And now a customer perspective... Pros of AIM*Historian:
1. You can modify it while it is running. 2. You can run it on the NT platform as well as AW51, and you can set up remote collectors on both NT and Unix platforms. 3. Much better archiving and storage tools. 4. Reasonably clean Windows NT interface (with some annoying little quirks) as well as the usual bulk command line interface. Cons of AIM* Historian: 1. It can be an enormous resource hog. Our 6000-points-or-so AIM*Historian runs on an AW51E, 256 MB RAM, a 9.1 GB hard drive, and we notice considerable sluggishness over the AW51E we have that doesn't run AIM*Historian. The Legacy Historian is no slouch hogging up resources also of course, but I can recall a few years back at another site running a similar number of points on an AW51C with a 1.2 GB drive without many problems. 2. Could be a cost issue for some companies. And the AIM*Suite utilities (AIM*Datalink, et. al.) don't buy you much over the ODBC interface you can already get with the Legacy Historian. AIM*Datalink is a woefully inadequate product. The only thing we use it for here is the DDE interface so that we can link AIM*Historian real-time data to our Excel Visual Basic sheets. Otherwise, no one uses it because it is cumbersome and requires intimate knowledge of how the I/A system is put together, which our process engineers don't have. 3. You must have at least one Windows NT workstation or server on the network to configure it. It cannot be configured from Solaris except with the command line interface, which is great for bulk edits but cumbersome for small changes. This could be a problem for sites not running Windows NT. 4. Unlike Legacy Historian, no tools are provided for extracting real-time data into tabular or text format with AIM*Historian by itself. There is an Excel add-in, which is only somewhat helpful, but you must buy the whole AIM*Suite to get it. If you want any sort of customization at all, you must create your own tools using C or Visual Basic. If you happen to know or want to learn C or VB, that's great, but if you don't know it or don't have time to learn, you'll have to spend more money to hire someone who does. You could also buy the Foxboro Canada report package, which also works with the Legacy Historian. We have AIM*Historian here, and I would never want to go back to the Legacy Historian, despite the myriad of problems we have had with issues mostly related to the remote collector we set up. We bought the whole AIM*Suite as a small part of a huge project, we have NT here, and I happen to know a little VB, so the cons are not an issue here, but they may be for some sites. The fact that you can modify it while it is running is a big enough pro for me to recommend it, especially to sites where historian uptime is a big deal, like a refinery. Tim Lowell Control Systems Engineer Phillips Petroleum Company, Trainer Refinery Phone: 610-364-8362 Fax: 610-364-8211 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: Johnson, Alex (Foxboro) [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2001 9:25 AM To: Foxboro DCS Mail List Subject: RE: Legacy Historian Upgrade You should give consideration to moving to AIM*. It contains migration utilities that preserve the customer's data and configuration information. Regards, Alex Johnson 10707 Haddington Houston, TX 77043 713.722.2859 (office) 713.722.2700 (switchboard) 713.932.0222 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is neither sponsored nor endorsed by the Foxboro Company. All postings from this list are the work of list subscribers and no warranty is made or implied as to the accuracy of any information disseminated through this medium. By subscribing to this list you agree to hold the list sponsor(s) blameless for any and all mishaps which might occur due to your application of information received from this mailing list. To be removed from this list, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe foxboro" in the Subject. Or, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]