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268 MAIN CATALOG PLC AUTOMATION

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Additional information

ABB Ability Automation Builder
TM

product life cycle plan

Product life cycle follow these two principles: The engineering tool
ABB is committed to supporting our customers’ shall provide the latest features in best quality.
installed system base. We want to optimize our The engineering tool and installed base shall
customers’ system investment and provide our always be compatible.
customers with the confidence that there is a
well-defined support and a path forward for To meet these requirements Automation Builder
existing ABB systems. ABB’s product life cycle introduced version profiles. A version profile
policy provides advanced notification of planned contains all Automation Builder software compo-
changes in product availability and support. nents as released in the latest service release of a
specific major/minor version, including respec-
This chapter shall not be understood as legally tive device firmware versions.
binding. Users are recommended to keep
informed about updates by periodically checking Version profiles can be installed with every
relevant life cycle information. release of Automation Builder. Multiple version
profiles can be installed in parallel. Each version
Predictive releases – continuous delivery profile goes through all product life cycle phases.
ABB continuously maintains and improves its Life cycle statements apply to each version pro-
software products. As part of this effort, we de- file and corresponding licenses. The availability of
velop and release major versions, minor versions a version profile depends on the life cycle phase it
and service releases. is currently in.

Major and minor releases focus on new features All this allows our users to install the latest
whereas service releases deliver corrections and version of Automation Builder and keep compati-
quality improvements. A new service release bility with the installed base. Updates of the run-
supersedes and replaces existing service releases time system are avoided. The latest Automation
within the same major/minor release. All releases Builder release always contains the best quality
contain corrections to issues either identified in for all profiles. Corrections are distributed via
ABB test labs or reported by our customers. releases and not via hard to track patches.

Release Type Designation Purpose and frequency Automation Builder life cycle management model
example The Automation Builder life cycle management
Major Release 1.x, 2.x Deliver new features model aims to provide service for maximizing
extending Automation availability and performance, support to end-
Builder scope
Minor Releases 1.1.x, 1.2.x Deliver new features users and a smooth transition to new product
within current Automation versions when the service life of the current
Builder scope product ends. The model divides a product’s life
Service Releases 1.2.1, 1.2.2 Deliver corrections, im- cycle into four phases: active, classic, limited and
08
provements and updates
of existing components obsolete. Each phase has different implications
for the end-user in terms of software and license
availability, services and support provided.
ABB aims for continuous, consistent and coordi-
nated delivery of engineering tool versions and
device firmware versions. It is recommended to Active The software product with complete life cycle
services is available.
always use the latest release of Automation Classic The software product with complete life cycle
Builder. services is available for system extensions and
spare part engineering.
Version profiles – compatibility with installed Limited The software product is available without
base maintenance and further corrections.
Migration to a newer version is recommended.
ABB aims at maximizing availability and perfor- Obsolete Migration to a newer version is recommended.
mance of the installed base. In this effort we