Empowering control engineers to access and own the data from their Allen-Bradley PLCs, Real Time Automation has expanded the power of its RTConnect Historian for Allen-Bradley PLCs

Purpose-built for manufacturers and machine builders, the Allen-Bradley PLC Historian is a hardware appliance designed to collect, store and visualize time-series data directly from PLCs—without requiring complex software layers or ongoing SaaS fees.

Unlike traditional historian software that can be expensive and difficult to maintain, RTA’s Historian is a compact, plug-and-play device that sits inside the operational technology (OT) environment. It provides secure, local ownership of plant data while giving teams the historic data and reporting power they need to make better business decisions.

The newly released version builds on that foundation with expanded storage, more flexible publishing options, improved visualization and broader PLC compatibility, making it the most powerful and adaptable iteration to date.

Broader PLC support

The update adds full support for Allen-Bradley FlexLogix and Micro820, 850 and 870 PLCs, along with CompactLogix, ControlLogix, SLC, MicroLogix and PLC-5E systems. With automatic PLC and data-point discovery, the Historian simplifies integration and ensures continuous, accurate data capture across diverse installations.

Enhanced data access and publishing

The Historian now supports a wide range of publishing and access methods, including:

SQL (MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server), Email (SMTP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), HTTP (JSON), WebSockets, MQTT (to brokers or cloud services like AWS) and USB drive export.

In addition, customers gain direct access to InfluxDB historical data, opening the door to Grafana visualizations and API integrations for advanced analytics.

Smarter data transformation and visualization

The update introduces data transformation tools, enabling addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, bitwise operations and even custom JavaScript rules before storing or forwarding data. A redesigned home page dashboard improves data visualization, allowing operators to filter results by time and duration and download graphical views directly for further analysis.

Competitive differentiation

Unlike competitor products, the Historian combines high-capacity storage with flexible publishing triggers, customizable data transformations, MQTT support and secure multi-user account control— ensuring customers get a scalable, secure and easy-to-use solution for managing industrial time-series data.

“We are bringing the market a ‘No SAAS’ historian product,” said Drew Baryenbruch, Real Time Automation. “We’re empowering users with improved access to data and information. Giving users the tools to make PLC data meaningful, actionable and accessible.”

Real Time Automation