Conference ufhis::siemens_communication

162.0. "USD 5M for connecting Siemens R30E to VAX" by HGOM19::SHGDSS () Thu Apr 08 1993 16:04

    Hi,
    
    My name is Patrick Shao and I relocated from Hong Kong to China
    Shanghai as stationed Professional Services Manager.
    
    We are now working on a steel project which is to replace Siemens
    R30-E computers with VAX.  I have some questions regarding Siemens'
    environment and tools/products available for system migration. 
    Hope there's someone outthere can extend your help to beat our
    competitors here.
    
    The existing Siemens environment is like the following:
    
    3 x R30-E as Production Planning and Material Tracking Computer
    (PP&MT); between the three systems is Siemens bus with 3961 parallel
    ports.
    
    6 x R30-K as Process Control Computers (PCC); between R30-E and
    R30-K is Siemens 3964R (RS232-like).  R30-E will downloan production
    instruction to R30-K and receive production status from R30-K; all
    these communication is in form of messages (several hundred bytes
    per message)
    
    1 x Mitsubishi as Process Control Computer; between it and R30-E
    is Siemens 3965 running MSV-2 (BSC-like).
    
    1 x Siemens M70 as Material Tracking machine from previous plant;
    between it and R30-E is Siemens 3965 running MSV-2 (BSC-like). 
    R30-E will receive production status from M70.
    
    We are proposing a migration plan to the customer.  Of various critical
    success factors, customer is very concerned about the following:
    
    1. does Digital have previous experience to migrate a R30 environment
    to VAX platform?
    
    2. we know that there's a product called FTSIE - will FTSIE be able
    to connect R30 and VAX?
    
    3. is there any software available in market to emulate Siemens'
    3964R, 3965 (MSV2) on VAX so that the connection between VAX and
    process control computers can remain the same as before
    
    4. we need to copy ~120MB data from R30-E to VAX but has only 2-4
    hours to do so (so as not to affect production).  Even when we
    can find software to connect VAX and R30-E with 3964R or 3965 (as
    requested in pt. 3), with the limited baud rate (only 9600 bps),
    it's just no way for us to complete this task in time.  I would
    like to know if there's any method (for example, use Siemens system
    interconnect 3961 or parallel port etc) to connect VAX and R30-E in
    higher speed, so that 120MB data can be copied over in 2-4 hours.
                                          
    This project represents about USD 2M immediate business opportunity for
    Digital and total revenue for this migration effort will bring in
    about USD 5M in coming years.  Any reply to any of the above questions
    will help out a lot.  We'll definitely beat our competitors if we
    can answer the above questions so pls pls help.
    
    Thank you very much and regards,
    Patrick                                        
    

    Patrick,
    
    	I've seen Siemens do a similar migration at a number of sites,
    typically upgrading to VAXes.  Normally the customer chosses Siemens
    because they have more useful experience on migrating the Rs and Ms.
    What Siemens tend to do in their migrations is put in PCs to act as
    gateways.  The PCs have ethernet interfaces and use FTSIE for file
    transfers and DECosap for control data instructions/information.
    Typically this is a custom project form Siemens, so this may mean
    that there are no direct products available.  However, the tools,
    hardware and software used are usually standard components.  I guess
    you could do a similar mix and match and then write some gateway
    software to do this for you.
    
    For 3964 there is VAX_SIMATIC from ASSETS.
    
    Regards,
    
    Chris

    Patrick,
    
    my customer has replaced several SICOMP M Systems and SICOMP R 30
    Systems with VAXes during the last two years. Here is a list of
    products, you should know about in these environments:
    
    1. FTSIE: Filetransfer to BS2000 , SINIX and also to SICOMP M (well, 
    I know that SICOMP M is not supported and there is a serious problem 
    in the OSI protocol machine KS100 at the SICOMP M)
    
    2. DECosap: Program-to-Program communication based on the AP Protocol
    to the SICOMP M
    
    3. Software/Hardware from SYNOTEC Systems to get 3964R connection to
    SICOMP R30 (or SICOMP M) or to industry terminals ES120 (Siemens).
    
    My customer is running these products in a production environment 
    (white good production).
    
    If you have any questions, pls. contact me.
    
    Regards, Ralf