We are at 40 (years)! In the fall of 1983 the first version of THE FIX 1.0 was released.
Yes, what we know today as iFIX SCADA was initially THE FIX (a contraction of FICS or Fully Integrated Control System). THE FIX was one of the first HMI/SCADA based on Personal Computers placed on the market at the dawn of distributed computing (before there were only MainFrames).
The FIX is the only HMI/SCADA left among all those that appeared in those years. To tell the truth, there are two that are still present and continuously updated with the new technologies that were already there at the end of the 80s: iFIX and Cimplicity, both today belonging to GE Digital's line of software products for industrial applications. And this has allowed all customers who use such software to guarantee the investments made on the systems over the years.
THE FIX was initially released and ran on MS-DOS, the operating system with which the first IBM PCs were launched on the market, which later became the market standard. Let's remember that the first DOS (Disk Operating System) which was the basis of the fortune of MicroSoft, then a small and unknown software house founded by Bill Gates and his companions, was not born as a multitasking operating system. The developers of The FIX, to guarantee the simultaneous management of the programs necessary for the operation of a SCADA (Scan Control Alarm and Data Acquisition), had studied and developed a preventive Multitasking shell, which could support up to twenty active tasks at the same time (e.g. SAC, ALM, View, HTC, etc.).
In 1985 The FIX (the company that developed the software was called Intellution, a contraction of Intelligent Solution, founded in Boston by Steve Rubin and his adventure companions) arrived in Italy, distributed and supported by ServiTecno, then a small Milanese company which over time has consolidated to become synonymous with excellence in digital applications in industry, which today is identified with OT Operation Technology. In the following years the market grew considerably: from a few dozen licenses per year, it went to several hundred, and today probably (but we too have lost count) THE FIX/iFix installations in Italy are over 20.000.
At the beginning of the 90s, THE FIX became FIX DMACS (Distributed Manufacturing Automation Control System) or a distributed production automation control system. FIX DMACS was the evolution of The FIX and first on the market to support PC networking in a distributed configuration. In the first versions, during the installation phase, a SW level was required for network management, to be disabled (but left active) even if used in a stand-alone application, precisely with a view to evolving the applications for management from part of different users on the net.
FIX DMACS was still born in DOS, but in 1992 a 2bit OS/16 version came out (it was the operating system for PCs, developed by IBM as an alternative to MS Windows), then in 1994 came the version for the first versions of Windows (therefore 16 Bit). In the first half of the 90s FIX DMACS was also available for VMS, OS for VAX, powerful computers from DEC/Digital Equipment Corporation, which then merged with Compaq and finally entered HP.
In 1995 FIX Hawaii arrived (with a completely redone GUI interface, with high resolution graphics and animation support and an incredible color palette): at that time it won awards and recognition as the best HMI/SCADA product on the market.
Then followed FIX32, (when Windows NT became "truly" 32 bit), which later became iFIX, continuing to evolve following the technological trends dictated by the market and by the requests of customers, who are increasingly demanding and looking for high-performance acquisition and sharing of production and plant data, according to the dictates of Industry4.0-5.0
In the early 2000s, Intellution was fully acquired by GE, and the iFIX product family as we know it today was enriched with other components and features that make it the most versatile industrial software product line used in critical applications throughout the world. world.
Why are we telling you all this?
In our experience we have seen that product continuity, support and guarantee over time of the investments made, both in industrial companies and utilities, is a driver in the choice of technologies for the development of new applications.
With the history we have behind us, we can safely say that the people who have chosen over the years to rely on iFix and ServiTecno's services were right and continue to have daily satisfaction from the investments made, with the guarantee that they will be able to over the years to come, continue to count on the evolution of the products used which will be updated to the technologies that will arrive on the market and will deserve to be adopted to make plants and production work better.