Validair highlights FMS5 Windows compatibility
Validair is urging customers to move to the latest version of FMS monitoring software from TSI Inc., FMS5, which upgrades users from FMS3, adding a host of additional features, including compatibility with the latest generation of Microsoft Windows. FMS5 is an advanced, reliable and user‐friendly monitoring software platform that features flexible architecture. It can be tailored to suit the installation environment and offers a broad range of input and output capabilities.
Users switching from FMS3 to FMS5 will notice dramatic improvements in the login process. The earlier software required login credentials to be submitted at many points as a user navigated from screen to screen and function to function. FMS5 is more user‐friendly. It requires the login credentials initially, and then only when a user wishes to acknowledge an alarm or alter configuration settings.
The software’s Graphical User Interface (GUI) has been updated to present a more contemporary and intuitive user experience.
FMS5 also brings new functionality through the Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture (OPC UA) standard. The previous FMS3 version offered no OPC UA functionality. In contrast, the new FMS5 software is supplied with OPC UA Client as standard, allowing it to receive data from another OPC UA‐enabled system or instrument in real time. In addition, FMS5 can optionally be supplied with OPC UA Server, permitting it to send data to another enabled system or instrument in real time.
“For peace of mind going forward, a compelling factor in the decision to upgrade to FMS5 is its compatibility with the Microsoft Windows 10, Windows Server 2008, 2012 and 2016 operating systems,” explained Mike Pemberton (above), Applications Manager at Validair. “FMS3 can only be hosted on Windows OS versions that are no longer supported by Microsoft, such as Windows XP and Server 2003. FMS3 is not validated with Windows 10. Any user specifying a new PC for hosting FMS environmental monitoring will want to utilise an up to date Operating System and so must then use FMS5.
“The real danger of not moving to FMS5 is the scenario where an older PC running an obsolete and unsupported version of Windows fails. In that instance, the customer
will have no monitoring system. The responsibility for that will lie squarely with them, which is not likely to go unnoticed by the regulatory authorities.”