Re: [foxboro] InTools

I'll offer my two cents:

1) There was a formal relationship between Invensys Foxboro and the original

   owners of INtools a number of years ago. As part of that agreement, we:
   a) Resold INtools as FoxCAD.
   b) Bundled INtools with FoxCAE and sold them as FoxProductivity.
   c) Developed and packaged with FoxProductivity a bridging mechanism to 
      make moving data easier.

2) The sales volume was low which is never good for a product. 
   a) We were private labeling the InTools product which is costly for both 
      companies.
   b) We found that most of our larger companies preferred to buy directly
      from the vendor.
   c) The versions of FoxCAE and INtools constantly change which requires 
      updates to the private labeled package.
   d) The ownership of INtools changed and the new owner had better sales 
      channels than the original or we could provide. 
   e) In the end, Invensys decided that the cost of updates was too high 
      given the apparent lack of interest in the market so we let the 
      private labeling agreement lapse and development of re-branded product

      stop.

3) There is no current relationship between the owners of INtools 
   (Intergraph) and Invensys with regard to this interface.


I'd say that this is a case where we got into the market before there was
enough interest to sustain the business. 


The lack of customer interest in INtools integration appears to be changing.

Our engineering group in Houston has considerable experience working with
INtools data if that would be of value to you. They tell me that:

   The same import/export capabilities are still part of the INtools 
   utilities.  You can export to an intermediary file of different formats 
   (i.e. xls, dbf, ASCII txt, etc).  You can likewise import from 
   intermediary files of the same formats.  

   The most difficult task is importing wiring data.  This is because the 
   wiring module is comprised of a series of tables which are convoluted and

   non-intuitive.  So, all you really need to do in INtools is identify the 
   fields you want to import/export and the file format of the intermediary 
   file.  Of course you would use a dbf file since FoxCAE is a FoxPro 
   application built on dbf files.  

   Bottom line, we should be able to do all the things we used to do and 
   ultimately import/export data to/from IACC.  The PCS Nitrogen project has

   been producing wiring and loop diagrams for FF loops for a long time.

As you might expect, we have people available to help you setup the data
conversions that you need. Give Dave Gaertner a call (713.722.2866) or drop
him an e-mail (dgaertne@xxxxxxxxxxx)

Regards,
 
Alex Johnson
Invensys Systems, Inc.
10707 Haddington
Houston, TX 77043
713.722.2859 (voice)
713.722.2700 (operator)
713.932.0222 (fax)
ajohnson@xxxxxxxxxxx
For the latest information on ArchestrA, go to
http://www.invensys.com/Archestra.html.
 

-----Original Message-----
From: foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Lowell, Tim:
Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 10:05 AM
To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [foxboro] InTools

This is probably directed more at the Invensys people who read this
list, but some others of you may have some information.  A while back in
the mid-90's Foxboro was a distributor for InTools, and one of the main
selling points was that it could import FoxCAE data directly into it.
In fact, InTools was sold as FoxCAD.  Is this relationship completely
severed?  Does this import function still exist somewhere deep in the
Invensys knowledge vaults?  We will most likely be installing InTools as
part of a corporate initiative, and I'm sure it would be a big money and
time saver if we could import our FoxCAE data right into it.  If anybody
has any information on this, I would appreciate it.
 

Thanks,

 

Tim Lowell

Control Systems Engineer

ConocoPhillips Trainer Refinery

(610) 364-8362

tim.c.lowell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 


 
 
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