Web@aGlance anyone ??

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Thread Starter

Mark Hill

Hi all;

I've just run across a product called Web@aGlance which appears to have some useful features for remote SCADA projects. It's at www.aglance.com

Has anyone tried this technology ??
Any comments/concerns ??

Thanks
Mark Hill
Intelligent SCADA Solutions
[email protected]
 
I'm using Web@aGlance.
It is a software to visualize your process across Intra/Internet. Intuitive Technology / eMation uses their own interface @aGlance and provides also an OPC Bridge. The whole Intra/Internet communication is based on Java, so you don't have to worry about platforms or operating systems. The information that Web@aGlance provides depends on the implementation of the OPC / @aGlance interface on the process data server. For instance, Siemens PCS7 provides tag browsing and current process values via OPC today, but also history data and alarms/messages via the @aGlance interface called @PCS7.
Following software chain is used:

Process data server
OPC / @aGlance Server
Web@aGlance
Webserver
--- Intra/Internet ---
Webbrowser

Web@aGlance includes some really nice features, like user right, write/read access, customization and so on. It is possible for the user to build his own view and save it on the webserver. Due to
Java, you can also implement other technologies, like CGI, ActiveX in the website. They used to provide a demo on their website, which only
limitation is to reset Web@aGlance every hour. After you have installed Web@aGlance, you will also find the documentation on your webserver. Hope it helps.

Michael Scholz
Siemens AG
[email protected]
 
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Mark,
We looked at this a number of years ago when sold by Intuitive. At the time (and now??) this was the WWW enabler being used by Wonderware, Intellution and others (see their customer base).
Though neat, we thought the JAVA graphic objects to be somewhat limited and decided upon a different path for our HMI product (VTS). Since then, we have also come to the conclusion that most operators find browser interfaces inferior and cumbersome. In most of our product's applications (mission-critical SCADA stuff) the requirement for a browser interface is rarely
mentioned. Also, in some of our applications such as controlling major portions of the North American grid, Air traffic management, or telemetry for 4200 RTU's, the customer explicitly forbid any browser interface to the systems. These came out of that fact that we were replacing Unix based systems with NT, and there was still some "old-guard" suspicions of NT security (warranted ?). Having said all that, we did develop the capability to represent any
standard windows display built with our HMI using ActiveX (and no third party licenses). Just very few people ask for it.

Maybe you will have better luck.


Barry Baker, P.Eng.
VP Business Development
Trihedral Engineering Ltd.
 
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Mike Schoonmaker

Hi, Mark!

Intuitive Technology (Web@aGlance developer) was recently acquired by eMation, not that that should matter. Think & Do Software has promoted
Web@aGlance for approx. 2 years now, as one of our AMIGOS, with full success where implemented. The product does work as advertised, and meets or exceeds most people's expectations.

There are plenty of pros to this product, and just a couple of cons: One is that all screen development must be done in their own tool, that is, screens built by another HMI product are not portable/convertable. Two is the licensing scheme used, as it monitors IP addresses (reset on a daily basis), so for instance a 10-user license allows 10 different IP addresses access that day. If you're using fixed IPs as each node, that's fine, but if someone is using dialup, the ISP typically allocates a new IP for each session. That said, Intuitive has always been accomodating in dealing this issue.

Mike Schoonmaker
Think & Do Software, Inc.,
the leader in PC-Based Control
http://www.thinkndo.com
 
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Bronson, Robert

Mark,

A recent article compared "Enterprise Monitoring Software" including Web@aGlance can be found at

http://www.controleng.com/archives/2000/ctl0801.00/000803.htm

I was surprised that Matrikon's ProcessNet was not included in the discussion.

The flavour of the article is the intranet visualization of disperse databases. Desktop integration versus data integration. This does
not address SCADA's remote data acquistion requirements. Perhaps combining products such as Standard Automation's EFM/SCADA Manager (use this to populate a relational database) with a Web@aGlance could provide the required functionality. This would eliminate the typical SCADA system HMI and go straight to the enterprise solution.

Regards
Rob Bronson
 
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Manuel Carrera

Hi Michael,
i work for Siemens in Sweden.
You replied that it is possible to visualize alarms/messages from PCS7 via the @aGlance interface called @PCS7. How is this visualize? can you visualize the alarm list in the same way as in PCS7/WinCC?

Please write to me if this is possible.
Regards,
thanks
[email protected]

 
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