GE Fanuc Automation has recently made two significant announcements: the first details the availability of its second Productivity Pack for Proficy HMI/SCADA iFIX, CIMPLICITY and View customers; while the second announces the extension of its open and layered approach to include the adoption of OPC Unified Architecture.
This is according to Daniel Coetzee, manager of Sub-Saharan Africa for the GE Fanuc Automation division of GE Industrial.
Powerful notification tools to meet customer needs
GE Fanuc Automation's GlobalCare customers receive full benefits of regular updates with the latest Proficy HMI/SCADA Productivity Pack. This release continues GE Fanuc Automation's commitment to continue to deliver new tools, utilities and add-ins for its HMI/SCADA products, in the form of Productivity Packs available to its GlobalCare customers.
"Today, customers need to be able to receive critical information regarding their systems at any time and anywhere," says Coetzee.
"We have created Alarm & Event Express, an e-mail notification tool for sending alarms to users based on the OPC A&E standard; which works with our CIMPLICITY, iFIX, and View products - as well as other OPC A&E compliant applications.
"We have also worked with Specter Instruments, to validate and integrate support for Win911 in our iFIX product, allowing for alarms to be sent to paging devices and phones, similar to the Pager option that exists for CIMPLICITY," Coetzee continues.
Frank Grygier of Specter Instruments, creators of Win911, comments: "We have had a strong and solid relationship with the former Intellution, now taken over by GE Fanuc Automation, and the iFIX product for many years. While the products have always operated together extremely well, our new Win911 Version 7.04 has been enhanced for tighter integration with iFIX and is quality-tested by GE Fanuc Automation. Win911 now provides an iFIX ActiveX Control, which makes setup and maintenance of the system from within an iFIX display easier than ever before."
"A third item in the productivity pack delivers a new block type we have created for use in the iFix Process Database," continues Coetzee. "The Persistent Array Block allows customers to store up to 60 values per block, which may then be referenced in their applications.
"Customers now have a purpose-built area for storing all types of values - from integers to scientific notation. As they build applications, they can now isolate variables that change from application to application, to one area for improved documentation, and troubleshooting."
Customers that subscribe to GE Fanuc Automation's Proficy GlobalCare will be notified of the availability of the Productivity Packs for download. GE Fanuc Automation's Proficy GlobalCare offers a combination of high-quality support services, tools and cost-effective maintenance, so customers can optimise their investment in their software solution. GlobalCare provides a consistent worldwide backbone of service professionals, who offer 24/7 emergency support, software version upgrades and advanced support tools to keep customers productive and plants operational.
Standards-based approach ensures increased interoperability among compliant applications
In addition, GE Fanuc Automation has announced that it is building its next generation of Proficy solutions, based on the new OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) standards, just released by the OPC Foundation.
"This effort is an extension of the Open and Layered approach, which we have been using for years with our Proficy software," says Coetzee. "GE Fanuc Automation is committed to supporting standards as a key element of its product development strategy; and OPC helps us with that.
"The real advantage is for the customer." Coetzee continues. "By taking a standards-based approach to product development, interoperability with best-of-breed products becomes simpler. As the industry standardises on ISA-95 for data models, and OPC UA to talk to those data models, it becomes simpler for multiple vendors' products to work together."
GE Fanuc Automation is a founding member of OPC, and an active participant in the development of the OPC UA specification. The specification is the result of analysis and design, to develop a standard interface to facilitate the development of servers and clients by multiple vendors that can subsequently interoperate seamlessly. The architecture provides secure, reliable communications, which are the product of collaboration with other Web services standards organisations.
"OPC technology can eliminate expensive custom interfaces and drivers traditionally required for moving information around the enterprise," comments Tom Burke, executive director of the OPC Foundation. "It promotes interoperability, therefore cutting costs, speeding development, and promoting increased operating efficiency."
The OPC UA specification provides the standard interface that applications can use to access a spectrum of data. GE Fanuc Automation's Proficy software leverages ISA-88 and ISA-95-compliant data models, which may be shared through the open industry interface, so the data model can be further extended through additional applications.
"We are very proud of these two latest new product announcements by GE Fanuc Automation; which is once again setting standards for the rest of the automation industry to follow.
"By driving the adoption of the OPC standards, GE Fanuc Automation continues to provide customers with interoperable solutions, to optimise production processes and drive profitability. Furthermore, with the introduction of our latest Proficy HMI/SCADA Productivity pack, we are further enhancing our service offering to customers, with the delivery of these powerful notification tools," Coetzee concludes.
For more information contact Daniel Coetzee, manager, Sub-Saharan Africa, GE Industrial - GE Fanuc Automation, +27 (0)31 583 3640, [email protected]
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version