FactorySQL Under the Hood

FactorySQL brought magic to the plant floor. It would have been called "Yesware" except that name was already taken. This is because you could say "yes, I can do that" to practically any PLC to SQL database interaction you could imagine.

Want to log PLC values? No problem. Want to send recipes to PLCs? Go for it. Want to mirror PLC addresses in the SQL database so that web pages can display and control PLC values? Go for it. Want to copy whole sections of PLC memory to another PLC somewhere else. Yes you can. In fact, the possibilities are endless but they boil down to being able to say "yes, I can do that" while everyone else is shaking their heads "no."

I've had two integrators sit beside me on a major project where all they ever said was "I'm not sure how we'd go about that" and all I ever said was "don't worry, we'll take care of it," and then we would, usually in minimal time. The other integrators looked kind of dumbfounded because I kept doing this. But my secret was FactorySQL.

Well, now we have Ignition and under the hood we still have FactorySQL but it's no longer called that. Now we call it the SQL Bridge Module. But it does all the same things and more. For example, you can make programming changes while groups are running without interrupting anything, just like online programming changes in a PLC.

I fear one thing though. With all the excitement about the Ignition platform I'm afraid we're neglecting to tell people about the real power they have under the hood with the SQL Bridge Module. The other day when one of the sales people showed it to someone they were blown away by what they saw - they could hardly believe what they were seeing was true.

So my message to you... check it out. You'll be amazed at what you can do.