Advances continue in the venerable HMI/SCADA space. I got to see a preview of the new Ignition 8 from Inductive Automation [disclaimer: it is a sponsor, but they don’t pay for content] at the Ignition Community Conference in September featuring enhance mobile utility. The public beta version is now available. Full product to be released in April.
A key part of the Ignition 8 release is the Ignition Perspective Module, a pure-web, fully mobile solution. It provides full SCADA control from mobile phones, and drag-and-drop capabilities for designing mobile-responsive screens that are ideal for mobile devices.
Applications built with the Ignition Perspective Module adapt to fit any size screen, from cellphone to desktop. It will also enable users to leverage a phone’s GPS, camera, Bluetooth, orientation-sensing, and more. It runs in any web browser with HTML5, and requires no plug-ins. Perspective will allow people to enhance their SCADA systems in new and creative ways.
Ignition 8 also features capabilities for building enterprise-scale architectures. A faster tag system aids very large deployments, such as those with a million tags or more. Improved concurrent design allows projects to move faster. Project inheritance allows corporate standards to be used in addition to local modifications. And Ignition 8 was built with cybersecurity as a key pillar. It supports industry-leading encryption protocols, uses two-factor authentication, and also includes single sign-on.
More than 1,000 people have participated in the private Beta test for Ignition 8, and the response has been very positive. “Ignition 8 is a game-changer, a fundamental shift in how SCADA applications are developed and deployed,” said Bob Hastie, senior control systems engineer for Able-Baker Automation, Inc. “We — and our largest Ignition client — are very impressed with what we’ve seen in this release. Inductive Automation continues to deliver on its mantra of ‘Dream It, Do It.’”
“Our team is very excited to roll out Perspective to our largest Ignition user,” said J. C. Harrison, director of systems engineering for Roeslein & Associates, Inc. “We have successfully tested the Beta against live, true, plant-floor data. We (and our customer) are ready!”
“Ignition 8 builds on the industry-altering changes we’ve come to expect from Inductive Automation, and the Perspective Module pushes the envelope further by bringing Ignition natively to your browser,” said Dave Griffith, sales & marketing manager for Corso Systems. “These changes make it easier to develop and implement solutions more rapidly and efficiently than ever.”
“SugarCreek is looking forward to using the Ignition Perspective Module to combine the power of Ignition with HTML5,” said Dan Stauft, director of operational technology for SugarCreek. “We have been using the Beta and can’t wait for the official release!”
The Beta version of Ignition 8 is available at demo.inductiveautomation.com, Google Play, and the Apple App Store.
