Inductive Automation won the award because of their work in creating Ignition, the first Java-based HMI (human machine interface), SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) application in the industrial software industry. In creating Ignition, Inductive Automation was the first private company to implement the OPC-UA standard in Java, effectively extending the use of Java into the manufacturing industry.
Inductive Automation's lead software developers, Carl Gould and Colby Clegg, were on hand at the event to accept the award. "Receiving the award was an honor, I couldn't help but feel a great sense of pride in being a part of the development of Ignition,” said Gould. “It's such a unique product, and so different from any other HMI/SCADA product on the market.” His colleague Clegg elaborated on that point: "Ignition is very different – and this award says to everyone that it’s different in a good way."
Java Offers Three Major Advantages to SCADA Software
Java was chosen for the basis of Ignition because it offered three major advantages to other programming languages: platform independence, quick deployment, and excellent support.
The first advantage alludes to Java's famous slogan is "Write once, run anywhere." This means that programs written in Java, such as Ignition, run equally well on Linux, OSX or Solaris as they do on Windows. Also a core feature to Ignition is Java's Web Start technology, which has the ability to launch full-featured applications like Ignition with a single click from any web browser. This helped give Ignition the power to quickly deploy an unlimited amount of clients to any computer equipped with a web browser.
Another strong benefit is the stability of Java’s long-standing support. The Java programmer community is 9 million strong – it's the most used programming language in the world. Oracle purchased Java from Sun Microsystems and since has worked to continually expand Java's power and reach. All this means that Java is a very well supported and a growing language, making it a solid platform on which to build Ignition.
Ignition is successfully running on SCADA systems in more than 50 countries around the world. Manufacturers are invited to download a fully functional demo version of Ignition at http://www.inductiveautomation.com/downloads.
For more information about Ignition by Inductive Automation’s SCADA software system, visit www.inductiveautomation.com/scada-software
