Re: [foxboro] Unix/Solaris (was RE: Some things to talk about)

Several folks from our site attended a Foxboro presentation recently in an 
attempt to get an idea of what our migration path will be.  I'm not sure 
if the information was top-secret (I didn't get that impression), but I'll 
only throw out a couple of points relative to this discussion.

SotM is still coming out, but we were told I/A version 8.4 or so will 
probably be the last Solaris version, for various reasons.  I wasn't happy 
with all of them, but any action on my part would have just been shooting 
the messenger; many of the Fox-people in the room with us still like Unix. 
 That's not written down anywhere, but I don't think it's too hard to 
deduce when you look at how long it took to bring I/A to Solaris 10/SPARC. 
 They are making strides in bringing the Wonderware/Infusion platform to 
I/A controllers, but full functionality is not there yet (relative to the 
I/A upper-level offerings).


We are getting budgetary quotes for Windows I/A.  we will probably just 
treat the Windows peculiarities/bugs as we do those from the rest of the 
system, and use this list, trial and error, and our wits to work around 
them -- in other words, what we've always done with I/A (and some other 
systems as well).  I'll also look into extra external security mechanisms 
to try and protect us from the Windows malware.  The timing is not good 
for us though, as our staff is shrinking from a hot job market and 
retirements, and our other workload is rising.


They also showed some 3-D CAD models of a special FBM200 backplane that 
mounts in a 1x8 space in an IE32 or Rittal and plugs into the 100-series 
TAs.  This was pretty preliminary, though; they didn't have pricing yet. I 
presume they'll be rolling that out at their next user conference.


Corey Clingo
BASF Corporation






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[foxboro] Unix/Solaris (was RE: Some things to talk about)






I echo Frits's concern about the direction Invensys is taking in regard
to Solaris. No, concern is too mild a word. Alarmed is more like it.

I am alarmed about the apparent lack of firm commitment to the Unix
platform. Just last year we were promised Solaris on the Mesh for the
foreseeable future, albeit with limited functionalities -- given the
choices, I can almost live with that. But....

At the Southeast Users Group meeting earlier this year in Birmingham,
Ala., I scribbled a little personal commentary in my notes, "The news
about Solaris on the Mesh continues to be bleak. Foxboro seems to keep
retreating from earlier commitment about Solaris on the Mesh, leading me
to believe some of the earlier news were to keep the restless Unix crowd
at bay for the time being."

Now, from what Frits stated and communications from some other sources,
we can almost see the end of Foxboro's commitment to Unix. It is a sad
sight.

I have thought Foxboro's long-term strategy was to keep offering Unix,
with cut-off-at-the-knee functionalities, so they can point to Windows
and say, "See, you get all the eye candies and better functionalities if
you go down this path." And Unix will eventually become irrelevant after
all of us "Unix Luddites" retire and fade away, or at least beaten into
muted submission.

I didn't expect the end to come so fast. Wow!

Duc




 
 
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