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Can anyone suggest the best method of communication between a Siemens DCS and and my Allen Bradley Control Logix PLC?

I assumed thet the Siemens would be able to communicate via ethernet with RSLinx but was told otherwise. If anyone from the Siemens world can help i would be most grateful.

Thanks,

Roy

Hello Roy;

The easiest way to exchange data between a Siemens S7 PLC and a Controllogix is through Profibus-DP. Profibus-DP is integrated to most S7 CPUs, and Prosoft and Woodhead/SST both make a user-friendly interface card for Clogix platforms. This is easy to setup, one of the PLCs is master, the other one slave (it doesn't matter which), a piece of cable and Profibus connectors and data exchange is quick, reliable and painless.

If you decide to use Ethernet, you have to understand that Siemens and Rockwell use different protocols on TCP/IP and that they cannot understand what each other is saying, directy. Like 2 speakers on a telephone line but one speaking Spanish, the other French; they hear each other but no information is transferred. They need some kind of gateway to translate the Industrial Ethernet frames to Ethernet/IP. Here is one that is recommended by Siemens exactly for this purpose:
INAT Echochange Gateway between Allen-Bradley EtherNet/IP Networks and SIMATIC Industrial Ethernet Networks
Look it up on Google.

I suggest you look at the following FAQ from Siemens that discusses communication issues between S7-300 and CLogix:
http://support.automation.siemens.com/WW/view/en/23809864
Hope this helps,
Daniel Chartier

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