OSIsoft bills their flagship product, the Real-time Performance Management (RtPM) Platform, as a link between the manufacturing plant floor and the management suite. It is a Windows based collection of components and applications that together facilitate the centralized collecting, processing, archiving, and providing of real-time operational data from multiple sources.

The components of the RtPM Platform are grouped into three primary classifications: RtBaseline, RtAnalytics, and RtPortal.

At the core of the platform is the apply-named RtBaseline, which provides the foundational architecture that enables the collection, processing and delivery of real-time data. And at the core of RtBaseline is the PI System, which itself is the data engine that facilitates event management, retrieval, and archiving. RtBaseline runs on Windows Server 2003 w/SQL Server 2000.

RtBaseline is described by the vendor as a "virtual real-time data warehouse," in that it allows information architects to define the context for the data they wish to analyze; with the platform able to gather data relevant to the context from multiple sources for display to the individual. Information is gathered through the use of "Smart Connector" interfaces; the vendor notes that over 400 such interfaces are available to connect the platform to PLCs/DCSs, Laboratory Information Systems, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems (SCADA), IT Infrastructure (routers, switches, gateways) and other gear. Additionally, the RLINK component allows for connectivity to ERP/EAM systems, including SAP R/3, JD Edwards One World, MRO Software Maximo or Indus International Passport/EMPAC.

Working with the data gathered and centralized by RtBaseline is RtAnalytics, a Windows Server 2003 component that provides core analytic and alarm capabilities to the platform. Among the components of RtAnalytics are the Advanced Computing Engine (ACE), which allows users to write equations that can be reused on similar data sets; Sigmafine, for the validation of raw process data before being displyed; and ProcessTemplates, which provides for performance baselining and comparison by allowing the measurement of specified performance indicators over repeatable time segments for the creation of "expected behavior" templates.

Finally, delivering the data to the end user is the job of the RtPortal arm of the platform, which provides both "thin client" (Web-based) and "Smart Client" (Windows 2000+) tools to access and utilize the gathered data. Thin client usage is based on either Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server or SAP Enterprise Portal.

New to the core PI System platform is support for High Availability features. PI System servers can now be gathered into "collectives," consisting of a primary and one or more secondary servers; within the collective configuration tables can automatically be replicated. Data collected by the various interfaces is written directly to each member of the collective with buffering supported for those that are temporarily unable to receive the stream. The PI Interfaces themselves can also be deployed in redundant pairs such that if the primary interface fails processing will fail over to the secondary interface.

The PI System and the RtPM Platform are available now. Contact OSIsoft for further information.