How open do you want to be?

If you thought that the open systems argument had been largely settled and that industrial automation systems and equipment vendors now not only subscribe to the open systems philosophy, but actually market genuinely open system products, think again. Much of the argument now seems to revolve around what is actually understood by the term 'open'. Does standardising on Microsoft and adopting IEC/EN standards for networking mean that systems are open? Or can systems only be regarded as genuinely open when they are, in the jargon, 'Open Source'.

This really brings us back to the operating system arguments of the 80s which, largely predating the emergence of MS-DOS and subsequently Windows, centred on a debate between proponents of UNIX on the one hand and of vendors' proprietary operating systems such as DEC's VMS on the other. UNIX lost out, but now we're roughly back where we started as even desktop PCs have more power than 80s and 90s mainframes and the new byword for independence and openness is Linux, itself a UNIX variant.

What makes Linux different, or so we're led to believe, is that there really is only one. The different brands, be they Red Hat, Blue Cat or whatever, differ only in the support and 'packaging' surrounding the basic product which is itself genuinely 'Open Source' or, in plain English, free. What you pay the Linux vendor for, if you so choose, is essentially the time saved in not having to start from scratch. How seriously the IT world is beginning to take Linux can be judged from the fact that IBM, once the absolute byword for proprietary, is not only reported to have a new mainframe model which only runs Linux but, in the last quarter of 2001, is understood to have derived most of its mainframe revenue from sales of Linux machines.

Why bother with Linux when the whole automation world runs on Windows anyway? There are two answers, one philosophical, one practical. The philosophical answer essentially argues that it's a funny kind of vendor independence that makes every system in the world dependent on a single vendor. The practical answer, which is becoming increasingly pressing, is that a vendor who won't release source typically makes no commitment to providing ongoing support for legacy products and is at liberty to change a product when it suits and at indeterminate frequency.

This may seem like a convincing argument in favour of Open Source, and perhaps it would be if the issue were only about operating systems. The problem for automation vendors comes when they realise the implications for their own products, because the Open System lobby doesn't just want open source operating systems; it wants open source applications too. And the reason they want them is based on pretty much the same arguments. In other words application vendors, they claim, are just as guilty of changing the product once you're locked in and thereby forcing you to buy the upgrade or say goodbye to your support. The real messianic followers of the Open Systems creed believe that none of this matters and that there will always be enough altruistic enthusiasts happy to develop everything industry needs for free anyway. Others are not so sure.

In truth, however, it looks as if the cost of development is not the real problem. Putting it crudely, in an open systems world where the software components are available for free, who do you sue? It's this dimension of the open systems argument which perhaps gives the best clue to how the automation industry is likely to evolve. Most vendors have, to a greater or lesser degree, already accepted the logic of the open systems argument. As a result, the industry is currently in transition from a state in which vendors sell solutions based on their own proprietary technology to one in which solutions are built from standard, non-proprietary and universally available hardware, software and communications components. And what, ultimately does this mean? Perhaps that there is still everything to play for in the automation market.

Industrial Automation INSIDER
f910@industrialnetworking.co.uk

Andrew Bond is the Editor of the monthly subscription newsletter Industrial Automation INSIDER. You can contact him by email at scada@abpubs.demon.co.uk. And if you mention INOC, Andrew will send you a complimentary copy of the latest issue of Industrial Automation INSIDER

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