>>BTW, what OS are you running? And why can't you have a dedicated server? Is the network a LAN or WAN?
>
>OS is NT (for now) on a Lan TCP/IP interface to PLCs (GE Fanuc, Allen-Bradley, etc.) No server because we don't want it. Where do you put it? Say you have 9 control panels in Uzbekistan. Which panel do you put it in? What if they cut power to that panel? Do you put it in its own enclosure ($10,000 for the box + shipping cost from Houston to to the other end of the earth). What if the server fails? We need redundancy now 2 servers. Dedicated servers are a last resort -- this is not an office environment.


I think what you are trying to do will be difficult and next to impossible.
There is no _central_ data store, so- what if all the panels are shutdown?
When I turn on a panel, who do I check with to see if I need to update my data? What makes another panel's data more accurate than mine, or vice-versa?