Migration from CIMPLICITY HMI to PROFICY

We have an old HMI system that needs to be replaced, and I am trying to estimate the effort.  The legacy system is running an old version of CIMPLICITY HMI under Windows 2000 (yes, that old).  We'd like to get a new PC running Proficy HMI, but we're a little concerned about the labor costs if we have to re-create the HMI from scratch.  Can anyone from Emerson PACSystems or who has experienced a similar upgrade speak to the backward compatibility or migration tools available to support this project?  Would there need to be any modification / recompile of the PLC code (currently running on a similar vintage 90-70 system) to be compatible with the new HMI?

  • Hi Jeffrey, I think you will be surprised how seamless both Cimplicity HMI and 9070 PLC's can be updated to the latest and greatest. Connect with me and we can discuss next steps.

    Mats Andersson
    mats.andersson@emerson.com
    650-619-8709

  • Mats has already replied and will be best placed to confirm but in general we can modernise legacy Series 90-70 systems very easily to our latest PACSystems RX3i controller. This includes converting the application using PAC Machine Edition software and keeping existing wiring with our Series 90-70 to PACSystems RX3i rack adapter. CIMPLICITY is also very good for forward migration and projects from as far back as version 4.0 can be modernised easily to the latest versions.
  • In reply to Steve Ward:

    A migration of the hardware will (hopefully) be occurring in the not-distant future as time and money allow, but for right now we need to deal with a dying HMI PC. I have heard the pitch on converting 90-70 to RX3i, but my immediate concern is the portability of the HMI code, and frankly the hardware is going to have to wait...unless it can't. That's why I need to know if the current gen HMI can talk to an old-gen 90-70 CPU.
  • In reply to Jeffrey Mach:

    Sure I understand. What version is CIMPLICITY? The application should be able to modernise no problem, the only possible change will be in the driver. If you;re using the old Series 90 Ethernet driver we have a conversion utility to update to the newer Series 90 Triplex driver. We have a converison guide that we can send that explains the details but in general you will be able to update with very few issues and still communicate with the Series 90-70 controller.