Software Toolbox Technical Blog

I'm sure that, by now, you've at least heard about the latest and greatest TOP Server just released on November 15 – TOP Server V6.0.  In case you missed it, I did another high-level post giving you an overview of the five biggest features from the release - click here to see that post.

Now, let's take an in-depth look at the enhancements made to the user interface itself.  New users will find the enhancements very user-friendly and existing users will appreciate the thought that's gone into increasing productivity without sacrificing existing knowledge about configuring TOP Server.

By now, I'm sure you've at least heard about the latest and greatest TOP Server just released on November 15 – so you've likely received one or more of our mailings announcing the release of TOP Server V6.0.

And you're probably asking, “If I’ve already read those emails, what more is this blog post going to tell me?”  Keep reading to find out more specific details about five of the most exciting features in TOP Server V6.0.

It's common in the automation space to just throw out the term "OPC" without any qualifiers when talking about what a software solution supports with respect to open connectivity to other software.  But what does "OPC" mean for your specific software solution?

This blog post will discuss how important it is to know what an OPC tunneling solution is actually compatible with when talking about "OPC" since not all tunneling solutions use the same methods.

A key feature of any HMI package is the ability to not only show the current state of your control system, but to then store that information for historic purposes. But what good is historical data when you can’t easily access it? How can historical data result in process improvements, financial returns, or increases in efficiency if you’re not accessing it?

The OPC UA specification is an evolution on the original OPC Classic specifications that has been designed by the OPC Foundation to supplement, but not render obsolete the existing OPC standards such as DA, HDA, & A&E.  OPC UA is designed to make enterprise-level integration easier, while ensuring compatibility and interoperability with existing OPC DA, HDA, and A&E servers and clients. OPC expert Marc Holbach gives a seminar on all of the details below.

Over the years, I have run across a number of system integrators asking question about how to connect various systems. One of the common ones I run across is how to connect Wonderware products to other servers or systems.

Collecting data from multiple remote sites or aggregating, as it is generally referred to, is a big part of geographically distributed control operations.  Having a macro picture of your operations over all of your locations is key.

And efficient, reliable performance is always a concern.  This blog post will discuss performance as it relates to aggregating data from multiple remote sites using a tunneler solution and why it's important for tunneler solutions to support multiple tunnel connections in the same instance.

Software Toolbox has been involved with Industrial Automation communications for over 20 years now.  When you've done something for such a long time you can forget that many people in this industry or IT don’t know as much about the topic as they would like.

This second blog post to our "Why Your Industrial Protocol Matters" series shares a detailed overview of the SNMP communications protocol written by John Weber a number of years ago and still perfectly relevant today.   Over the last 15 years, there has been a great tendency to merge IT and Industrial networking together. One of the advantages of this practice is the increased usage of SNMP into the control/industrial network arena. For those without an IT background, this is key knowledge that we will see continue to grow.  If you missed our introduction blog post to this series and want to get caught up, you can access it here.