The Top Reasons to Migrate to Ignition

Apr 10

After completing many projects converting legacy SCADA platforms to Ignition, we’ve learned many reasons companies want to migrate to Inductive Automation’s Ignition. Click here to watch a video version of this post instead.

Licensing Costs

The most common reason companies want to convert their legacy SCADA system to the Ignition platform is Ignition’s favorable licensing.

When you’re running Ignition, you no longer need to worry about:

Buying additional licenses every time you need additional HMIs on your plant floor
Buying more licenses for communication protocols and more tags when connecting new equipment to your SCADA system
Buying additional licensing to connect your SCADA system and data to your business systems, remote sites, or across your enterprise.

Many times companies move to Ignition from legacy SCADA platforms because it’s actually cheaper to pay for Ignition AND the conversion from Corso Systems than renewing their legacy licensing for another year. We hear this nearly every time companies call us to discuss converting to Ignition.

Access to Your Data, Now and Beyond

As a platform, Ignition uses open technology like SQL databases, Python scripting, and common web development tools like APIs. This approach gives you access to any and all of your data without having to develop custom coded work-arounds like in most legacy SCADA platforms.

In most cases, legacy SCADA platforms can’t directly connect to SQL databases. This usually means you will need to store all of your data in a dedicated Process Historian, or in proprietary flat files in the SCADA project directory.

While using a dedicated Process Historian is a viable option, it will require even more per-tag license costs that will continue to accrue over the life of the system. A dedicated Process Historian will also require additional overhead and maintenance costs to set up and manage the flow of information into it.

If you have to use proprietary flat files, you are at the mercy of the SCADA system’s tools to export data to a usable format. This will require specialized knowledge of the workflow to access the data, and a considerable amount of effort to build a system to make the data usable once you can access it.

As everyone in manufacturing knows, it can also be incredibly difficult to find people who can work on these legacy systems! Fortunately, Ignition uses common, modern development tools and environments that the general world of tech already knows and uses.

Ignition makes it easier to access your data, find people to help you manage and use your data, and build the tools and systems to turn the data into information for improving your operations.

Integration with Other Systems

Most legacy SCADA systems were designed to be the only tool you would be using. And while this was probably true when these systems were first implemented, it was often because there weren’t many other software tools or systems you could integrate with!

Now, with cloud-based solutions and tools to manage data such as Snowflake—along with many powerful analytics packages, having a SCADA system that helps you access and integrate your data with other systems is more important than ever.

Since Ignition is built on open technology (like SQL databases), this greatly simplifies integration with other systems. With Ignition’s Web Development Module, you can even use Ignition as an API for direct access to your data. It can also call other systems via API calls, and everything can be integrated with the backend databases.

You can even integrate with other systems and tools using Ignition’s own the modular architecture to build your own modules for the platform, extending any functionality you could possibly need for your company.

Ignition can even help you give your customers additional value by directly providing clear and transparent information to them.

Mobile Device Access

Most legacy SCADA systems got their start before flip phones, let alone the earliest smartphones. Mobile device access was an impossibility!

Now that everyone has at least one smartphone with them nearly 24/7, people want the ability to access their SCADA systems at anytime, anywhere.

While some legacy SCADA developers have provided mobile access workarounds, it’s often a solution hacked together with a smattering of HTML and webserver based tools to serve up graphics to any device—often with an endless list of caveats. Or they’ll provide a second SCADA solution you will need to license, install, and manage to enable mobile device access. And none of these options give you a native Mobile app.

With Ignition’s Perspective Module, you get a first class mobile experience on any device. You can build responsive applications which will save time and money in development and maintenance—and you even get a dedicated mobile app.

Ignition is a truly modern SCADA platform, capable of meeting the demands of today’s and tomorrow’s users, without requiring you to add more hassle for your developers or users.

Already running Ignition’s Vision Module? We can even help you migrate your Vision projects to Perspective!

Scalability

The other huge benefit with Ignition is the near infinite scalability of the platform.

Most legacy SCADA systems were designed to run a single process at a single facility. So, if you need to run two or more processes you would need at least another new server, more licensing, and additional development.

Ignition can run everything from a single machine to an entire enterprise system distributed around the globe. It supports templates, saving expensive development time, and allows you to expand the scope of your system with minimal cost over the lifespan of your business.

After switching to Ignition, companies are no longer limited by outdated SCADA technology, they are now only limited by their imagination!

Wrapping Up

Whether you are using our Ignition conversion tools to make the switch to Ignition, implementing it manually in-house, or simply considering what Ignition could look like for your facility, you are not alone.

Many companies have made the move to Ignition over the last few years and are reaping amazing rewards.

We are happy to hop on a call anytime to show you how we have helped companies migrate to Ignition, transform their businesses, and set themselves up for future success—all without having to worry about the limitations of their SCADA platform will scale in our ever-changing world.