In the industrial world, when, or hopefully before, automation systems become unsupportable, users are faced with ripping-and-replacing or upgrading the automation system. Both modernization options can be difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. However, some vendors like Emerson have developed newer controllers and automation platforms with the end-user upgrade path in mind, making it far more attractive to undertake an automation system upgrade while protecting existing investments. In this Control Engineering article, Vibhoosh Gupta, senior staff manager, product management, Machine Automation Solutions, addresses this very topic.
Gupta says, “Newer industrial automation platforms provide higher performance, security, and availability than legacy systems. Modern controllers with specific features targeting the challenges of upgrading can make the final decision to change control platforms much easier.”
Despite the challenges, there are many benefits from upgrading, including:
According to Gupta, “When technologies are designed to be backward compatible, this increases the ease with which older systems can be upgraded. The downside of backward compatibility is the risk of accommodating too much legacy technology and reducing the performance and capabilities of the new system. The best of both worlds occurs when the newer system can accept older connections and programming, while enabling an expanded feature set.”
To learn how and why upgrading legacy systems doesn’t have to be the costly disruptive effort most companies expect, check out Gupta’s complete article.
How do you upgrade your legacy systems? All at once or step-by-step?