Ignition SCADA

We are an Ignition integrator partner, Inductive Automation's SCADA platform. Engineering, deployment and support from Madrid for plants across Spain.

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CAPTIA Ingeniería, Ignition integrator partner

What Ignition is, and why we choose it for projects that are going to grow

Ignition is the SCADA, HMI and data acquisition platform built by Inductive Automation. It does what any SCADA software does — read the PLCs, draw process screens, manage alarms, historise — but with two design decisions that change the economics of an industrial project.

The first is per-server licensing: no limit on tags, connected clients or screens. On most platforms the price goes up every time you add signals or workstations; with Ignition, extending the installation does not go through the licence till again. The second is that the historian lives in a standard SQL database — SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL — that you can reach with any tool, with no dependency on a proprietary format.

If you would rather start one level up, our industrial SCADA software page explains how a SCADA project is run before any platform is chosen.

Ignition versus a traditional SCADA

The comparison that matters is not about features: almost every serious platform does the same things. The comparison that matters is what the installation costs when it grows, and that is where the licensing models diverge sharply.

Traditional model

The licence is sized by tag count: extending the plant means moving up a band.
Connected clients are chargeable, so access to the information ends up being rationed.
The client is usually a desktop application that has to be installed and updated workstation by workstation.
The historian writes to a proprietary store, and getting the data out of it needs a gateway or a separate module.

Ignition

Licensed per server, with no tag limit: the cost does not change because you connect a thousand more signals.
Unlimited clients: you can give access to everyone who needs it, management and the night shift included.
A web client — the Perspective module — that runs in a browser, on a phone and on a tablet with no local install.
Historian in a standard SQL database, queryable from your ERP, your BI tool or a script of your own.

An honest caveat: vendors change their licensing models and their bands fairly often. The specific commercial terms — Ignition's and any alternative's — have to be confirmed with the vendor at the time of purchase. What we describe here is the structural difference between the two models, which is the part that does not change.

What makes us choose Ignition for a project

Per-server licence

No limit on tags, clients or screens. It is the platform's real selling point, and the one you feel most three years in.

Native web client

Perspective for browser and mobile, Vision for the control room workstations. One project, two kinds of client.

SQL out of the box

The historian writes into your relational database, not into a closed silo. That opens the door to analytics with no tolls.

OPC UA and MQTT

An OPC UA server included and drivers for the most common PLCs, with MQTT available for distributed architectures.

Cross-platform

It runs on Windows and on Linux, bare metal or virtualised, which makes life simpler for the IT department.

Modular

Reporting, alarm notification, a database bridge or MES modules: you add what you need and nothing else.

How we run an Ignition project

Sizing

Which modules you actually need and how many servers. This is the stage where the licence price is decided, and it is decided once.

Proof of concept

Ignition can be trialled in full before buying anything. We set up a real line with real data so you can decide with the platform in front of you.

Asset model

Equipment templates and a tag structure done properly from the start. That is what lets you replicate a line without drawing it again.

Development

Process screens, alarms, reports and integration with ERP or MES. The project ends up documented and on your server, not inside a black box of ours.

Training and support

We train your team so they can maintain and extend the project themselves, and we stay on hand for whatever they cannot cover.

Ignition integrator in Spain

The platform is sold by Inductive Automation; the project is delivered by an integrator. CAPTIA Ingeniería works as an Ignition integrator partner out of Móstoles (Madrid), with projects in plants across Spain. That means three concrete things for you:

A single point of contact in your time zone. First-line support comes from us, on your installation and knowing your process, not from a generic support desk several hours away.
Plant engineering, not just licences. We can read an electrical cabinet, talk to the maintenance manager and decide which signals are worth historising. The software is the easy part.
Integration with the rest of your architecture. Ignition rarely arrives on its own: we connect it to your MES, to your ERP, to traceability and to your Business Intelligence.

What working with an Ignition partner gives you

A partner has access to training, to the vendor's support channel and to the experience of having built the platform several times. In practice, the difference between a project delivered by a partner and an improvised one is rarely whether it works on start-up day; it is whether it can be extended two years later without being rebuilt: tag naming, equipment templates, historisation policy and version control of the project.

Ignition licensing: how the price is worked out

Ignition is not licensed by tags or by clients, so the question "how many signals do I have" does not set the price. What sets it is how many servers you need and which modules you enable (web client, reporting, alarm notification, database bridge, MES...), plus annual maintenance if you take it.

That is why sizing the first phase is the conversation that matters: a well-planned architecture can come out considerably cheaper than a badly planned one with the same modules. List prices and bands are published and updated by the vendor; we help you size the system and give you a firm quote. Tell us about your case and we will size it with you.

Ignition SCADA training and courses

Inductive Automation runs Inductive University, its free video training platform for Ignition. It is the best starting point if you want your team to learn the platform on their own.

What we add is training on your project: how it is structured, why the decisions were taken the way they were, and how to extend it without breaking anything. We deliver it when the deployment closes and repeat it whenever new people join the team.

“With a SCADA, the licence is paid once and a bad architecture is paid for every year”.

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Frequently asked questions about Ignition SCADA

What is Ignition SCADA?

Ignition is Inductive Automation's SCADA, HMI and data acquisition platform. It installs as a server that clients — desktop or browser — connect to, and from which it talks to the PLCs over OPC UA and native drivers.

Can Ignition be trialled before buying it?

Yes. Inductive Automation lets you download and run the full platform in trial mode, with complete functionality and a periodic server restart. For a serious proof of concept that is more than enough: you can connect a real PLC, build screens and historise data before making any purchase decision.

Can Ignition replace a SCADA I already have?

Yes, and it is a common scenario. The migration is planned in phases with both systems running side by side: first the supervision of one line is replicated, then validated against the old system, and only after that is the switch made. What needs careful planning is not the new SCADA but the old historian: deciding which data is recovered and how.

Which PLCs can be connected to Ignition?

The usual ones on the shop floor: Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Omron, Modbus TCP and any device that exposes an OPC UA server. For anything without communications the route is a gateway, just as in an IIoT project. It is worth checking the specific driver in the vendor's documentation before committing to a deadline.

How does Ignition compare with WinCC or Wonderware?

The big difference is in the licensing model and the client architecture, not in the feature list. Siemens WinCC is licensed by tag count and is tightly coupled to Siemens PLCs; AVEVA, formerly Wonderware, licenses by I/O count and named users. Ignition licenses per server with no limit on either. Which one fits depends far more on how the installation will grow than on the brochure.

Do you take projects outside Madrid?

Yes. We are based in Móstoles and work in plants across Spain. A good part of the engineering on an Ignition project — data model, screens, reports — is done remotely; what requires being on site is the initial signal survey and the commissioning.