Wonderware or iFix

A

Thread Starter

Andy

Help,
I have been involved in evaluation of SCADA packages. The choice has come down to Wonderware (Intouch) or IFix.

Which is better? I know that is a ambigous question but which has the better support, bigger following, more components, Is the INDUSTRY STANDARD?

I prefer IFix but our parent company and most of our customer and systems we need to integrate to may be wonderware. Yet I found the Graphic design interface clumsy and not friendly so why go to wonder ware?
 
Discrete Manufacturing or Process Control ?
Wonderware is more gear for discrete manufactuing and iFix is more gear for Process.
I like iFix it has a better network backbone and data checking.
 
L

Lewis Bodden

Both will do the job. The cost may very a little. Look at the long-term considerations.

There are more people out their using Wonderware than any other HMI (The user base). If you need some help there are more people to work on it and available to ask questions. Who will fix problems in the future?

Wonderware has been around longer. The core of the product hasn't change much except to make it faster and fix problems, at lease through version 7.X.

Once you start working with any HMI you get use to it. So any clumsiness or lack of friendliness will go away with time.

Go with what the customers want. Most will want Wonderware because it is popular. (It really depends on which salesman did the best job.)

The important thing is will it perform all the function you want and in a time that is acceptable? I think both packages will.

What is the difference in development time? I've found that Wonderware is faster to develop once you learn a few tricks.

Which one is the most profitable? You have to make that decision. Personally I make more money developing Wonderware project than IFix. I do charge more for working with IFix and it takes longer.

[email protected]
 
Wow. I would say just the opposite, that InTouch has much better (prettier, easier to use) graphics than FIX or iFIX. My short answer: If the systems are stand-alone, not networked, and don't need anything fancy like links to databases or other systems, Intouch is easier and faster. For multi-node systems or networked, use iFIX. You may also be able to negotiate better pricing with WonderWare- they will charge by number of screens and points, whereas Intellution charges strictly by number of points. There are a lot of shades of gray in pricing, but that's the starting point.

Paul T
 
B

Byron Wetzel

Hi,
Having been one of many "fortunate" to been involved with upgrading software for the milleniumn situation(s), i can say that Intellution was more efficient. Wonderware solution on one project was to toss and replace with new version! Same effort would have been involved to migrate to Intellution. Just makes me a little skeptical of their true long term support concerns for customers. After review of database and graphic development, it was easier/cost effective to to export the "OLD" wonderware database and migrate to intellution.

One other main comment from my various customers is customer support, especially in the communication driver area. Intellution tends to be very the winner here. I would strongly recommend avoiding vendor provided HMI (GE, AB, etc), unless you want to be locked into their equipment line. Any claims of third party driver support by vendor HMI is easy, performance is another.

I have been around PLCs/HMI for bit over 20 years as both a user and system integrator in most of the major players. One thing to be cautious of the sales pitch. Any and all vendors tend to stretch and overpromise. Ask for and check out references.


Just my nickels worth. Please email me at [email protected] if you have any questions/comments.

Thanks!

Byron Wetzel
General Manager
Integration and Control Services, Inc.
 
Wonderware is fine as a stand-alone system - faily easy to use and develop. Networking can be an issue. We have several Ifix systems and are finding that there are still bugs and gotchas that need attention and fine tuning. Ifix has trouble supporting any large systems with a large I/O count. You will have to buy extra nodes and client licenses for that support.

F/link 7.1 is being released very shortly with some very attractive pricing. It is harder to learn but is much more flexible then the other systems. Good Luck with your choices!
 
Andy,

With the risk of confusing the Subject what other choices of SCADA software did you consider?

I have only used Citect from CI technolgies
and Scan3000/Plantscape from Honeywell.

I would be interested in knowing how people compare the above with Wonderware and IFix?
Other Engineers in My company prefer Citect.

How large is the system? what are you interfacing with? and do you plan to make process data/ reporting available to management etc in the future
 
K
Interesting replies on these threads when folks throw out something as broad as your questions. I hope that you are going further to explore all of our personal opinions with references and site visits from the vendors.

Common wisdom here is that Wonderware is great for "stand alone" systems but not networked. I personally replaced eight DCS consoles with eight Wonderware InTouch HMI consoles networked together and through redundant servers to ten DCS controllers from two different vendors, and six PLCs. It is an elegant solution as plant-wide distributed HMI over any control system. This was done in 1998 and is still a good, maintainable solution today. BTW, these and twenty or thirty other nodes of InTouch were non-issues with Y2k.

Both Wonderware and Intellution can SHOW you systems that meet your needs and give you references. Better to consider long-term impact, product suites, and where the management is taking the companies.

Good Luck,

KTotherow
 
Top