[foxboro] The Future of Control Systems (MS way or the highway?)
- From: tom.vandewater@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:34:18 -0500
OK, I can't keep my mouth shut anymore.
Below is the link to an interview with the OPC Chief Architect,
Rashesh Mody, which Alex sent. Mr. Mody also happens to be the WonderWare
Chief Technology Officer. Wonderware is a sister company of Foxboro and
Triconex, (owned by Invensys)! He is talking about OPC UA which is the next
generation of OPC that is built on Microsoft's .NET instead of .COM/.DCOM.
Is Mr. Mody the father of the Invensys developed Archestra framework which
is also built on .NET? Foxboro has already let everyone know that all
future application development on IA will be done using Archestra and thus
.NET.
http://www.automationworld.com/cds_search.html?rec_id=1169
Part of the discussion focuses on what this might mean to people
that have already invested a lot of effort into using the OLD OPC that was
built on .DCOM. The really bad thing about all of this is that it still
uses a vendor/OS specific transport medium that is very likely to change
whenever Microsoft wants to move on to the next OS and transport.
Rashesh Mody would obviously have a short term vested interest in
seeing OPC move to a .NET solution because it will plug and play easily with
the Archestra framework used by Wonderware/Invensys. It is so vendor
specific that it will be unusable on any other OS! If we buy into it we
know that it will mean constant migrations that will be required every time
MS decides to change their OS, which is, at best, every two years. From a
visionary standpoint, (longer term functionality), wouldn't it make sense to
move OPC in a direction that is able to be used by everyone. http was
developed years ago but it continues to provide the backbone to display and
access data from any OS without the user knowing or caring what OS the
server or client resides on. .NET has the capability to ride above and
utilize all of the standard transport protocols such as http, TCP/IP, etc.
but requires that both the server and client be running .NET/MS OS and that
is where the real problems start. Below is a link to the best article I
could find that described .NET in a way that even a dummy like me could
almost understand.
http://www.developer.com/net/cplus/article.php/10919_1479761_1
Invensys and Foxboro are pretty far down the road in making a very
important decision that will determine their future. They have already
committed to Microsoft but now many users are voicing their concerns.
Control system users have already gotten a small taste of what they are in
for if they migrate their systems to a total MS operating environment and
many are quite concerned. At the top of the heap and growing alarmingly
fast is the issue of network and application security. The recent rollout
of XP SP2 and all of the issues that were raised is a red flag for the
future as MS tried to plug security holes with a "Quick Fix" that broke many
of their own and third party applications that were built to run on their
OS. Microsoft would have to be ten times better at providing security for
their networks, applications, and transports, than any other provider in the
business, if for no other reason than they are hacked 20 times more than any
other vendor! They are not close to being that good and as they try to
please more and more business sector and private customers they are growing
the number of potentially exploitable applications and protocols at an
alarming rate.
I've read a lot, and listened a lot to all the discussions and have
come to my own conclusion that there is currently more risk running MS on a
networked Control System than with any other OS. I think the MESH network
is a good direction for us to move in but it, too, will require that new
skills be adopted by control system administrators and technicians. Foxboro
is starting to straddle the fence a little more and it appears that their
support of UNIX workstations and AW's will make it possible to use them on
the MESH in the traditional way, but won't be able to take advantage of the
new Archestra/.NET applications.
Thankfully, the new controllers and IO are not directly affected by
an MS OS and we do have a path forward that will allow us to replace aging,
less capable hardware with new, higher throughput, equipment without being
forced into using a very vulnerable OS.
Tom VandeWater
Control System Developer/Analyst
Dow Corning Corporation
Carrollton, KY USA
_______________________________________________________________________
This mailing list is neither sponsored nor endorsed by Invensys Process
Systems (formerly The Foxboro Company). Use the info you obtain here at
your own risks. Read http://www.thecassandraproject.org/disclaimer.html
foxboro mailing list: //www.freelists.org/list/foxboro
to subscribe: mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=join
to unsubscribe: mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=leave
Other related posts:
- » [foxboro] The Future of Control Systems (MS way or the highway?)
