BUSN: How important is multivendor interoperability to you?

Sun Sep 20 19:19:30 EDT 2009

==> Automation List post by Ken Crater...
To view or reply to this thread: http://www.control.com/thread/1253106833#1253473517

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Re: BUSN: How important is multivendor interoperability to you?
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Jeremy mentioned...

>Ken Crater tried this with an independent lab and there was no interest in that either.... <

Yes, that was an interesting experience.  I remember having an exhibit at an OMAC conference, and getting virtually no support from those one would think to be natural allies.  Granted, we were still at an early stage of development, but at that point some encouragement would have at least been a positive indication of a future market for the concept of open controls with interoperable pieces from multiple vendors.  I came away with the impression, rightly or wrongly, that OMAC was basically about large end-users putting price pressure on large suppliers.

On the other hand, OPC seems to fulfill a valid purpose.  Granted, it's a bit less ambitious than defining TCP/IP [grin], but my experience at Control Technology Corp. indicates it is a useful tool for companies not having a formal alliance to still produce some products that play well together.  In other words, a step in the right direction, at least.

In the bad old days, each HMI vendor would have their own suite of proprietary drivers for each controller (and etc.) vendor they interoperated with.  A controller vendor such as CTC would then have to cajole (or pay, or both) each HMI vendor to develop a driver to provide compatibility.  What a waste of development resources!

Ken Crater
Nerds in Control, LLC
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