New HMI Version Arrives

May 9, 2007

GE Fanuc Automation (www.gefanuc.com), a Charlottesville, Va.-based unit of GE Industrial, has released the latest version of its human-machine interface/supervisory control and data acquisition (HMI/SCADA) software application, Cimplicity 7.0. Gimmi Filice, Cimplicity product manager, says, “This release features four major themes: tighter integration with the Proficy software family of products, enhancements for developer productivity, operator productivity and serving additional customers with added CNC (computer numerical control) connectivity.”

When GE Fanuc purchased Intellution and its iFix HMI/SCADA product line in 2002, there was speculation that the company’s existing Cimplicity product would be merged with the iFix product to produce a new application. This is not to be, says iFix Product Manager Roy Kok. “iFix is a time-based product perfect for certain applications, while Cimplicity is event-based and best for other applications. So they can share technologies, but they will remain separate products.”

Layered components

The significance of this release is the layering of Proficy components from the latest iFix versions on top of Cimplicity. The integrated Proficy components are Proficy Change Management, Proficy Real-Time Information Portal, Proficy Historian and Proficy View.

Proficy Change Management, integrated with the Cimplicity Workbench, provides file version management and automated backup while delivering both versioning and disaster recovery.

Proficy Real-Time Information Portal provides Web-based visualization that integrates all online and process-based systems. It allows operators to gain business insight from all plant data, enabling decision support and continuous process improvement. Proficy Historian integration augments Cimplicity’s relational database-centric archiving, with fast archiving and data retrieval.Proficy View—Machine Edition displays can now be hosted, without change, in a Cimplicity display.

Productivity enhancements

Developer and operator productivity enhancements include improving OPC connectivity and configuration, enhancing security with password rule, and adding flexibility through right-mouse button menu actions.

When high availability is a requirement, the product delivers hot backup redundant server functionality and support for operation in a Microsoft Cluster environment.