We have used the ICSonline IMAC with great success. They can come
preconfigured to connect to Foxboro's systems via serial connection. They
can also provide connectivity to other systems. Might be worth a look:
<http://www.ics-ltd.co.uk/>. Be sure to look at the features and call them
if you have quesitons.
Chris Browder 6745 Engle Road
Application Engineer Suite 105
The Foxboro Company Middleburg Hts, OH 44130
Phone: 440-816-7590 Fax: 440-816-0495
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lowell, Tim: [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Friday, December 29, 2000 10:33 AM
> To: 'Foxboro DCS Mail List'
> Subject: RE: Alarm Formats
>
> Stan,
>
> I certainly respect your decision to go on your own here, but please let
> me
> add my two cents on each of your points. I'm trying hard not to sound
> like
> a LogMate salesman, but we have it here, and it's a no-brainer as far as
> setup and support. Anyway:
>
> 1. LogMate supports ANY serial RS-232 communication from ANY system.
> If your systems print out to a serial printer, LogMate can read it.
> 2. You only need one license of LogMate for each DCS system you are
> hooking up to, as long as each individual DCS system is networked to
> itself,
> such as Foxboro, Honeywell, A/B, etc. Locations don't really matter. Of
> course, if you have islands of each DCS all over that aren't networked to
> each other, this becomes more expensive. Worst case is you have 25
> separate
> DCS systems that aren't networked at all. Then you need (1 x $4000) + (12
> x $2000), which is $28,000 worth of licenses. Chances are, it is less than
> that, because at least one of your DCS's are networked together somehow.
> For example, our I/A system has 2 nodes connected by a LAN, so I only
> needed
> 1 license for the whole system. LogMate requires a Pentium 90 to run and
> can run on Windows 95/98/NT. If you don't have at least Win95, you can
> upgrade the PC for about $50. I would think implementing any system at
> all
> would require at least these specs. If you are attempting to collect data
> on a Pentium-60 DOS machine and feed it to a relational database that is
> web-enabled, you are a better man than I, Gunga Din.
> 3. LogMate is not web-enabled, but since it stores the messages in a
> Paradox database, you should be able to use readily available tools to
> extract the data and create a web-based viewer. TiPS even supplies a
> Paradox database engine for Windows for free on their web site if you
> don't
> have one.
> 4. As far as lifetime support goes, I'd still rather bet on a software
> company that knows what it is doing and has a fairly large installed base
> than attempt to create my own custom solution. TiPS dates back to 1988,
> and
> has been a first-class company to deal with whenever I have dealt with
> them.
> I see what you are saying about source code, but who is to say that an
> engineer working 25 years from now will be able to debug a program in C++
> or
> Perl, or even Visual Basic? These languages might be as dead as Latin
> then.
> You might be the only one around who can figure it out, if they can find
> you.
>
> To me, LogMate is a "killer app" for doing what it does. I have yet to
> see
> anything close to it for ease of use, price, and options. But like Dennis
> Miller says, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
>
> Tim
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stan Brown [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Friday, December 29, 2000 9:34 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Alarm Formats
>
> On Fri Dec 29 08:55:15 2000 Lowell, Tim: wrote...
> >
> >Stan,
> >
> >Here's my best guess as to the breakdown of the Alarm messages:
> >
>
> Thanks so much! That's exactly what I needed.
>
> If I can help you with anything UNIX related, PLEASSE let me
> know.
>
> As to why not use Logmate, here are at least some of the
> reasons.
>
> 1. This project is to handle input from many more systems
> that just IA (AB
> Flame safety systems, Fox iA, Sectrum etc.)
>
> 2. We will be deploying this system eventualy in perhaps as
> manyas 20 to 25
> locations. We will be reuseing PC's that the IS group has
> taken out of service
> as to old, and slow to run any flavor of Windows (ealrt
> Pentium machnines)
>
> 3. We will be able to provide web based access to these
> alrams via a CGI script
> for the operations suspervisors, and ODBC access to our
> process control
> engineers.
>
> 4. Systms in our mill tend to live rather long lives, often
> extending beyond
> the life of comercial software providers. This makes it very
> dificult to
> maintain these systems, since we dont have access to the
> source code, and the
> vendor is no longer in businees, or no longer supports the
> product we have.
>
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