Regarding Siemens system upgrades
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Gentlemen, our company’s DCS system uses Siemens PCS7 version 5.1. As it has been in use for many years, one of the CPUs failed recently; we managed to purchase a replacement, but according to Siemens engineers, this model of CPU is no longer being produced. The CPUs produced today are no longer compatible with our original software systems and some of the modules. The question now is: what is the most cost-effective way to upgrade by replacing the CPU?
Siemens offers upgrade software and licenses; if you have a license for version 5.1, you simply need to purchase the corresponding upgrade software and license. But if the version is too low, I’m not sure if it’s still supported.
Version 5.1 isn’t that old either; new CPUs are generally backward compatible. If the software doesn’t work, it can be upgraded. New CPUs should support older IO modules and functional modules. The cost would be that of legitimate software; if legitimacy isn’t a requirement, then it’s just the cost of the CPU