Comparing the performance of EPICS Channel Access with a new implementation based on ICE (the Internet Communications Engine)

The current Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) Channel Access (CA) protocol has been developed and used in the EPICS community for nearly 20 years. It has the advantage of stability and high performance. However, it is hard to maintain and extend. Despite being open source, in practice only the original author makes changes to it. The argument for a replacement based on modern communication technology is compelling. The Internet Communications Engine (ICE) is a communications middleware platform that is being widely used. This paper will present the implementation of a replacement for EPICS Channel Access based on ICE. The performance comparison with the original will also be presented.