New Scada - Wonderware or iFix

[tisbris 0]

Hello all I really need your help. I'm in the middle of a process, where we are to point out a new system for our existing BMS system - around 15000 IO's (all new BACnet controller). The system are going to be split in two sections - a validated BMS system (GMP) and a normal BMS system (Non-GMP). The two systems has to be seperated due to validation but... - user interface must be common for the whole system, so user won't see the differens - alarms and events all are present in one alarmlist - datalogging has to be bullit proof, no missing data I like to know which system is the best/fastest regarding engineering? The system are going to be upgraded with the plant still running, also several engineers will be handling changes constantly... Which system is the most robust? Which system do you think will live the longest? Which system has the best historian? Any experience with workflow applications, which system is the most flexible? I like to hear from you guys/girls -which system you would recommed and why? IFIX 5.5 or Wonderware System Platform Please don't start advising other systems :o) PS. Do not think about license cost, because this will be a minor cost compared to engineering and implementation.

[Furbs 0]

Might be too late now, but I think people around my office would recommend iFix hands down. We use it for a lot of our systems. For me, I think Wonderware is great. It's easy and quick to develop. The hierarchy of derived templates is something that iFix is only just now catching on to. However, Wonderware has a number of quarks and since it is more user-friendly, that means it can be hard to debug. iFix is much more open in its format. I hear that once you get all the quarks worked on in Wonderware, its solid and requires little maintenance, but I haven't gotten to that stage yet. The transparency of iFix means it's easier to see what is happening and why. It uses VBA and pretty standard communication while Wonderware uses its only brand on network protocols. It sounds like you are looking for reliability above all else, so that's why I said iFix. Wonderware just had an overhaul of their system (~2010) so there might still be some bugs. Hope I helped.

[Ken Moore 23]

I don't know about Europe, but in the US, WonderWare is the most expensive SCADA on the market.