[quote=“Duffanator”]Thanks guys, all good info.
I will point out that we’ve narrowed our choice down to Allen Bradley and Siemens specifically because we need products that can withstand corrosive gas environments. Both Allen Bradley and Siemens offer these products (so does ABB, but they are VERY far behind in both hardware and software).
Price wise, Siemens is cheaper for both hardware/software and support. However, we won’t mind paying more if the product and support is of higher quality. The biggest thing that irks me about AB support is that the tech connect contract stuff goes up in price depending on how many CPU’s you have out on the floor. Why should I have to pay more for software support because I install more hardware? Especially when the hardware price is almost double the next leading competitor.
But I digress… In the end price doesn’t matter so much as long as you get the quality you pay for. I’m more concerned that the hardware holds up and that the ease of use is there. Bottom line is that we don’t want to be in the same situation we are in now in another 10 years.
I appreciate the perspectives, keep them coming![/quote]
The pricing of Tech Connect is based on # of activations, not CPUs .
It is sold in increments of 1, 5 & 10.
We pay $7K for 5 activations per year. Pricey, but costs can be easily implemented in to large contracts, also keeps you up to date on all hardware and software.
We used to be a Siemens house, thing that irked me about Siemens support was the response time.
Support cycle was like this:
1 - call tech support # and leave a name , contact info
2 - within an hour or so , someone would call back and get details and decide why type of support required
3 - within a few hours or next day, tech person would call you back.
With Rockwell support, if you called you usually were talking to a tech within 5 - 10 minutes.