemens India.
 
I suggest Indusoft because of its versatility. They as well as ICPDAS_USA have great technical support to get you through the troubles areas. Indusoft is an Invensys/Schneider Electric product.

ICPDAS-USA loads this software on many of its products.

To get a better understanding go to
https://www.icpdas-usa.com/scada_software.html
 
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