Option 5: FactoryTalk View Site Edition

ViewSEs data logging features are fairly extensive. You can configure unlimited number of
datalogs, and run up to 20 simultaneously. Each datalog can have up to 10,000 tags in it
(ViewSE has no tag limit,) and they can be logged to either a compressed format
(extractable with a free utility,) or better yet to any database which supports ODBC (MS SQL
Server Express is included.)
Pros:
Supports 20 datalogs simultaneously logging 10,000 tags each
Supports most databases via ODBC
Comes with RSLinx Classic and Enterprise (ViewSE versions)
Cons:

Cant easily view data directly in MS Excel

Cost of ViewStudio Development and ViewSE runtime (if not already owned)

FT Historian SE SlideOption 6: FactoryTalk Historian SE

For the most robust data collection I recommend FT Historian SE. This package is built to do
one thing well large volume time series data collection. Based on the worlds largest
installed base of data collection software (OSI PI,) Rockwell has included easy to use hooks
to setup logging of data from its PLCs, and has also included its popular web based
trending and reporting package, VantagePoint.
Pros:
World class solution based on OSI PI with space saving data compression
Easy connectivity to PLCs, especially using RSLinx Enterprise or OPC.
Excel plugin for easy viewing of collected data
Comes with full web based trending and reporting package (VantagePoint)
Cons:
Requires Microsoft Server 2008 R2
Cost of lowest tag count roughly $4500

I hope youve found this article about my thoughts on how to datalog data from the
ControlLogix and CompactLogix helpful. If you have a question or would like to offer your
own data logging option please use the Leave a reply form below to comment on this
article.
By Shawn Tierney