Hi All - Looking at a 2nd Ignition project, the first I didn’t have to worry about licensing as it was covered by the clients site enterprise license. This time we have to provide the license.
So…firstly we’re UK based and unsure where to get the licenses from (had a quick look at the distributers list and there didn’t seem to be one in the UK) ?
We do a bit of a standard system whether it’s with Siemens WinCC or FactoryTalk View SE - I’d say the licensing for both comes in at < £5000 ($6500) for the SCADA side of things. For this we have 1 SCADA station on a standard desktop PC, it handles alarms to display locally only and it logs data to an MS SQL database, we may now and again embed a web page. Via scripting we sometimes query the SQL DB. So we’ve done this project before (coding animation etc.) I just don’t know what I need in regard to Ignition modules to achieve the same now that we have to actually purchase them - it seems expensive so I don’t want to buy something I don’t need.
I’ve used the pricing tool and so far got: -
Ignition Modules & Drivers
Ignition Platform (Required) - $1,000
OPC UA Server Module
Core Drivers
Vision Module Limited: 1 vision client - $1,785
Tag Historian Module - $2,200
Web Browser Module - $605
Subtotal - $5,590 USD
But do I also need: -
Alarm notification module ($2090) - for basic alarming ?
SQL bridge ($2090) - just because we might do some queries from the Python scripts ?
If I need those extra 2 modules it makes it way more expensive than WinCC/FactoryTalk - any advice on what I need would be greatly appreciated.
The SQL Bridge module gives you Transaction groups, you don’t need it to query your data. The alarm notification module is needed if you want to email or text etc… your alarm events.
Also, you technically could skip the Tag History Module, and manually log your data through gateway event scripts.
On a side note, Ignitions value isnt purely about the bottom line. The support is fantastic and at a reasonable rate, they will actually help you even without a contract. Its well just a better product in my opinion.
Unless you have a specific purpose, I’d drop the Web Browser module. A Vision client can launch the local system’s default browser without difficulty.
The Vision limited module is cheaper than the Perspective limited module, and I think plays better with dedicated HMI local operations. I have mixed feelings on the Tag Historian. I don’t use it much, but it is awfully convenient when I do.
I find the SQL Bridge module convenient, too, but that is also easy to replace with scripting.
I’d consider including the Alarm Notification module. At its cheapest, it only does email, but that is pretty valuable. More valuable than the Web Browser module, IMNSHO.
Thanks for your help everyone - I think I can get away with what I priced up initially without those extra two modules which puts it ballpark pricewise as the other SCADA’s we do.
As we’re UK though where do we purchase it ? Directly from Inductive in the US ??
If you would like to pay in Sterling or think that a bespoke license package would be useful then I may be able to help.
Just PM me and I’ll send over my contact details.
Wow, it never even occurred to me that the SQL Bridge name could cause that confusion, but of course now that you’ve all pointed it out it seem obvious…
