Hi Jen,

Simple answer is yes but (and there is always a but) you will need to convert from the native protocol to modbus or vice versa.

Depending on your rockwell device this may by DF1, DH-485, DH+, etc. Similiarly for Siemens there will be a list of possible protocols that could be being used depending on the device.

Typically if talking to a rockwell system using RSLinx you would use an OPC client to get that data into another system (it's a long time since I've had to configure a system to talk to a rockwell device with a native driver, and must vendors I used in the last ten years point you towards OPC).

My experience with Siemens is more limited (at least in recent years) and typically in the past I've configured native drivers dependant upon the interface card installed in the PLC. I'm aware that Siemens do now provide OPC Servers for their products although these are normally bundled as part of a product suite such as WinnCC. I believe Kepware (and probably the likes of Software Toolbox and Matrikon) provide Siemens OPC driver suites.

Personally I would gear up with the appropriate versions of RSLinx and a Siemens OPC Server and use OPC as the interface; it's tried and tested, multiple vendor supported, relatively straight forward to configure and is the industry way forward.

Where I've had to use off the shelf protocol converters in the past e.g. ALIN to OPC it has always required a more indepth technical approach in order to troubleshoot things which don't work as expected e.g. naming conventions, attribute mapping. Depending what you are trying to do it may even be easier to write your own interface to do the conversion than use an off the shelf solution, which may be limited in functionality.

Regards,

Burnikell1