[00:00] In this school, we're going to learn about Ignition. Ignition is a software platform provided by Inductive automation. In short, Ignition is HMI, SCADA, and MES software. Ignition can be an HMI, or Human Machine Interface, allowing you to build real-time status and control screens that monitor and control your machines. Ignition's also SCADA, which stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, allowing you to acquire data and allow you to store information to a database as well as do alarming, all from a central location. Ignition is also MES which stands for Manufacturing Execution Systems. This is the layer between ERP and the plant floor providing solutions such as OEE downtime, SPC, track and trace and rescue management. Ignition itself is a modular industrial applications server. So it's installed as server software and is web-based, web-managed and has web launch designers and clients. You will need to install software in a single place called the server.

[01:03] Ignition is also modular in that you can add pieces of software to Ignition called modules to add new functionality. Ignition can do a lot of different things because of the connection points it has. We like to think of Ignition as a communications hub. Ignition can connect any PLC through OPC. In fact, Ignition has a built-in OPC-UA server with drivers to popular PLCs. Ignition can also connect to any third-party OPC-DA or OPC-UA server, allowing you to connect to practically any PLC that exists in the market. Ignition can connect to any web service, typically ERP systems expose web services that we can communicate to. Ignition can connect to any database, SQL database, whether that be my SQL, Microsoft SQL server or Oracle Postgres DB2 and more. So Ignition can connect to other MES and ERP systems. It can also connect to LIMS devices, such as barcode scanners, scales, sensors and special laboratory equipment that companies use.

[02:01] Once you go over the application, it's very easy to get the application to people's hands. Ignition can, you can open up the run time, of the client on any PC regardless of the operating system, on touch panels as well as mobile devices. Ignition can do a lot of different things. Of course it can do the HMI SCADA functionality. We have a built-in high performance historian where you can log data to any SQL database. That includes compression algorithms. Has a reporting engine built in to create dynamic PDF reports. You can build database applications where simply you're run into a database such as a POS point of sale or a CRM, customer relationship management system and even inventory tracking systems. Some customers like to convert Microsoft Access programs to Ignition allowing multiple people to view the data. Ignition has state-of-the-art alarming engine built-in allowing you to create alarms and then notify people via voice, SMS and email. In the alarming system, you have pipelines that allow you to customize how you want to escalate alarms to get them to the right people.

[03:03] You can build MES applications such OEE Downtime, SPC, Recipe Management and more. You can even take all these different features and mix and match them on the same screen. So what makes Ignition so special? First, Ignition has hassle-free licensing. Ignition is sold by the server license and with that, you can add an unlimited number of clients, screens, tags, connections and devices. The designer is included with the product and you can launch as many concurrent designers as you want working on the same project at the same time. Ignition installs in your server in under three minutes. It's very quick and easy to get going with the software. It's also 100% fully cross platform, can run on any flavor of Windows, MAC and Linux.