Video productivity software expanded

Console screens and operator actions on ACP thin clients can be captured, stored and reviewed.

Longwatch's video productivity suite of software can now work with any ACP enabled thin client. This includes the Longwatch Video Historian, live and archived video, and the Console Recorder.

With the Console Recorder, customers can now record thin client screens for use by operations for trouble shooting, training, and compliance.This unit , when used with ACP enabled thin clients, helps customers reduce downtime and see exactly what their operators were viewing during shutdown, line stoppages and other system events.

The Longwatch Console Recorder software records what is seen on the ACP thin client, and the operator’s responses on the keyboard and mouse, but does not have any impact on terminal services sessions or servers.

Managers and supervisors can view recorded screens to determine what really happened during an “event” from the operator’s perspective. The Console Recorder can synchronize recorded video from the operator console with manufacturing databases and process historians, so that when managers and supervisors view the recorded operator screens, they can also view archived data from the historian or databases on additional thin client screens. This is extremely valuable when doing root cause analysis and troubleshooting, because it recreates the event. The recordings can also be used as a training tool for new operators or to share with operators for continuous improvement.

A major benefit of an ACP ThinManager system is that the main Longwatch software application resides on a secure central server, which can support multiple ThinManager stations. The ThinManager terminals do not host the software, so a customer does not have to worry about making software or security upgrades on multiple systems.

Because a single ACP thin client device can support up to five monitors, a user in one location can view one or more video screens plus displays from multiple applications running on the main server or on other computers on the network.

Running Longwatch video software in conjunction with a thin client is seamless from the administrator or operator perspective. The Longwatch Console Recording Engine interacts with the thin client software without any changes to the ACP system overall. The result is the same as capturing screens from a standard PC; that is, menus, commands and screens appear and react exactly the same to user entries from a keyboard, touchscreen or mouse.

“Because the ACP system is seamless, customers running a Longwatch console monitoring software with major HMI/SCADA platforms, such as Wonderware, Intellution, TheFix, or ClearSCADA, can implement a thin client application without any changes to the HMI or Longwatch software,” says Steve Rubin, president of Longwatch.

Tim Caine, chief technical officer at Automation Control Products (ACP), says, “ACP is very excited that the integration with the Longwatch product has been completed. The ability to record sessions from ACP enabled thin clients will prove to be a very useful function for end users in a wide variety of plant floor installations.”