Software supervises multiple servers and clients

Rockwell Automation has released RSView Supervisory Edition 2.0, the latest generation of Rockwell Software's leading human machine interface (HMI) system for supervisory-level monitoring and control.

Rockwell Automation has released RSView Supervisory Edition 2.0, the latest generation of Rockwell Software's leading human machine interface (HMI) system for supervisory-level monitoring and control applications.

RSView Supervisory Edition (SE) is a core component of Rockwell Automation's "ViewAnyWare" strategy, a common visualisation solution for the entire enterprise.

With its multi-user, distributed and scalable architecture, RSView SE supports the multi-server/multi-client distributed control applications often found in process industries such as brewing, paper and pulp and water treatment.

"RSView SE allows multiple servers and clients to be quickly and easily integrated on the same communications network", says Rockwell Automation product manager Paul Herron.

"It provides a truly distributed architecture for large plants that need multiple users to have local and remote access to the same visualisation system".

The introduction of RSView Supervisory Edition is a major launch in the RSView Enterprise Series, a new suite of visualisation software, which supports and implements Rockwell Automation's ViewAnyWare strategy.

ViewAnyWare provides enterprise-wide visualisation, with a common development environment so applications can be reused rather than recreated for different platforms.

RSView SE applications are developed using a new SE version of RSView Studio, the common development and testing environment for all RSView Enterprise Series products.

By using a common development tool, applications can be shared with other Enterprise Series software, including RSView Machine Edition, the HMI package designed for PLC-based machine and smaller process control applications.

RSView Studio also allows remote development and configuration of an application across multiple servers from a single location, and gives multiple developers access to the same project at the same time.

Another key feature of Enterprise Series products is FactoryTalk, which provides "preferred connectivity" with other Rockwell Automation products.

FactoryTalk provides the infrastructure enabling RSView SE to access information directly from controllers such as Allen-Bradley ControlLogix PLCs and standard third-party OPC servers.

This allows tags created or modified in the logic program to be automatically reused in RSViewSE without the need to recreate them manually.

Users can also browse data in a control device with the creation of a new tagless database structure, something that is not possible when using non-Rockwell Automation visualisation systems.

The ability to integrate multiple servers and clients is especially useful when using "thin" client technology.

Here, the application software is pushed back to the server where it is accessed via high bandwidth networks by distributed HMI devices running low-level software.

This approach allows the use of simpler, lower cost and more robust devices as HMIs.

In addition, just one user licence is required and one version of the visualisation software needs to be maintained.

"In an industrial environment, using low cost, panel mount PCs provides many benefits", says Herron.

"Pushing the application software back to a central server, away from the factory floor and using thin clients as HMIs, reduces costs and increases reliability while offering all the control and visualisation performance".

However, having all application software running on a single central server leaves the control system totally dependent on that piece of equipment.

A single server network is also limited in the number of thin client HMIs it can support.

The solution is to use a segmented or multi-server system, so there is a back up in the event of an equipment failure and more clients can be integrated onto the same visualisation system.

RSView SE now makes the seamless integration of several servers supporting multiple thin client HMIs a quick and easy process.

RSView Supervisory Edition is an important addition to the RSView Enterprise Series, enabling users requiring integration of multiple servers and clients to move on to the latest generation of the leading SCADA solution.

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