Inductive Automation

Awards

Inductive Automation received the 2011 Duke's Choice award at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco, California, on October 4, 2011, for Ignition. Oracle recognized the impact of Ignition as a significant Java-based product in Industrial Automation since the platform implemented the first native Java OPC UA stack.

Inductive Automation received the 2011 Automation World Readers Choice Awards in the SCADA and Information management categories for Ignition and in the SCADA category in 2013 and 2015.

In 2015, Inductive Automation received the Partner of the Year Award from the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA).

Licensing

Inductive Automation promotes an unlimited licensing structure, favoring a per server model that avoids charging for: clients, PLC or SQL Database connections, tags, or visualization screens.

Inductive Automation offers Limited versions of the SQL Bridge and Vision Modules that are restricted by functionality and concurrent clients, respectively.

Ignition Platform

Ignition is an Integrated Software Platform for SCADA systems. It achieves cross platform web based deployment through the Java Web Start Technology for both runtime clients and the integrated development environment. SCADA features are provided by modules categorized in MES Module Layer, HMI/SCADA Module Layer, and Platform Layer.

MES Module Layer

MES Modules are separately licensed Ignition plug-in modules that generally provide higher level functionality with less user development. MES Modules are designed to provide specific functionality and can be industry specific. Current modules available are: Downtime OEE, SPC, and Scheduling . Current modules available are: OEE/Downtime, SPC, Instrument Interface, Recipe/Changeover, and Track & Trace. The WIP Addition to Track & Trace, OEE Integration with Track & Trace, Maintenance Management Module, SPC Integration with Track & Trace, and MES Enterprise Management Module were announced for release in 2014-2015.

HMI/SCADA Module Layer

The HMI/SCADA Module Layer contains mainstay products of the Ignition Platform. Vision is the main visualization module, SQL Bridge is a bidirectional OPC-to-SQL database historian and transaction manager, Reporting generates dynamic Pdf reports, and Mobile allows access to HTML 5 compatible devices such as iPads, iPods, Android, Smartphone, and Tablets.

Other HMI/SCADA modules available are:OPC-COM, OPC-UA, Vision, Alarm Notification, SMS Notification, Voice Notification, and SFC modules. The following modules were announced for 2014-2015: Enterprise Administration Module, Upgraded Reporting Module and DNP3 Driver Module.

Platform Layer

The Platform Layer includes the following core functionality to all modules: OPC-UA Client, Database, Web Server, System Logging, Licensing, Unified Development Environment, Auditing, Authentication, Module API, Alerting Core Functionality, Database Connectivity, Scripting Engine, Realtime Tag Database, Store & Forward, and Redundancy.

Inductive University

In September 2014, Inductive Automation launched an online training service providing free online courses on Ignition. The site, called Inductive University, offers multiple courses for Ignition SCADA and for MES. Each course consists of a series of brief instructional videos followed by a quiz-like challenge. Inductive University offers people the opportunity to complete challenges on their way to an Ignition credential. The credentials are version-specific and can be obtained for Ignition SCADA or MES. At the time of launch, the courses were based on Ignition v7.7. New courses for Ignition v7.8 were added in September 2015.

Security

Inductive Automation promotes IT departments supporting security using standard methodology. The Ignition Platform supports the following security features:

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) released advisory 11-231-01 that allowed malicious unauthenticated users to download sensitive information regarding project configuration. Inductive Automation responded by resolving the issue in version 7.2.8.178 and greater.

Linux

Inductive Automation promotes cross-platform operating system choices for SCADA, citing that Windows has been a requirement due to the reliance of DCOM within OPC-DA, but organizations desire Linux for "security", "stability", and "reliability". Inductive Automation introduced Linux support in Ignition with the OPC-UA module in January 2010.

Legacy Products

FactorySQL is an OPC based Middleware product that bridges the gap between industrial PLCs and SQL Databases. FactorySQL is a drag and drop .NET application that runs as a Windows service. FactorySQL version 1.0 was released in 2003 and deprecated at version 4 in 2010 with the release of Ignition.

FactoryPMI is a Java based SCADA product containing three main components: the runtime, gateway, and designer. FactoryPMI version 1.0 was released in 2003 and deprecated at version 3 in 2010 with the release of Ignition.

History

Version 1.0 of FactorySQL and FactoryPMI were released in 2003.

In January 2010, Inductive Automation consolidated FactorySQL and FactoryPMI under the modular Ignition platform. Ignition became the platform name, and FactorySQL and FactoryPMI became the SQL Bridge Module, and Vision Module, respectively. The Reporting Module and OPC-UA Module were included in the initial release. This was considered "the first time a fully-featured industrial software package offered the same benefits on Windows and Linux".

The first Ignition Community Conference was held on September 16–18, 2013, in Folsom, California. Conferences were also held in September in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Inductive University was announced and launched on September 25, 2014.

The latest version of Ignition, Ignition v7.9, was released in the fall of 2016.

OPC-UA

Current drivers include A-B Suite, ModbusTCP, Siemens S7 and Simple TCP/UDP, allowing users to connect to a multitude of devices such as PLCs, solar cells, lights, generators, flow meters, bar code scanners, etc.

The Ignition OPC-UA server implemented the first native Java OPC UA stack. Inductive Automation offers the OPC-UA module for free.

SQLTags

SQLTags is a proprietary technology that uses any SQL Database as a Tag Database. Tags can be derived from the following sources: OPC, expression, or constant and support various configuration options such as: alerting, scaling, and historical storage. SQLTags are stored in Tag Providers, which are automatically configured tables in an SQL database.

SQLTags Historian is a proprietary data logging technology that manages historical data in any supported SQL Database. It is configured by defining an Ignition SQL database connection, then enabling the feature on a per tag basis. The system automatically creates and manages the tables without any user SQL input. Historical Scan Classes support different logging intervals by sets of tags as well as altering the logging rate dynamically. This allows the system to store high resolution history when needed, but lower resolution data for other periods. The system automatically partitions data into multiple database tables. This accomplishes two functions: ensures consistent performance over the long term, and provides a consistent mechanism for data archival and pruning.

Open Source

Inductive Automation is a promoter and contributor to the Open Source community. FactoryPMI utilizes a number of such projects including: MySQL, Apache, JFreeChart, Jython, Hsqldb, jTDS, Bean Builder, and numerous others.