Integrated Architecture

Like many other vendors, Rockwell Automation has recently rebranded and reorganized their offering. The ControlLogix family is a part of Rockwell Automation's larger solution offering called Integrated Architecture. It is a relatively new term in the world of Rockwell Automation, but the concept has been in place for quite some time. It represents a convergence of the control and information systems within an industrial operations environment. This convergence is in line with the industry trend we have witnessed over the past decade and has increased the ties between Operational Technology (OT) and traditional Information Technology (IT). We have seen a continuous increase in demand for operational information to be provided to the corporate information system in real time in order to fulfill the maintenance needs, environmental reporting, accounting, and other corporate requirements. At the same time, we have seen OT move from proprietary protocols and data access technology to traditional IT technologies such as TCP/IP and Ethernet. The promise of Integrated Architecture is the ability to easily implement plant-wide optimization, reduce technical project risk, increase machine performance, and improve long-term reliability.

The five core technologies of Integrated Architecture Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) product line include the following platforms:

The preceding diagram outlines the Integrated Architecture structure and shows where ControlLogix fits into the mix. The FlexLogix (bulletin 1794) controllers were also part of the Logix PAC family and was used to communicate with PLC-5 and SLC 500 Flex I/O blocks. However, FlexLogix has now been retired from the lineup, so it will not be covered in this book.

The product, formally known as RSLogix 5000 (used for programming the ControlLogix and CompactLogix controllers), is now included within the automation engineering and design software suite called Studio 5000 and is now referred to as Logix Designer. For the remainder of this book, we will be using the terms—Logix Designer, RSLogix, and Logix—interchangeably to refer to the Logix controller family programming environment.