EPICS Controls Argonne National Laboratory

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  <20142015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  2024  Index 1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  <20142015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  2024 
<== Date ==> <== Thread ==>

Subject: Re: New standards for small and medium sized astronomical observatories
From: "J. Lewis Muir" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected], "'Dalesio, Leo'" <[email protected]>, [email protected]
Cc: "'Grzegorz Lech'" <[email protected]>, 'Rafał Konrad Pawłaszek' <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 10:50:52 -0500
On 7/8/14, 5:40 PM, Piotr Sybilski wrote:
>> Since EPICS is not sold commercially its market share is by
>> definition zero
>
> Ok, I agree. I should use the term: "how widely is the technology
> used" (but it is still ambiguous, we can talk about number of
> developers, number of projects using it, cost of the projects based on
> it and so on, my market share question was a general term in which I
> wanted to know in which fields and how widely is OPC/DDS/EPICS used, I
> couldn't find many industrial projects based on EPICS, thus my market
> share rating was low).

Hi, Piotr.

With something like "market share" or "how widely is the technology
used," you should know why you're interested in that.  The answer is
probably that you're wanting to use it as a proxy for measuring some
other things.  From an extreme point of view, who cares what the market
share is if EPICS works well for you?  But obviously, that's ignoring
other factors that might be important to you that market share might be
a proxy for, such as:

* Will I be able to find companies offering EPICS software development
  services?
* Will I be able to find software engineers to hire with EPICS
  experience (not that that's required)?
* Will I be able to get support from EPICS experts?
* Will EPICS be around for a long time?
* Will software developers be actively developing and improving EPICS?
* Will software developers be writing new modules and drivers for EPICS
  to support new capabilities and hardware?
* Are there a lot of existing EPICS modules and drivers?
* Will companies provide EPICS drivers for hardware they sell?
* Will I have any bargaining power with companies when asking them to
  provide an EPICS driver for their hardware?
* Will my new proposed standards be rejected by the astronomical
  observatories because my standards use EPICS but almost all
  astronomical observatories use the NOT_EPICS control system framework?
* Can I conclude that EPICS is likely a viable control system framework
  since so many people and organizations have chosen to use it?

>> What will be the on-going costs of supporting the other technologies,
>> and how long will you be able to get support for them?
>
> DDS standard is maintained by Object Management Group (25 years of
> promotion and standardization, CORBA for example). And here comes
> probably the main difference, as DDS can be used as a real time
> system, as I understand EPICS is soft-real time.

EPICS can run on VxWorks and RTEMS.  Given this, you can still do many
things with real-time requirements.  Another model, though, is to do
real-time stuff on dedicated hardware, and just use EPICS to control
it and get data from it.  In this model, EPICS doesn't need to be
real-time.

Lewis

References:
New standards for small and medium sized astronomical observatories Piotr Sybilski
RE: New standards for small and medium sized astronomical observatories Dalesio, Leo
RE: New standards for small and medium sized astronomical observatories Piotr Sybilski

Navigate by Date:
Prev: Re: New standards for small and medium sized astronomical observatories Pete Jemian
Next: RE: New standards for small and medium sized astronomical observatories Dalesio, Leo
Index: 1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  <20142015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  2024 
Navigate by Thread:
Prev: RE: New standards for small and medium sized astronomical observatories Dalesio, Leo
Next: RE: New standards for small and medium sized astronomical observatories Hill, Jeff
Index: 1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  <20142015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  2024 
ANJ, 17 Dec 2015 Valid HTML 4.01! · Home · News · About · Base · Modules · Extensions · Distributions · Download ·
· Search · EPICS V4 · IRMIS · Talk · Bugs · Documents · Links · Licensing ·