What comes to mind when you hear “turn it up to 11”? Do you get it?
Well, if you were a teenager or older in the 1980’s, then you probably remember the retro favorite film “This Is Spinal Tap”. This phrase was popularized in the movie when a character boasts that his guitar amplifier can go "up to 11"—implying that it's more powerful than a standard amplifier that only goes to 10.
Rooted in popular culture, it has come to mean pushing something to the absolute max, beyond the limit of what is considered normal or expected to achieve an extra level of intensity, essentially going "one louder”.
Cool, so what’s the connection with GENESIS version 11? Stay with me, and I’ll explain.
In our previous blog ICONICS GENESIS Version 11 Boldly Goes Where No Automation Software Has Gone Before, we covered the history of the GENESIS automation suite and most importantly, the key considerations behind the design of our next generation software: GENESIS version 11.
In this post, I continue that thread to show you how version 11 was born to rock. I’ll dive into the standout features and new value you can expect from this version and how you can use it to turn your automation and digital transformation up to 11.
You’ll see how version 11 is an excellent blend of exciting features to advance digital transformation and operational optimization that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible. In doing so, version 11 redefines the industry and delivers innovation that goes beyond your expectations.
(Btw, we know our audience spans multiple generations, so it’s possible that not all of you will be familiar with the references and songs on our playlist, and if that's the case, I encourage you to check them out when you get a chance.)
OK then, let's get started on why GENESIS version 11 turns it up to 11.
GENESIS Version 11’s Features & Customer Benefits
Below you can find version 11’s features and the associated customer benefits. Pay special attention to the top six as these are the version’s key features.
Feature #1: Unlimited Licensing – Keep the party going with unlimited editions! Forget about tags or client counting—like the Journey song, you can get version 11 “Any Way You Want It” (and “just the way you need it”).
Customer Benefits:
- Flexible system architecture that can be designed to fit your applications and needs.
- Capability to grow your applications by adding users/clients or tags without needing a new license.
- Capability to build the application you need without limits.
- Ease of right-sizing your application to suit your budget.
Feature #2: Advanced Visualization – Bring your data into the limelight by using state of the art, clear, and extensive visualization capabilities.
Customer Benefits:
- Rapid creation of interactive screens to visualize your process.
- Interactive and navigable 3D interface capability, even in a browser.
- Complete trending tool included to view operational history.
- Included symbol libraries for quick development.
Feature #3: Data-Centric Design – As Aerosmith famously declared, "I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”. And your GENESIS version 11 project won’t either because it’s now the most data-capable automation platform to date with a built-in industrial strength full data historian.
Customer Benefits:
- Data-oriented platform so you can make data-driven decisions.
- Embedded historian with fully functioning and expansive historian capabilities.
- Native database connectivity ideal for recipe management and integration with enterprise business systems.
- MQTT and cutting-edge IoT technologies.
- Analytics capabilities to visualize, store, and report any created formula to improve the precision and control capabilities of any automation system.
Feature #4: Extensibility – Think of GENESIS version 11 as your backstage pass to full extensibility and customization. Like a band that can seamlessly add new members, instruments, or sounds, this platform grows with you—letting you expand, tweak, and rock out your automation setup however you need.
Customer Benefits:
- Rich set of methods from coding to APIs to database connectivity, covering any of your needs to get data to or from a system or to enhance your GENESIS platform.
- Multitude of native features, but if there is a need to go beyond that, then the extensibility of GENESIS makes that possible.
Feature #5: Connectivity – “Welcome to the Jungle” with universal connectivity: fun and games for any third-party data integration.
Customer Benefits:
- Device compatibility, regardless of the device type, as GENESIS supports a wide range of industry standards.
- Supported communication protocols that include OPC UA, OPC DA, BACnet, Modbus, SNMP, MQTT, CC-Link, REST.
Feature #6: Deployment Speed – Integrators and end users can “Come Together” more easily with rapid development tools. The Beatles were onto something with that song!
Customer Benefits:
- Quick development for SCADA system engineers.
- Quick design and deployment for system integrators, especially since development time means money.
- Scriptless platform means there is no need to write code as most common actions and commands are built in.
- World-class object model allows for the creation of object-oriented solutions that include complex objects, greatly enhanced usability, and object models that empower and benefit users to build templates for their objects and then deploy these at scale.
Feature #7: Compatibility with Mitsubishi Electric Devices – Party like a rockstar when you connect the ‘A-list’ GENESIS SCADA platform natively to Mitsubishi Electric devices.
Customer Benefits:
- Connectivity to Mitsubishi Electric devices that is easy and robust.
- Connectivity to PLCs, GOTs (HMI), Inverters (Drives), robots, etc.
- Most advanced factory automation templates: automatic generation of data, alarms, trends, and predictive maintenance screens for robots and inverters.
Feature #8: Alarm Management – Alarming like a rhythmic bass line: it’s there and reliable throughout the song. Version 11’s alarm management is better, easier, and super comprehensive, just like you’d expect.
Customer Benefits:
- Fully customizable, unlimited views and subscriptions.
- Active event monitoring and control.
- Design based on the internationally recognized alarm management standard ISA 18.2.
- Fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) to find and solve problems and monetize operational savings.
Feature #9: No Code SCADA – If your gig needs scripting, no problem. GENESIS has many ways to accomplish scripting and enables you to scale your system without re-doing the sheet music!
Customer Benefits:
- Built-in no code configuration options in the graphical editor—no code workflows with bridging for IT-friendly data movement and custom integration into business systems.
- Customizable extensibility, so code can be written only if needed.
- Future-proof maintainability, with the ease of adding new team members, and IT-friendly functionality that requires no client-side coding.
Feature #10: Redundancy – We’ve gone triple platinum with our redundancy. It’s reliable and delivers high availability for your piece of mind. That way you can jam more and longer with your band.
Customer Benefits:
- Streamlined and system-wide redundancy that is dependable, monitored, controllable, and always available when you need it.
- Elimination of unplanned downtime and system outages to maintain system operation.
- Peace of mind through reliable redundancy when software solutions are mission critical to the application.
Feature #11: Security – Robust security as superior as an elite, highly trained squad of bodyguards.
Customer Benefits:
- Modern authentication options such as Microsoft Entra-ID and SAML to use enterprise IDs in GENESIS to control access from your IT team.
- Security through design – ICONICS has achieved IEC 62443-4-1 standard certification for its product development lifecycle.
Feature #12: Control – System control that keeps going just like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and that’s saying something.
Customer Benefits:
- Not just pretty pictures and displays but a control system that provides support for many communications standards.
- User-driven and automated control capabilities specific to each application.
Feature #13: Client Technology – Just like a powerful frontman bringing the band’s sound together, GENESIS pulls all the UI into a single, accessible app, so more users can tune into the valuable data transformed by its deep toolset, anywhere, anytime.
Customer Benefits:
- Client support on virtually any platform (PC, mobile, browsers, etc.).
- Development from a unified environment regardless of the destination device(s).
Feature #14: Supportability – Rock is forever and has stood the test of time, and so will your GENESIS system. It’s a future-proof and supportable platform, allowing for more frequent releases and faster responses for potential future security-related items.
Customer Benefits:
- Foundation built on cutting-edge technology to ensure long-term reliability and future-proof performance.
- SCADA system designed for long-term deployment and embedding.
Feature #15: Standards Support – Having support for industry standards means fewer headaches because if everyone is speaking the same language, then it just makes your project move along that much more smoothly. Just like a tight, well-oiled stage crew.
Customer Benefits:
- Support for widely adopted industry connectivity (OPC, BACnet, etc.) or SCADA standards (ISA 18.2 alarming and ISA 101 HMI for process) or data standards like ISA 95.
- Industry connectivity for interoperability success.
Feature #16: Asset Model – In the same way Pink Floyd layered sounds to build seamless, remarkable music, GENESIS’s object-oriented design structures each element with precision, making deployment faster and maintenance smoother.
Customer Benefits:
- Unified Namespace (UNS)-capable (heads up Walker Reynolds). Regardless of what you connect to or control, GENESIS can consume data or asset models from other systems and blend these into its capable model that is used inside of version 11’s graphics, historian, and analysis tools.
- Templatized approach means minimal steps to add a new asset.
- Guaranteed consistency for all assets of same type.
- Flexibility for changes across all assets of the same type.
- Scalability to effortlessly accommodate growth.
Feature #17: Scalability – Like a band that can play both intimate clubs and stadiums and is ready to rock any stage, GENESIS scales up or down to fit your application needs perfectly.
Customer Benefits:
- Scalability to meet growing application needs.
- Deployment in a multitude of applications of all sizes: from small systems to many servers, many data sources to highly redundant systems, or from small to massive systems and all sizes in between.
GENESIS Version 11 Goes Above & Beyond What Automation Software Is Today
As you can see, you’ll get unparalleled value with GENESIS version 11’s advanced visualization, data-centric design, extensibility, connectivity, rapid deployment, and so much more. And version 11 is built on a history of quality and scalability—just like a mix of 5 new indie bands and the Rolling Stones, who keep it modern, create hits every year, continue to take the stage, and take things up to 11.
With version 11, you’ll be able to rock your automation and digital transformation needs now, and in the future, and more importantly, you’ll be able to exceed your operational expectations and performance.
Ultimately, ICONICS turns it up to 11 with version 11 to go above and beyond what automation software is today. Be the rock star in your manufacturing/infrastructure show. If you can imagine it, you can realize it with GENESIS version 11.
Follow Us to Stay Informed About GENESIS Version 11
If you're interested in hearing more, subscribe to our Version 11 Updates mailing list. You can also keep an eye out for version 11 updates on LinkedIn by ICONICS and me, Kyle Reissner. Are you ready to turn it up to 11?