HI Guys,

I have a question based oin the fact that I have a windows based HMI that currently operates on a windows 2000 machine.

What plans have any of you put in place to manage end of life windows HMI machines? The problem I see is that windows based PC are end of life after around 5 years however when you update your PC the project software will not run on the new version of windows. Communications cards may not be supported with the new windows therefore needing new drivers etc. This could then lead to comms problems with the PLC as this would need updated.......... you get the picture. does this mean a constant 5 year cycle of giving the OEM a few hundred thousand a time?

Thanks for your help,

JR

I'd suggest that to demonstrate compliance with corporate and regulatory requirements a survey of all IT enabled field equipment is undertaken and register drawn up, then a cost/benefit risk analysis performed to enable a corrective action to be generated.

This is a problem with many manufacturing sites where for example a protection relay (from your other post) requires reconfiguring for a new loading and you discover there is no way of doing this other than to spend an appreciable sum.

To your specific query, the W2000 HMI probably did have an upgrade path available, but that may well have expired, so will a PLC vendor (Siemens/Rockwell) offer an upgrade to W7? Yes, at a cost.

Once this has happened you have to ensure there is an ongoing plan to capture software and firmware revisions for your registered equipment. This should be put on the site's CMMS and budgeted as a yearly cost for staying in business.

A solution to this that I would explore would be to use VM software. You could still use Windows 2000 with the old HMI software installed on the VM but have it operating within the new Windows system.