Yes. Our bus isolation amplifier type 70IA01 was extensively tested in a live power plant using a P14 style distributed control system.

Yes. BlueLine input/output boards have the same pin-out as their P13 equivalents, they have the same form factor, and they slide right into an existing P13 Procontrol rack. Functionally, they are identical as well. Click here to link to our hardware section.

That depends on which controller one upgrades from. The easiest one is an upgrade from Progress2© / 70PR05 to BlueLine Tools / 70CP01. Existing database and logic can be imported with utilities available in BlueLine Tools, and, after the import, only very minor adjustments need to be made.
When upgrading from a 70PR02/03 or from a 70ASxy drive controller module, the task becomes more involved because there is no database available; also, any and all signals that are internal to a controller need to be typed into BlueLine Tools manually. Depending on the number of processors, this may be a time consuming task. As to the actual logic, e.g. the hex code running on the controller itself, this can be imported into BlueLine Tools, which will ensure a smooth transition and trouble free startup after the upgrade.
We have executed projects in both categories without encountering any snags; hence, the technology is understood and mature.

The service traffic is a feature of the P42 bus that onl works in conjunction with a PRAUT operator station. To that end, we decided to eliminate the service traffic feature, because all its functionality is migrated into BlueLine through other venues. When upgrading the P42 IP bus to our Expresso data bus, its capacity and speed at 100 MBit/s are by far large enough to transmit data continuously, not just on demand as was the case with the P42. Thus, it is possible to send all local bus signals of all connected local busses to a supervisory engineering station for monitoring. Typically, one would also upgrade all controllers in a plant that are of type 70PR03 to our 70CP01. With this upgrade, the function of the old diagnostic station to look at internal signals and to adjust parameters in these controllers is now also obsolete, because BlueLine Tools provides these same functions over the plant network and its connected controllers.
There has been one reported case of a client wishing to replace his diagnostic station with a BlueLine equivalent, while at the same time holding on to the old PR03 processors. The solution for this problem is comprised of installing an additional BlueLine rack with CPU's and I/O at the location of the local bus of the diagnostic station, and to program the 70CP01 so as to mimic the functionality of the old PRAUT computer. This, together with installing an iFix based operator station computer communicating with the new BlueLine rack, provided a replication of all existing features of this client's old diagnostic station.

Yes, and no; it depends on the precise application. The 70BK06 is a modbus b slave module, whose implementation of modbus is modified when compared to the industry standard as detailed in the modicon specification. The BK06 is also a module that offers a hot standby mode when deployed in pairs. Conversely, the BlueLine module 70SI01 follows an exact implementation of the modbus standard, and the SI01 does not offer a hot standby mode; in this latter regard, it follows the deployment methods that were used in applications involving the 70BK03 bus coupler. While it is impossible to list every single application case, the following table informs about the most common cases:

Module	Application	Replacement with SI01	Comment
BK03	TC57 Progress2 interface coupler	yes	none
BK03	Local bus to PC coupler	yes	none
BK06	DCS link. Example: to WDPF or Ovation	yes	none
BK06	redundant serial link in Egatrol 300	maybe	MOD300 modifications required, or scale down to non-redundant communications
BK03	Local bus to local bus coupler	yes	In this mode, the SI01 is a point to point link, without multi-drop capabilities; depending on the bus layout, the number of SI01 required may be higher than the number of BK03. On the upside, the SI01 based solution will offer better reliability figures.

The short answer: No, it is not. Not by a long shot.
The long answer: TUEV has determined that we cannot reach SIL3 certification status with an equivalent of ABB's input board type 70EB03. The primary reason is that the EB03 only monitors for wire break, but not for shorts and overload conditions.
The BI03 looks at all three failure modes, e.g. wire break, short circuit and overrange. The design of the BI03 is also different in that it uses three addresses on the bus (vs. just one of the BI03), but it offers 16 inputs channels vs. the just 5 doubles of the EB03.
There have been a bunch of requests for BlueLine to offer something similar to the EB03, so that bus addressing does not need to be changed after a module swap. We're currently (this is Jan 2010) thinking about a solution so we can address these market demands.