At least they don't own XML/SOAP per se and have been cooperating a little better with the JAVA camp. Regards, Alex Johnson Invensys Process Systems Invensys Systems, Inc. 10707 Haddington Houston, TX 77043 713.722.2859 (voice) 713.722.2700 (switchboard) 713.932.0222 (fax) ajohnson@xxxxxxxxxxx -----Original Message----- From: foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Corey R Clingo Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 6:17 PM To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [foxboro] OPC in General (was: AIM OPC Server) I can't really say I'm an expert on Ethernet/IP either; I just threw that out as an example. I presume Ethernet/IP offers some kind of status and time information. It uses the same application-layer spec (CIP) as Rockwell's ControlNet, and one would think that status and timestamping would be requirements there. I believe the A-B Ethernet interfaces use Ethernet/IP. I agree that if you must do OPC, the "embedded OPC" approach is a good one. Too bad more vendors aren't going that route (e.g., FDSI FBM). I'll still likely have to have a Windows PC somewhere, but it doesn't have to sit on my nodebus (Foxboro's future direction notwithstanding... :-) As for Andreas' comment about not confusing .NET and OPC-XML, I realize they aren't necessarily one and the same, but M$ has made noises about dropping DCOM support in future Windows versions, and so the only standard IPC option in .NET could end up being XML/SOAP. Besides, that's where Micro$oft wants you to go today (that "at their mercy" thing again). Corey "Johnson, Alex (Foxboro)" <ajohnson@xxxxxxxxxxx> Sent by: foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 03/07/2005 03:46 PM Please respond to foxboro To: foxboro cc: Subject: [foxboro] OPC in General (was: AIM OPC Server) Re: OPC Future Looks like OPC is moving to their Unified Architecture (OPC-UA) which is web service based. The impact is basically that we are back to the future (ASCII text files - aka XML - moving using file transfer - aka HTTP/SOAP). :) Gist of this is OPC is moving to less efficient, but more independent delivery of data. It's great for certain classes of problems, e.g., asset management of device configuration data, but not so hot at others - HMI support. That is, as the object becomes more complex and needs to update less often OPC UA shines. I doubt that it will be used where OPC DA is today. Our small process control objects (value, status, time tag) are pretty inefficient if you have to convert them to and from ASCII to move them. Re: OPC DA I'm not a big fan of OPC DA becoming the lingua franca of our business which it is. DCOM has no business in field equipment. But OPC has a big advantage - status bits in a standard format and time tags and lots of folks want them. So, if one it going to do it (and vendors must) our FDSI FBM is the right platform (lesser evil?) since it isolates the other system from the control network which is full of Windows boxes. I suspect that isolation will be very valuable over the next few years. Re: EthernetIP or Alex displays his ignorance I'm no expert. Does it offer status bits and time tags for its values? Regards, Alex Johnson Invensys Process Systems Invensys Systems, Inc. 10707 Haddington Houston, TX 77043 713.722.2859 (voice) 713.722.2700 (switchboard) 713.932.0222 (fax) ajohnson@xxxxxxxxxxx -----Original Message----- From: foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Corey R Clingo Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 2:55 PM To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [foxboro] AIM OPC Server -----Original Message----- From: Johnson, Alex (Foxboro) [mailto:ajohnson@xxxxxxxxxxx]=20 Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2005 2:02 PM To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [foxboro] AIM OPC Server Free advice? Put the AIM*OPC DA Server on the client machines and use NetAIM*API to connect to the source AW (AW70 or AW51). This is equivalent to = Matrikon's "OPC Tunnelling". Why do it? Easy - the setup is much simpler - no DCOM. Worth the time and money, I promise. Regards, =20 Alex Johnson Invensys Process Systems Invensys Systems, Inc. 10707 Haddington Houston, TX 77043 713.722.2859 (voice) 713.722.2700 (switchboard) 713.932.0222 (fax) ajohnson@xxxxxxxxxxx _______________________________________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________________________________ 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. 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