The original developer of the Wonderware ActiveFactory set of client applications for accessing and processing manufacturing data, DataWorks Systems, will continue to provide customer support for all levels of ActiveFactory in versions 8.5 and earlier.
Wonderware has licensed ActiveFactory from DataWorks since the software's creation in the early 1990s and has sold it through its own distribution channel. The company has also provided end-user support for the older versions, according to John Nichols, DataWorks Systems' CEO.
Once this license agreement expires in July, Wonderware will offer new versions of ActiveFactory that only it will support. Since these newer versions are based on a different code base than the previous DataWorks versions, DataWorks will continue to offer technical support to existing ActiveFactory customers for all previous versions.
DataWorks has abandoned developing newer versions of ActiveFactory in favor of offering, starting this July, a newer, replacement product called Incuity HDA (Historical Data Access). "It provides 100% backward compatibility with those previous generations and also gives existing end users a set of new tools that provide even better capabilities for accessing, viewing, trending and reporting on manufacturing data," said Nichols.
This article was repurposed from the July 2005 issue of Managing Automation magazine.