Purchasing Accelerator Subsystems as Turnkey Components

Many new accelerator projects are purchasing complex components as turn-key systems rather than building them in-house. If not managed efficiently this can cause problems in integrating these components with the global accelerator control system. Having these components delivered with a ’foreign’ control system can cause performance bottlenecks and problems of maintenance. Later replacing these controls is often necessary, but is time consuming and expensive. At SLS we avoided these problems by having the external companies deliver these systems (including Linac and RF) with Epics [1]. To ensure compatibility, we supplied the necessary hardware, and provided the companies with training and support. This ensured a relatively trouble free integration, and contributed to the very fast commissioning of the SLS.