The New SCADA

When we describe Inductive Automation and Ignition, there's just so darn much to say.  But I've found a way to boil it down to three words ----- The New SCADA.  You'd be missing the point if you thought I was just talking about new features. What I'm really talking about is the New User Experience.  What I'm really talking about are the Four Pillars we're built on, which are the reason why we're the fastest growing SCADA company in the world.

What are the four pillars?  1) New Technology Model,  2) New Licensing Model,  3) New Business Model,  4) New Ethical Model.

Let's start with the last one, New Ethical Model.  How many SCADA companies have sold out? And what happens to their end-users, integrators and employees after they do?  What happens to the vision and innovation after the founder is gone?  What are the ethics when a few people become enriched at the expense of an entire user base and thousands of supporters?  We've been approached several times and we aren't selling out. We're all about reinventing the industry and delivering the New User Experience and that's what motivates us.

How about the New Business Model?  Most SCADA companies are just Marketing Companies.  Is there any real innovation?  Well I don't see anything meaningful.  Our New Business Model balances Development (new innovation), Quality Assurance, Marketing, Sales, Support, Accounting, Training, and about 20 other functions into a well functioning pipeline all focused solely on delivering the New Customer Experience.

Now let's talk about the New Technology Model.  We're not talking about new or more features - that's just background noise; what we're talking about is a whole New Paradigm.  ARC Advisory Group says we're disrupting the whole SCADA industry.  They're right.  Who else can do a fully featured install in about a minute?  Who else can run on practically any OS (including any version of Windows)?  Who else developed an elegant system from the ground up with a holistic approach, rather than a short-sighted, bolted-on, hacked up and unmanageable mess?  If I were to list all our innovative firsts it would take a hundred pages but all these are just different aspects of the same thing - a totally new and sensible Paradigm.

Finally, there's the New Licensing Model.  It's the zero hassle licensing model.  An unlimited licensing model, sold by the server, with a single affordable price no matter how many clients or tags are used.  And we're not talking about flimsy web browser clients.  We're talking about real client applications that launch as easily a web page (it's pure magic).  The conventional licensing models out there are antiquated and only deliver marginal value.  We have a sales tactic - you might as well know it - get people talking about their experiences with conventional licensing.  We get a bird's eye view of thousands of really pissed-off people.

The three words - The New SCADA - aptly define Inductive Automation and Ignition.  I didn't just wake up one morning and say "Hey! I have a great idea, let's start a SCADA company!"  No!  If even one SCADA company had even a semblance of the four pillars, I would have used it and Inductive Automation would never have been born.

I love the software and company we've created.  But more, I love the Community that's formed up around it.  If you missed our ICC in 2013 then you missed something HUGE - the Community.  In twenty-five years I've never seen anything like it, and frankly, I'm completely taken aback, and humbled, by your faith in us. Thank you.  That's why we're here and that's why I get out of bed in the morning. If sometimes I seem a bit gruff, it's not motivated out of greed - rather, it's motivated by my sense of responsibility to keep the show on the road.  It's more about managing risks so that we can keep this phenomenon going and growing, and so you'll still find us here, an even better company, in twenty years.

I think the madness of grow fast or fail fast, and then sell if successful, is just that - Madness.  What about the people who made it successful? Well, we're not going down that road.  We love what we do, we love this Community and we really do want to make the world a better place!

So there you have it - The New SCADA!

Object-Oriented SCADA in Ignition v7.4

Object-oriented SCADA speeds development and increases maintainability since screen objects can be derived from templates. If changes are made to the template, those changes propagate down to each derived object so objects don't need to be dealt with individually. That could save a ton of work and rework. This is on the visual layer.

Parallel to this is the data layer. The data layer consists of user defined data types, which are referred to as UDDTs or UDTs. Tag database instances of UDDTs, when combined with screen object instances, take development speed to a whole new level. In fact, productivity could be increased 10- to 100-times when compared to systems without object-oriented capability.

Ignition 7.4 will feature object-oriented capability both for screen objects and UDDTs. We may not be the first to implement this, but we will be the best. We learn from other people's mistakes. When we first mentioned we were developing this at one of our training classes, about half the class winced and told us to be very, very careful about implementing it. They told us horror stories about other packages that were really complicated and buggy.

You'll have wait to see it at our 7.4 release (in February), but we've made it ridiculously simple to use and we've included productivity enhancements no one else has. Project development will now be faster in Ignition than in any other SCADA software.

The case for using Ignition on a competitive basis is now a "no-brainer." Look at the following facts:

1) Lower cost pricing model because its sold by the server, not by seat, tag, designer, screen, etc.

2) Installs hassle-free on any OS, including any newer version of Windows.

3) Installs in just minutes.

4) Super fast development.

5) Lightning fast, hassle-free and secure client deployment on any PC or mobile device.

All these are competitive factors. They have to do with winning projects and making them profitable. Now with object-oriented capability in 7.4, all vectors align to provide unbelievable, competitive firepower to those quoting Ignition. Who ya gonna call?

More About Cloud-Based SCADA Systems

Our recent Cloud-Based SCADA Systems webinar was well attended right up to the end of the presentation, which highlights the tremendous interest in this topic. I have a few more comments I'd like to make to amplify the webinar.

Other Resources
There are many informative books available on the subject of cloud computing such as The Cloud at Your Service by Rosenberg, Cloud Computing for Dummies by Hurwitz, and many others (see listing here). Furthermore, the Homeland Security News Wire website has a wealth of information on this topic.

Security
This is largely a matter of how well a system is planned and implemented. There is no such thing as 100% guaranteed security in-house or in the cloud, though obviously, in-house is more under your control and is afforded better protection under the law. IT security techniques and practices have evolved over many years and need to be applied to SCADA and MES systems just as they are applied to front office systems. This is especially true for cloud deployments. We have developed Ignition with this in mind so you can leverage proven, standardized IT security practices.

Latency
We discovered this the hard way with a system where the Ignition server was 3,000 miles from the PLCs and clients. This wasn't exactly a cloud system but rather a WAN for a large company.

The elementary math principle of zero times any number is always zero says all. When you press a button in a SCADA system to start a pump there are many transactions involved. Client to server, server to PLC, PLC to server, and server back to client. Also, each of these has handshaking involved which involves more trips. Each leg has its own latency and variability of latency.

When the latency is very low as in a local network, the effects are usually negligible. When there are hundreds of milliseconds of latency in each leg, the accumulative effects can be intolerable. And the variable effects of latency can cause a system to look unreliable.

The Patriot Act
Data located on your physical premises is treated very much differently than your data in the cloud. You should see the Patriot Act Hang-up in the Cloud post by Michael Overly on this matter. This post gives some insight to a question asked by one of our webinar attendees. You should also check out the Forrester Research Cloud Privacy Heat Map for international cloud privacy information. Remember that when you host in the cloud, the hosting server could be located anywhere in the world.

Reliability
Every company will need to answer the question, "How much downtime can I tolerate?" for themselves and then decide accordingly whether off-site hosting makes sense or not. One company decided "no worries – we have redundant ISPs" only to have both providers go down for the better part of a day.

I hope these comments are useful. Some of the questions that were asked at the end of the webinar were intriguing. I will try to answer some of the questions in subsequent posts.

The Value of Fast SCADA Installation & Development

When integrators install Ignition for their customers they deliver more bang for the buck in two ways. By an order of magnitude, they save their customers money both on software itself and on the labor to develop applications and deploy them. It's a double-sided benefit for end-users.

If you're an integrator, you might say, "but that's less work for me!" From experience I can tell you that's not true. I've discovered that in the same number of hours you will deliver way more functionality and end-users will love you for it. Then they will ask you to do even more. It's a win-win proposition. Essentially, what I have found is that they finally feel like they are getting the value they always expected.

This is a valuable concept you can use to your advantage as you offer your services.

Also consider this: Who wants to pay for an integrator to spend all week just to install and deploy HMI/SCADA/MES software? That's a huge waste of time and money and it makes the end-user feel like he's getting milked. Enough with that! Why should an installation and deployment take more than a few minutes? Spend the rest of your time building what the customer really wants and deploy it to a hundred clients with just a mouse click.

End-Users Are Beginning To Expect More From Integrators
End-users are starting to take all this for granted. I've been witness to the overwhelming reception of Ignition by end-users once they truly understand it. Hundreds of other integrators have discovered this as well. But now many end-users have come to expect what Ignition delivers as the new norm. When integrators approach these end-users with the old way they're going to get laughed right out of the place. I was recently a witness to a CEO ridiculing an integrator who proposed doing it the old way. It was embarrassing for me to watch.

Virtually all other software I'm aware of is so '90s. Relational databases are a way of life now in manufacturing yet most HMI/SCADA software treats it as an afterthought if they handle it at all. Sure, you could band-aid something together but why would you want to when you could be delivering real value in a fraction of the time? You want to feel loved? Well trust me, that's how you do it.

Offer Higher Value Before Your Competitors Do
Integrators should always be on the look out for better ways to do things more efficiently. Some integrators say, "I just do what the customer tells me." Do that at your own peril because one day the end-user will discover it on his own and some other integrator will be putting it in.

In one case recently, an integrator lost about a year's worth of work when another integrator showed the customer two bids: one for what the end-user requested, and an alternative bid using Ignition. The customer decided to use Ignition because the integrator showed that for the same amount of labor he could deliver more functionality – and more value for the money. He's feelin' the love now!

Web-based HMI: An Emerging Trend?

Realization of Web-based Control

Once considered impractical for applications requiring responsive animation and real-time control, a new breed of web-based HMI system is starting to appear on plant floors and in manufacturing enterprises.

“Java (web) based systems can now deliver sub-second response, rich animation and natural integration with other parts of the corporate information infrastructure,” says Nathan Boeger of Inductive Automation.

Unlike traditional systems, these web-based systems can economically be extended to every aspect of a business such as QC, maintenance, logistics, plant manager, and so forth. Now every participant in the manufacturing cycle can have unprecedented access to vital plant production information.

It's easy to see why web-based systems are gaining popularity. Web-based systems install and run client applications from any web-browser and when users login they always get the most recent version of an application. There are no client licenses to manage, no tedious software installations, no application files to copy over and no communication configurations to setup. IT departments are willing to embrace technology they understand. All this is in sharp contrast to traditional systems.

The economic advantages of using web-based systems are compelling. The bottom line is, web-based HMI systems fit well with the rest of the enterprise and facilitate the smooth flow of information throughout an organization without unnecessary difficulty and expense.

Security Issues
When potential users first consider using web-based technology they usually ask about security. Just how secure are web-based systems? The question is especially valid now that post 9/11 committees have deemed HMI and SCADA security “one of the most serious risks to our national security.”

Traditional vendors rely heavily on “security by obfuscation” which has never been considered a safe practice. Web-based systems, on the other hand, are already positioned to leverage standard and proven web security techniques as administered by IT departments.

It’s only a matter of time before legislation mandating minimum HMI and SCADA security requirements will surface. Traditional providers will likely have to overhaul their products to come into compliance. They will welcome this day since they will sell lots of mandated security upgrades.

Seeing What's Next
Functionally speaking, HMIs haven't changed much over the past five years.

“HMIs that just do operator interface tasks are a commodity, and you can buy them dirt cheap off the Internet … The real action is in HMIs that provide web access, interface to higher-level enterprise software, perform MES functions,” says Rich Merritt, senior technical editor of Control Global, in his article, “HMI Software is disappearing”.

The book Seeing What’s Next by Christensen, Anthony and Roth, introduces theories to predict major industry changes. These theories are supported with interesting historical examples. Applying these predictive theories to this industry suggests incumbent HMI vendors will continue to service their large existing market without much change. They will probably not compete with their own model.

On the other hand, web-based vendors will find success selling where traditional vendors have failed; to those companies that refuse to spend big bucks on systems perceived as being unnecessarily complex, cumbersome and overshooting needs. This is likely to lead to explosive growth for web-based systems in market segments which have been unfulfilled by traditional systems.

Anyone familiar with manufacturing knows the majority of factories barely implement information technology at the plant floor level. There are exceptions, but when you see clipboards being used to record schedules, downtime and production, when you envision how things should be done, you finally come to realize this is a vast untapped market.

There is an accelerating pace of web-based systems being installed in what was essentially a non-consuming market. Users are finally getting what they want – the functionality of an HMI with the economics of a web browser. The real question is not whether web-based control systems are an emerging trend – they cannot be stopped, but rather which vendors are poised to jump on the bandwagon and deliver the technology.

Rethinking SCADA Software

One of the hardest things I'll ever do is try to explain what Ignition is because it can do so darn many things. This is frustrating for me because I want to tell people all about everything Ignition can do -- and I could overwhelm a person fast. It's sort of like trying to explain what a car is to a pioneer who has never seen one before, and you say, "not only can you drive across the Sierra Nevada mountains in an hour but you have windshield wipers in case it rains, you have this moving map to keep you from getting lost and you can listen to all your favorite music in stereo while you cruise 70mph over the hill." Man, he hasn't even comprehended what a car is yet.

Hopefully this video solves all of that and gets right to the point. If you want to share this video with someone else, paste this URL into your email: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RWmfIVDkN8

Linux SCADA

We're seeing a pretty good up-tick in Linux installations this year. It's also interesting to note that if you search for "Linux SCADA" or "Web based Linux SCADA" you'll get a load of stuff. There are quite a few open-source projects and one of them (not web based) is pretty comprehensive.

So when my old Windows desktop bit the dust I decided to get adventurous. I download and installed Ubuntu Linux 10.10 on the bum machine and then installed Ignition on top of that. I'm no Linux guy, but the installation was no big deal. By the way, if you haven't used Ubuntu before you should grab an old machine and try – it's pretty darn nice.

To install ignition I just downloaded the Linux zip file from the Inductive Automation website and followed the instructions in the README file. Obviously, it took longer than the three minutes it normally takes on Windows, but I doubt the install took over ten or fifteen minutes total. Once I got it installed I connected over the network to a PLC, created a simple screen and launched several clients across our network. That was fun and satisfying because I resolved in the beginning not to not ask for any help if I ran into problems.

The Future For Linux SCADA

Developing professional quality SCADA software on any platform is challenging because it involves a mixture of disciplines that are hard to gather in one place. It requires the grizzled old control system expert as well as several highly skilled software developers with diverse skills in UI development, database development, hardcore coding, driver development, cryptography (if you want a modern SCADA anyway), and a lot more. Now throw in the variable of supporting different operating systems and it can get so burdensome that multi-platform support is plainly not cost effective.

Since Windows is the dominant OS, developing on Windows is the only viable choice for most companies. It doesn't make economic sense to develop SCADA on several emerging platforms while gambling they might get popular. Viewing the field of established SCADA software providers bears this out. I think every major player supports Windows only, except Inductive Automation, which is written in Java so it runs on nearly any OS.

I can tell you this was a fortunate choice on our part because if we chose anything else, that would be it. We wouldn't be supporting any other platforms for economic reasons, just like the rest.

What about the open-source projects? Any potential there? I wouldn't hold my breath for the reasons given above in the fourth paragraph. Pulling together a team like that for free seems highly unlikely to me.