InTouch Machine Edition 2014 R2: What is New and Advanced Features

Editor's Notes

• #4: Studio Mobile Access (SMA) – HTML5: This new feature allows customers to access the ITME graphical interface from remote Web Browsers (e.g.: Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, Safari) running on different platforms (e.g.: PCs, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets/phones, etc). This solution is based on the platform-agnostic HTML5 standard technology and it is supported by EmbeddedView running on Windows Embedded Standard (EmbeddedView). IoTView - Platform Agnostic Core runtime: New runtime edition for ITME compiled for Linux and VxWorks operating system. Small footprint runtime (roughly 3MB) for applications designed in the standard, user-friendly ITME development environment provide an ideal solution for Internet Of Things (IOT) systems: Local data acquisition, mobile visualization, data publishing to remote databases (ERP/Cloud). Portfolio Integration: Support for Wonderware Online storing Trend Data directly on the Wonderware Historian Server in the Cloud. Users on embedded devices anywhere in the world can directly connect to Cloud stored data. Native OPC UA redundancy: Even previous versions of ITME provided a native OPC UA Client. However, in this version, it offers a user-friendly configuration interface (dialog) where the user can list two or more third-party OPC UA Servers and drag them up and down in a list to define their priority for redundancy (hot/stand-by, cascading, load balancing, etc). The native OPC UA Client from ITME will automatically switch from an external OPC UA Server to the next one on the list if the current one becomes unavailable.
• #6: ITME offers a comprehensive set of native solutions for Thin Clients. The application is designed and deployed on the runtime station. However, additional instances of the graphical interface (screens) can be visualized from remote stations, where the product (ITME), the project (application), and the license do not need to be installed (true Thin Clients). In addition to the existing Web Thin Clients (eventually visualization for remote users with Internet Explorer), and the existing Secure Viewer Thin Clients (Andon, Kiosk, full-screen mode thin client stations) available in previous versions of ITME, the new version (ITME2014R2) also supports Studio Mobile Access (SMA) Thin Clients, allowing users to access the graphical interface (screens) of their applications from multiple platforms / web browsers on remote devices (including PCs, iPads, iPhones, and Android tablets/phones).
• #7: This new feature allows customers to access the ITME graphical interface from remote Web Browsers (e.g.: Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, Safari) running on different platforms (e.g.: PCs, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets/phones, etc). This solution is based on the platform-agnostic HTML5 standard technology and it is supported by EmbeddedView running on Windows Embedded Standard (EmbeddedView). In other words, it is not supported by ITME running on Windows Embedded Compact (Windows CE). The maximum number of SMA Thin Clients concurrently connected to a runtime station is controlled by the license installed on the runtime station (ITME runtime license). Even screen groups, popups and dialogs (Multiple Document Interface – MDI) are supported on the SMA Thin Clients.
• #9: The new IoTView introduces a specially designed HMI platform custom-built to embrace new technology for connectivity specifically for devices running on Linux and VxWorks operating systems.. With the advent of Internet of Things and Industry 4.0, not only will the number of embedded devices used for M2M data exchange increase, but demand for machine functionality will rise sharply, including demand for interoperability, the ability to exchange data with cloud-based systems, and user-friendly local configuration and maintenance. Rather than an isolated set of units, these devices will be an integral part of the overall automation system (and even supply chain). InTouch Machine Edition IoTView is a natural expansion of InTouch Machine Edition, with unique characteristics designed to make creating these connected intelligent systems a reality, such as a core runtime available for Linux and VxWorks operating systems.
• #10: Important advantages of IoTView, which makes it an an ideal fit for IoT solutions are: Ease of use: IoTView runs applications designed with the same standard, user-friendly ITME Integrated Development Environment, used to design projects for the other ITME runtime editions. Portability: Small foot-print (roughly 3MB) and platform-agnostic source-code that allows us to compile it to different platforms, such as Linux and VxWorks, commonly used in embedded devices used for data acquisition and manipulation in IoT sytems. Mobility: IoTView can be a server for remote SMA Thin Clients (based on HTML5), making it easy for remote users to access rich graphical interfaces to configure or monitor the information handled by the devices. Interoperability: Built-in communication drivers (e.g.: MOTCP, ABTCP, SOFTP, MQTT) allow IoTView to exchange data with different devices through multiple protocols. Moreover, the built-in (patented) solution to save data into remore SQL Relational Databases allow IoTView to publish information to remote ERP systems on premise or on the cloud. Even though the new IoTView runtime edition for ITME has limitations compared to other ITME runtime editions (EmbeddedView, CEView), it provides enough features to create fully function applications for data acquisition, mobile visualization, and data publishing to remote databases (even on the cloud).
• #12: We already had native interface to the Wonderware Historian On Premise. ITME v8.0 supports the Wonderware Historian on the cloud (aka Wonderware Online). Support for Wonderware Online storing Trend Data directly on the Historian in the Cloud, which can consolidate information from several ITME HMI stations.
• #14: Even previous versions of ITME provided a native OPC UA Client. However, in this version, it offers a user-friendly configuration interface (dialog) where the user can list two or more third-party OPC UA Servers and drag them up and down in a list to define their priority for redundancy (hot/stand-by, cascading, load balancing, etc). The native OPC UA Client from ITME will automatically switch from an external OPC UA Server to the next one on the list if the current one becomes unavailable. The user can configure and control the redundancy behavior through a single, user-friendly, dialog. Information about the current status of the redundancy (e.g.: status of the connection with the OPC Servers) are made available through tags configured in specific fields (Code, Message, Active Connection). This feature makes easier then ever to link your ITME HMIs to third-party OPC Servers in projects that require high reliability.
• #16: In addition to the Microsoft IIS Web Server supported to enable Thin Client solutions by previous versions of ITME, the new version (ITME2014R2) allows the user to select virtually any Web Server they prefer to use, including the Apache HTTP Server.
• #17: New symbols with built-in functionality (animations) were added to the ITME2014R2 native library of symbols.
• #18: Collaboration Server is an Add-On module which allows multiple ITME users to edit the same project (or different projects) simultaneously. The changes are tracked in a central server running Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (third-party product and license). This add-on allows for built-in revision control (e.g.: view who/what/when for changes, compare different versions of the same project, restore previous versions of the same project, and so forth). In ITME21014R2, this feature has enhanced to support Offline Mode (i.e.: allow the user to easily update the project on the Server after implementing several changes in off-line mode – e.g.: after conducting the startup). Moreover, it has been improved to provide higher performance when saving and restoring components from the server.