Tridium open license?

[BakedInIdaho]

I have a few questions about Tridiums open license.
I've been in the control industry long enough to know
"open" is a very loosely used term. If a site is installed with
a "open" license can anyone with a copy of workbench access the site?
For example, if the site was installed by Honeywell can a Johnson Control copy
of workbench access the sites JACE's and server? Or, a Siemens installed site be accessed
by a Distech copy of workbench?

I work for a company who recently became a AX dealer.
Just trying to educate my self how open is open?
As a company we like to pride our selfs on the idea our customers can have choices.

Does the enterprise server need to be licensed open?
How many companys have a embedded tool for the field devices?
Can more than one embedded tool exist on the same jace or server?
What steps can be taken to be open as possible?
Any other relative facts.


Thanks in advance!

[ControlsInMT]

As long as it is accept.station.in="*" and accept.station.out="*", yes all software is supposed to work. We run WEBs supervisor with JACEs and stations installed by three different branded vendors.

[asdf;ljk]

You need to ask for the mfger's NiCS (Niagara Compatibility Statement). Or look in the license of the device in question under the "Brand" field.

There are 4 parts to the NiCS:

1. Station In
2. Station Out
3. WB In
4. WB Out

The first 2 fields (Station in/out) determine which brands of JACEs and Supervisors can talk with each other. The second 2 fields (WB in/out) determine which tools can configure which brands of JACEs and Supervisors.

[kc2dnw]

The guys above addressed the license question and they are very correct I connect to many vendors systems with my 1 copy of workbench.

Every Niagara device has a license and the same rules apply whether it is a JACE, server or workbench installed on a tech laptop.

As far as embedded tools to in the station to configure field devices I can tell you KMC does have them and they will run with other vendors on the same station. I have heard distech controls may also have a module to allow you to configure field devices from the station but I have never seen or used their controls.

I know the following do not have any way from "within the station" to configure field devices. They need software on the tech laptop and can tunnel through the JACE to the field controllers:

JCI
Invensys(TAC)
Siemens


We like to keep our sites as open as possible so we always use a license that is * for all 4 settings and we use BACnet for the field controllers so any vendor can jump onto the network we build and add their stuff to the front-end with graphics, alarms, etc. We also provide a user account that has full Web Workbench capabilities and access to everything and give it to the customer so either they, or a designated vendor, can get on and change/add to the system even if they do not have workbench themselves installed & licensed

-Jeremy